The rules behind your routine checks, and where Amberhold helps.

Who it applies to

Employers, for their employees and for other people affected by their work. Employees and some self-employed people have duties too.

What it means for a site

The main health and safety law in Great Britain. Employers must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of their employees, including safe plant and systems of work, safe handling and storage of articles and substances, and a safe workplace. More detailed duties come from regulations made under it, such as the Management Regulations and COSHH.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Daily area walk: access routes, walkways and exits clear
• · Guards and barriers on named plant in place, each identified by a QR tag scan
• · Welfare facilities available and stocked
• · A leak, trip hazard or damaged handrail reported as a finding

What Amberhold does not replace

• · Your health and safety policy and the arrangements for carrying it out (written down where you have five or more employees)
• · Information, instruction, training and supervision
• · Deciding what is reasonably practicable: that judgement is the employer's
• · Maintaining plant and systems of work: Amberhold is not a maintenance system

Who it applies to

Employers, and certain self-employed people. Recording the significant findings of the risk assessment, and the health and safety arrangements, applies where there are five or more employees.

What it means for a site

Employers must assess the risks from their work and have arrangements to plan, organise, control, monitor and review their protective measures, in proportion to the size and nature of the business. HSE's Plan, Do, Check, Act guidance says checking can include regular, planned checks of the workplace. HSE also says you are not required by law to implement a formal management system.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Weekly safety tour with questions that match the controls in that area's risk assessment
• · Each shift: a control the risk assessment relies on is in place, such as the barrier between walkways and lift-truck routes
• · Readings beyond your limits, and findings an operator puts in the queue, listed under Needs attention until a decision is recorded
• · Missed or overdue rounds stay visible, so gaps in the checking show

What Amberhold does not replace

• · The risk assessment, its review and the record of its significant findings
• · Your health and safety arrangements: rounds can be part of how you monitor your controls, but they are not the arrangements
• · Appointing competent people to help you meet your duties
• · Controlling the risk itself: a completed round shows a check was recorded, not that the risk is controlled

Who it applies to

Employers whose work is liable to expose people to substances hazardous to health, such as dusts, gases, fumes or harmful micro-organisms.

What it means for a site

Employers must assess the health risks and prevent or adequately control exposure. Control measures such as local exhaust ventilation (LEV) and PPE must be kept in efficient working order and good repair. Engineering controls need a periodic thorough examination and test (at least every 14 months for most LEV), with records kept for at least five years. HSE's LEV guidance says employers should have a way of checking that adequate airflow is being maintained.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Before use at a named LEV hood: the airflow indicator reading against your own acceptable range, where one is fitted
• · Weekly: hoods, ducting and hoses undamaged and filters not visibly blocked
• · Where you use LEV test labels: the next thorough examination is not overdue
• · Chemical store: containers closed and labelled, no spills, washing facilities available
• · An extraction unit out of action: the affected booth taken out of use and declared as a temporary control, with a check scheduled each shift until it is cleared

What Amberhold does not replace

• · The thorough examination and test of LEV and other engineering controls by a competent person, and its record
• · The COSHH risk assessment and its review
• · Exposure monitoring, such as air sampling, where your assessment calls for it
• · Health surveillance, where it is appropriate
• · The check that a repaired LEV system is effective: clearing a temporary control is not that check

Who it applies to

Employers, for work equipment their employees use, whether they own it or not, and anyone who controls work equipment or how it is used.

What it means for a site

Work equipment such as pumps, conveyors, mixers, compactors, balers and mobile plant must be suitable and maintained in good repair, with effective measures to stop people reaching dangerous parts of machinery. Where equipment is exposed to conditions that could cause dangerous deterioration, it must be inspected at suitable intervals and the result recorded. Your risk assessment decides what needs inspecting and how often; HSE says equipment can be inspected by anyone with sufficient knowledge and experience of it.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Weekly guarding round: fixed and interlocked guards present and secure, each machine identified by a QR tag scan
• · Weekly: the emergency stop on each line stops the machine
• · Mobile plant: tyre pressures as readings against your own limits; mirrors and cameras in good condition
• · A damaged guard reported as a finding; a machine taken out of use declared as a temporary control

What Amberhold does not replace

• · Deciding what is inspected, how and how often, and by whom: Amberhold records the checks you set up
• · Maintenance itself and any maintenance log: Amberhold is not a maintenance system
• · The separate thorough examination regime for power presses
• · Information, instruction and training for equipment users

Who it applies to

Employers, for lifting equipment used at work, such as cranes, hoists, lift trucks and lifting accessories, and anyone who controls that equipment or how it is used.

