Phoenix Journal · LEV Testing
Your extraction canopy, fans and ductwork are "work equipment" under PUWER 1998 - which means real duties for suitability, maintenance and inspection. Here is what the regulations expect, and how cleaning and LEV testing help you meet them.
PUWER & your extraction system
Your kitchen extraction canopy, its fans, motors and ductwork are all "work equipment" in the eyes of the law - which means the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 apply to them just as squarely as they apply to a mixer or a slicer.
PUWER is the set of rules that sits behind a lot of what a good extraction cleaning and testing regime is really for. It asks a simple question of every piece of kit in your kitchen: is it suitable, is it maintained, and is it safe for the people who use it? For a commercial extraction system that runs hot, moves grease-laden air and hides its working parts above a ceiling, those questions matter a great deal. This page explains what the regulations expect, and how a planned clean and a proper examination help you meet them without drama.
The regulations run to more than thirty separate duties, but for an extraction system they group into three plain ideas: the kit must be right for the job, it must be kept in good order, and the people near it must be protected. Here is how that reads on the ground.
PUWER rarely works alone. For any extraction that controls a health risk, it sits alongside the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. Under COSHH Regulation 9 an employer must keep local exhaust ventilation in efficient working order and efficient state, and have it thoroughly examined and tested at least once every 14 months - more often for certain higher-risk processes set out in Table 4 of the HSE guidance HSG258. So while PUWER tells you the equipment must be maintained and inspected, COSHH puts a hard interval and a formal test behind the ventilation that protects breathing.
The two overlap in a way that is genuinely useful. A thorough examination and test proves the ventilation still captures what it should, while the wider PUWER duties keep the mechanical side - the fan, the guarding, the isolation, the hot surfaces - safe to run and safe to service. Neglect either and the gap shows up in the same places: weaker capture at the hood, more contamination drifting back into the room, and equipment that quietly drifts out of the condition the law expects. If you have ever wondered why your staff keep getting headaches at work, an extraction system that no longer moves the air it was designed to is one of the first things worth ruling out.
Condition also drives performance in ways that are easy to miss. Grease-laden filters, a slipping drive belt or a duct run that has narrowed with deposit all rob a system of the airflow it needs, and a struggling fan copes badly when outside conditions change - which is part of the reason people notice their extraction working worse on windy days. A system kept in the "efficient working order" PUWER asks for has far more margin to draw on when the weather, the workload or the menu pushes it hard.
The regulations are supported by the HSE's Approved Code of Practice and guidance, L22, "Safe use of work equipment". An ACOP has a special legal status: following it is not compulsory, but if you are prosecuted for a breach and you did not follow it, you will need to show a court that you achieved the same standard some other way. In practice that means treating your extraction system as the piece of work equipment it is - assessed for suitability, maintained on a plan, inspected by someone competent, and documented well enough that you can prove all of the above.
None of this needs to be a burden. The core of compliance is a straightforward cycle: know what the system is meant to do, keep it clean and in good repair, examine it at the right intervals with the right person, and hold the records. Do that and PUWER stops being a worry hanging over an inspection and becomes simply the way a well-run kitchen looks after the equipment its whole operation depends on. The Health and Safety Executive enforces these duties, and a clear paper trail of cleaning and testing is exactly what they - and your insurer - will want to see.
Questions
Yes. PUWER 1998 covers almost any equipment used at work, and an extraction canopy with its fans, motors, dampers and ductwork falls squarely within that definition. The regulations require it to be suitable for the job, maintained in efficient working order, and inspected at suitable intervals by a competent person. For grease extraction, the heat, running hours and deposit build-up all count as deterioration that inspection is meant to catch.
PUWER governs the equipment itself - its suitability, maintenance, guarding and safe operation. COSHH Regulation 9 governs the ventilation as a health control, requiring local exhaust ventilation to be kept in efficient working order and thoroughly examined and tested at least every 14 months. Most extraction systems have to satisfy both at once, which is why a good regime pairs mechanical maintenance with a formal LEV examination.
PUWER asks for inspection at suitable intervals whenever equipment is exposed to conditions that cause deterioration, without fixing a single figure. COSHH is more precise for ventilation: at least once every 14 months for most LEV, and monthly or six-monthly for certain higher-risk processes listed in Table 4 of HSE guidance HSG258. Grease cleaning frequency is driven separately by usage and fire-risk guidance, so many kitchens run cleaning and testing on complementary schedules.
The HSE defines a competent person as someone with the training, knowledge, experience and other qualities needed to judge whether the equipment is safe and performing as it should. For extraction and LEV that means an examiner who understands airflow, capture and the mechanical condition of the kit, not simply whoever last cleaned it. The examination should be recorded, and those records kept available for the enforcing authority and your insurer.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
Phoenix examines and tests local exhaust ventilation to HSG258 and COSHH - measured, reported and certificated, UK-wide.