SPRING 2016 GOODS HIRE BE SAFE, NOT SORRY Know your responsibilities when hiring out goods and equipment Rented items have to be safe and remain safe for the foreseeable future There are dierent pieces of law that regulate the safety of rented items, but the bottom line is that, if you hire out items to your customers, they have to be safe and remain safe for the foreseeable future. So, each and every time an item goes out of the store, you have to take positive steps to ensure its safety and we recommend that you in some way record those steps. Documentation of your procedures helps you check/remind you and your sta that the items have undergone a safety examination before they are used again. Writing things down will also help prove to Trading Standards that you are taking your duties seriously as a responsible business. The law recognises that secondhand leased items are not the same as new ones that have just been placed on the market for example, the CE safety marking may have been rubbed o. However, the immediate important things for the safe use of the item must still be supplied with it, such as warnings for appropriate safe protection FIND OUT MORE to be worn, and for the disconnection of the equipment The General Product Safety when changing disposable parts. If you are considering leasing out tools, Trading Standards recommend you closely follow the advice of the equipment provider in relation to maintenance and, in particular, you should: Credit: Alex Rankin Images: KAMONRAT / Shutterstock Regulations 2005 Business companion Norfolk County Council The Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1994 to be replaced on 20 April 2016 with the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016 Gov.uk Approved Cables Initiative l Quarantine returns pending examination l Record the inspection and examination of returned items. The inspection should be thorough, as rented equipment is often misused by customers and should The Plugs and Sockets etc (Safety) Regulations 1994 include things that you cannot easily see. For example, Gov.uk has a plug been replaced or tted with the wrongrated fuse? Provision and Use of Work l Train sta to ensure their competency when dealing Equipment Regulations 1998 Health and Safety Executive with loaned items l Ask yourself how, as the owner, you will ensure that your sta are following the correct procedures for safe rental? Will you be able to prove to Trading Standards that you have been keeping a check on the checkers? l Only supply professional equipment to customers who can prove to you that they are competent