The Federation of Piling Specialists (FPS) has issued New PUWER (Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations) Guidance, which incorporates the new European Standard for safety equipment on piling rigs – BS EN 16228.
The document, which is available to download from the FPS website – www.fps.org.uk introduces the new European standard that specifies the requirement for guards and auger cleaners amongst other safety innovations. Although these have been required in the UK since 1998, and in a more stringent guise than is required under the new standard, the FPS is keen to maintain the high standards for plant safety that it pioneered when the guidance was originally created.

Speaking about the new Guidance Document, Alasdair Henderson, Chairman FPS said: “The PUWER guidance is one of the flagship achievements of the FPS and it was originally developed with the support of the HSE. The FPS document introduced the requirement for guards and auger cleaners on rigs, and these were safety innovations that the FPS had to overcome industry inertia to introduce on the grounds of worker safety. Auger cleaners themselves were developed by the FPS Member companies, to deal with the danger of spoil travelling up the auger and were a technical/safety innovation”.

Our new guidance is published as the FPS response to how the Health & Safety Executive’s (HSE) Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations should be interpreted.

Henderson continued “In the UK, since its introduction there has been a huge cultural shift towards the provision of safety equipment on piling rigs with industry now expecting and welcoming guarding. However, in Europe, there is still considerable resistance from the foundation market regarding the introduction of guards – the claim is that it makes rigs more dangerous. The FPS rejects this position and, working alongside the HSE, is keen to ensure that the current high UK standards are maintained.”