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Mini diggers, dumpers, rollers, telescopic handlers and Stihl saws leave your yard every day. When one comes back damaged or hurts someone, the first question is who was trained to run it. PHW assesses the operator on the machine and gives you the record.
There is no film made for plant hire yet. This one was made for construction and civils: the machines in it are the ones that go out on hire, and the duty to train the operator sits with whoever puts them on the machine.
The film plays on its own page, with the full text written out underneath.
Up to four of your people assessed for competence in one day, on your own site and machines, with minimum downtime. Plus a written safe-system pack for each topic.
A small plant or tool hire firm whose customers run the machines.
You hire out diggers, dumpers, rollers, telescopic handlers, saws and plates, mostly to contractors, groundworkers, landscapers and farms. The person on the machine usually works for your customer, so the duty to train them sits with the customer. Your own yard and delivery staff are your employees, and for them the duty is yours. If you hire out with a driver, that driver is yours too.
The machine goes out. What you hold on file is what is left when it comes back.
Regulation 9 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) puts the duty to see that people who use work equipment are adequately trained on their employer. On a hire, that is usually your customer, and a hire agreement does not show that it was done.
A bent bucket or a machine off hire for days starts the argument: who was running it, and were they trained on that type of machine?
A hire agreement does not show who is competent to run the machine. Without a certificate, a record and a live verification page, there is nothing for either side to point to when something goes wrong.
A customer who takes a mini digger, a dumper and a roller in the same week needs an operator assessed on each machine they run, not one record for the lot.
They load, unload, deliver and demonstrate machines. They are your employees, so the training duty for them falls on you under section 2(2)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and PUWER regulation 9.
Two provisions, in plain words.
Section 2(2)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires an employer to provide the information, instruction, training and supervision needed to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at work of employees.
PUWER 1998 regulation 9 requires every employer to ensure that all persons who use work equipment have received adequate training, including in the methods of use, the risks and the precautions to take. On a hire, that employer is the hiring customer for its operators, and you for your own staff.
For rider-operated lift trucks, which includes telescopic handlers, HSE's Approved Code of Practice L117 sets out training in three parts: basic training, specific job training and familiarisation with the machine and site.
The employer still decides who may run each machine. PHW's certificates, records and packs are the evidence behind that decision.
The machines, packs and systems that fit a hire yard.
Operators assessed on the machine they will run, not a different one.
View →Whoever fits the disc on a Stihl saw or angle grinder needs adequate training.
View →For breakers, Stihl saws, grinders and whacker plates: assess exposure, control it and record it.
View →Who has had what and when, skills gaps and refresher reminders for your own yard and delivery staff.
View →Your site procedures written down, so handover, loading and delivery follow the same steps every time.
View →The evidence trail a customer or a site manager can check.
How verification works → · Take the one-minute plant hire check →
Tell us the machines, how many people and where, and we will come back with a quote and dates.
Get a quoteHSE prosecutions in this line of work.
£433,550 + £8,147 costs · 2025-11-26
A forklift truck fell from a trailer as it was reversed into position early one morning, fatally trapping the operator against a neighbouring trailer.
Read the case →