What it means for a site

Lifting equipment must be marked with its safe working load and, where it is exposed to deterioration, thoroughly examined by a competent person with a written report: at least every 6 months for equipment that lifts people and for lifting accessories, and at least every 12 months for other lifting equipment, unless an examination scheme sets other intervals. Between examinations, HSE says users may need to make simple pre-use or daily checks, as the risk assessment decides.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Daily lift-truck pre-use check of forks, chains and mast, the truck identified by a QR tag scan
• · Weekly crane operator check: limit switch, hook safety catch, pendant and emergency stop
• · Lifting accessory store: slings and shackles visibly undamaged, markings legible
• · A damaged sling reported as a finding, noting that it was withdrawn from use

What Amberhold does not replace

• · The thorough examination by a competent person and its written report: an operator's round is not a thorough examination
• · An examination scheme, where you use one instead of fixed intervals
• · Keeping track of thorough examination due dates: those come from your examination scheme and the competent person's reports
• · Planning and supervising lifting operations

Who it applies to

Users of installed pressure systems, such as steam boilers, and owners of mobile ones, where the system contains a relevant fluid such as steam, or a gas at more than 0.5 bar above atmospheric pressure. Not every pressurised plant is covered: hydraulic systems, for example, are not, and there are listed exceptions.

What it means for a site

Before a system in scope is operated, its safe operating limits must be established. Unless an exception applies, it needs a written scheme of examination drawn up or certified by a competent person, and examination in line with that scheme, with a written report each time. Small systems below a size threshold may need no written scheme. The system must be run to adequate operating instructions and properly maintained; HSE says the statutory examination is not a substitute for routine maintenance.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Each shift: boiler or air receiver pressure as a reading against the operating range you have set within the safe operating limits
• · Each shift: has any safety valve been seen lifting since the last round?
• · Weekly: visible wear, corrosion or leaks on vessels, pipework and hoses
• · Weekly: gauges readable and undamaged; protective device seals intact

What Amberhold does not replace

• · The written scheme of examination, and the competent person who draws it up or certifies it
• · The statutory examination under the scheme and its written report: operator rounds are not examinations
• · Establishing the safe operating limits: Amberhold records readings against the limit you enter
• · The maintenance programme and the operating instructions

Who it applies to

Employers and self-employed people, for matters within their control. Employees must co-operate.

What it means for a site

Electrical systems, such as switchrooms, distribution boards, control panels and portable equipment, must be maintained where necessary to prevent danger, so far as is reasonably practicable. The Regulations do not say what must be done, by whom or how often. Keeping records is not a legal requirement, but HSE says inspection is an essential part of preventive maintenance and that records help show a maintenance scheme is working.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Weekly switchroom round: doors closed and locked, access clear, nothing stored inside
• · Weekly external visual check of distribution boards and panels: covers on, no visible damage or scorching
• · Portable equipment user check: plug, cable and casing undamaged
• · A temporary cable run declared as a temporary control, with a check scheduled each shift until it is cleared

What Amberhold does not replace

• · Inspection and testing of portable equipment by a competent person, where the equipment and environment call for it
• · Inspection and testing of fixed electrical installations
• · Safe isolation and work on equipment made dead: Amberhold is not a permit-to-work or isolation system
• · Competence of people doing electrical work

Who it applies to

Employers, for workplaces under their control where their employees work, and people who control a workplace in connection with a trade, business or other undertaking. Some places are excluded, such as construction sites where only construction work is going on and workplaces below ground at a mine. HSE describes the Regulations as applying to most workplaces, not all.

