Short answer. PUWER regulation 5 requires work equipment to be maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair, and if you keep a maintenance log it must be kept up to date. It does not require you to create a log. The record PUWER does require sits in regulation 6: where safety depends on installation conditions or deterioration, the equipment must be inspected and the result of each inspection recorded.
"We maintain our equipment." Good. Can you show it? Most workplaces can point to servicing that has genuinely happened. Fewer can point to a paper trail proving it.
What regulation 5 actually requires
Regulation 5 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) requires every employer to ensure work equipment is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair. Regulation 5(2) then adds a narrower point: where a maintenance log exists for a piece of equipment, that log must be kept up to date.
That is a duty to keep an existing log current, not a duty to start one. The Approved Code of Practice, L22, is explicit on this: PUWER does not require a maintenance log, but it recommends keeping one because it is the most straightforward way to show that maintenance is actually happening. For any equipment where a defect could cause injury, a written record is the practical way to meet the standard, even though the regulation itself does not demand the document.
The record PUWER does require
The record-keeping duty that PUWER states directly sits in regulation 6, not regulation 5. Regulation 6 requires work equipment to be inspected where its safe operation depends on the conditions of installation, or where it is exposed to conditions causing deterioration liable to result in dangerous situations. Regulation 6(3) then requires the result of every such inspection to be recorded and kept available until the next inspection is recorded. That is the one maintenance-adjacent record PUWER makes a statutory requirement, and it is worth checking your own system actually captures it, separately from routine servicing paperwork.
What a good maintenance record contains
Whether you are meeting regulation 5(2), regulation 6(3), or simply building a defensible system, a proper record for a piece of work equipment should include: identification of the equipment (type, make, model, serial number, asset or location reference); the date of the activity; what was done (inspection, service, repair, part replacement); who carried it out and their competence where relevant; findings, including the condition of safety-critical components such as guards, interlocks and emergency stops; any action taken; and the date the next check is due.
Equipment subject to statutory thorough examination has its own retention rules. Under LOLER 1998, regulation 11, reports of thorough examination of lifting equipment must be kept until the next report is made, or for two years, whichever is later. Under the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000, regulation 14, the last written scheme of examination and the most recent examination report must be retained. Neither of these is optional paperwork; both are separate statutory duties from PUWER.
Three types of maintenance, one record system
Maintenance is not one activity. Planned preventive maintenance is scheduled servicing at defined intervals: changing filters, lubricating bearings, testing safety devices, replacing worn parts before they fail. Corrective maintenance is what happens once something has already broken or a defect has been found, and each instance should record the fault, the repair, and confirmation that the equipment was safe to return to service. Condition monitoring, such as vibration analysis, thermal imaging or routine visual inspection, gives early warning of a developing fault so it can be scheduled rather than discovered as a breakdown.
All three feed the same record. What tends to go missing is not the CNC machine with a full service history, but the smaller items: hand tools, portable power tools, guards and interlocks that never make it onto any register at all.
A practical system
You do not need specialist software to run this well, though it helps once the equipment list gets long. Start with an equipment register covering every significant item, each with a unique reference. Set a maintenance schedule per item based on manufacturer recommendations and risk assessment findings. Log every activity against that register, whether it is a scheduled service, a repair or an inspection result. Review the register periodically to confirm scheduled work is actually happening and that anything in poor condition is being dealt with.
For a smaller operation, a spreadsheet plus a folder of service reports is enough, provided it is used consistently. The point of the record is not paperwork for its own sake: if the HSE investigates after an incident, or an insurer questions a claim, the record is what shows the maintenance happened and when.
York Green's PUWER assessment service includes a review of your maintenance and inspection records against regulations 5 and 6, so gaps get identified before they matter. For the regulations themselves, see the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 on legislation.gov.uk.