Workshop Health & Safety Records Guide UK

Safe operation and paperwork are not the same thing

A workshop can have excellent, well-maintained equipment and still fail an audit because the evidence for it is scattered or out of date. The reverse is also true: a tidy record system does not make equipment safe to use. Record-keeping software supports the paperwork side — it does not inspect, examine, calibrate or certify anything, and it does not replace the judgement of a competent person or the risk assessment itself.

What evidence a workshop typically needs

• Risk assessments for workshop activities, reviewed and updated when the work, equipment or people involved change.
• Thorough examination reports for lifting equipment — see LOLER records for the correct intervals.
• COSHH assessments and safety data sheets for substances in use.
• Fire risk assessment, kept up to date and reviewed when circumstances change.
• Records of electrical equipment maintenance appropriate to the risk — see below on PAT.
• Training and competency records for staff.

A common misunderstanding: PAT testing

There is no legal requirement for annual PAT testing. The duty under electrical safety legislation is to maintain electrical equipment in a safe condition; the frequency and method of checking (visual check, combined inspection and test, or PAT) should be based on the type of equipment, how it's used and the environment — not a fixed annual rule. A workshop with portable power tools in daily use may reasonably test more often than an office with a handful of laptops.

Fire risk assessment review

The responsible person must keep the fire risk assessment up to date and review it regularly or when there's reason to believe it's no longer valid — for example after a layout change, new equipment, or an incident. An annual review is a sensible internal practice for many businesses, but it isn't a fixed statutory interval; what matters is that the assessment reflects the current workplace.

Who owns what

How FileGuard supports this

FileGuard holds the documents, the dates you set, and a history of what was marked complete and when. It does not assess risk, decide testing frequency, or replace the judgement of whoever is responsible for the assessment — those decisions, and the dates that follow from them, are entered and maintained by your team. For the wider set of workshop obligations, see workshop compliance, and for a worked review method see the audit checklist.