{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/supply-of-machinery-safety-regulations-2008/schedule-2/part-1/chapter-1",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/supply-of-machinery-safety-regulations-2008/schedule-2/part-1/chapter-1.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2008/1597",
  "legislation_title": "The Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/supply-of-machinery-safety-regulations-2008",
  "path": "schedule/2/part/1/chapter/1",
  "kind": "chapter",
  "number": null,
  "heading": "GENERAL PRINCIPLES",
  "text": "1.\nThe responsible person must ensure that a risk assessment is carried out in order to determine the health and safety requirements which apply to the machinery. The machinery must then be designed and constructed taking into account the results of the risk assessment.\nBy the iterative process of risk assessment and risk reduction referred to above, the responsible person shall:\ndetermine the limits of the machinery, which include the intended use and any reasonably foreseeable misuse thereof,\nidentify the hazards that can be generated by the machinery and the associated hazardous situations,\nestimate the risks, taking into account the severity of the possible injury or damage to health and the probability of its occurrence,\nevaluate the risks, with a view to determining whether risk reduction is required, in accordance with the objective of the Directive,\neliminate the hazards or reduce the risks associated with these hazards by application of protective measures, in the order of priority established in section 1.1.2(b) of this Annex.\n2.\nThe obligations laid down by the essential health and safety requirements only apply when the corresponding hazard exists for the machinery in question when it is used under the conditions foreseen by the responsible person or in foreseeable abnormal situations. In any event, the principles of safety integration referred to in section 1.1.2 of this Annex and the obligations concerning marking of machinery and instructions referred to in sections 1.7.3 and 1.7.4 of this Annex apply.\n3.\nThe essential health and safety requirements laid down in this Annex are mandatory. However, taking into account the state of the art, it may not be possible to meet the objectives set by them. In that event, the machinery must, as far as possible, be designed and constructed with the purpose of approaching these objectives.\n4.\nThis Annex is organised in several parts. The first one is of general scope and applicable to all kinds of machinery. The other parts refer to certain kinds of more specific hazards. Nevertheless, it is essential to examine the whole of this Annex in order to be sure of meeting all the relevant essential requirements. When machinery is being designed, the requirements of the general part and the requirements of one or more of the other parts shall be taken into account, depending on the results of the risk assessment carried out in accordance with point 1 of these General Principles. Essential health and safety requirements for the protection of the environment are applicable only to the machinery referred to in section 2.4.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Words in Sch. 2 Pt. 1 omitted (E.W.S.) (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Product Safety and Metrology etc. (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/696), reg. 1, Sch. 12 para. 23(2) (with Sch. 12 para. 22) (as amended by S.I. 2020/676, regs. 1(1), 2); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Words in Sch. 2 Pt. 1 substituted (15.12.2011) by The Supply of Machinery (Safety) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 (S.I. 2011/2157), reg. 1, Sch. para. 1"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1597/schedule/2/part/1/chapter/1",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T03:29:27.122747+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}