What it means for a site

The workplace, and equipment and devices intended to prevent or reduce hazards, must be maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair, under a suitable system of maintenance where appropriate (regulation 5). Floors and traffic routes must be suitable and, so far as is reasonably practicable, kept free of obstructions and of anything that could cause a slip, trip or fall (regulation 12). Pedestrians and vehicles must be able to move around safely (regulation 17). Regulations 5, 12 and 17 set no inspection frequencies. HSE's L24 Approved Code of Practice says dangerous defects should be put right immediately, or people protected in the meantime.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Weekly walk of walkways and vehicle routes: free of obstructions and spills, surfaces free of holes, markings and barriers intact
• · Every shift in winter: outdoor routes and external stairs gritted or cleared where needed
• · A damaged floor area waiting for repair, kept on the board as a temporary control (such as a cordon) with a check scheduled each shift until it is cleared with a reason
• · Monthly: powered doors and roller shutters open and close normally, with any fault raised as a finding

What Amberhold does not replace

• · Planned maintenance and servicing by people competent for the equipment, such as powered doors and ventilation
• · Deciding whether the workplace meets the Regulations: that stays with the employer or the person in control

Who it applies to

The "responsible person" for premises the Order covers: in a workplace, the employer where the workplace is to any extent under their control; otherwise the person who has control of the premises in connection with a trade, business or other undertaking, or otherwise the owner. Some places are excluded, such as most domestic premises and offshore installations.

What it means for a site

The responsible person must make a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment (article 9). Where necessary for safety, routes to emergency exits and the exits themselves must be kept clear at all times (article 14). Where necessary to safeguard people, the premises and the fire-safety facilities, equipment and devices must be under a suitable system of maintenance and kept in efficient working order and in good repair (article 17). Article 17 sets no check frequencies and does not say how checks should be recorded: those details come from government guidance and the site's own fire risk assessment. In most cases the local fire and rescue authority enforces it.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Start-of-day escape route round, with a QR tag at each final exit: exit unlocked and opens easily, route clear of storage
• · A fire door whose self-closer has failed, kept on the board as a temporary control with a check scheduled each shift until the repair is done and it is cleared with a reason
• · A missed or overdue escape route round stays visible

What Amberhold does not replace

• · The fire risk assessment, which decides what fire precautions are needed
• · Emergency planning, and fire safety information, instruction and training for staff

Who it applies to

Responsible persons under the Fire Safety Order. The small-premises guide is only for small, simple, low-risk premises; the factories and warehouses guide covers premises mainly used as a factory or warehouse. This is guidance, not an Approved Code of Practice.

What it means for a site

GOV.UK says you must carry out regular checks that fire alarms and emergency lighting work, escape routes are clear, fire escapes open easily, automatic fire doors close correctly and fire exit signs are in place, and that you must record any faults in systems and equipment. The Home Office guides give example frequencies: daily exit and escape route checks, a weekly fire alarm test from a different call point each week, and a monthly emergency lighting functional test and fire door check. The factories guide says its examples are not prescriptive. Under article 50 of the Order, whether someone followed the guidance can be relied on in proceedings.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Weekly fire alarm test: which call point was used (a choice answer, so the rotation shows), alarm heard throughout, panel back to normal
• · Monthly emergency lighting functional test, with a QR tag for each zone and one answer per fitting; a failed fitting is raised as a finding, and calling out the contractor stays with the site
• · Monthly fire door round: closes fully under its self-closer, frame and seals intact
• · Weekly fire pump run, with the run time in minutes recorded against the site's own minimum

What Amberhold does not replace

• · Periodic inspection, testing and servicing of fire alarms, emergency lighting and extinguishers by a competent person or contractor
• · The fire risk assessment: the factories guide says its own sample checklist is no substitute for one, and neither is a record of routine checks

Who it applies to

Employers whose workers drive or operate vehicles on site, such as lift trucks, shunt vehicles, loaders and goods vehicles in yards.

What it means for a site

PUWER requires work equipment, including vehicles, to be maintained in efficient working order and in good repair. HSE guidance turns that into a routine: a daily driver check before use, a simple way to report defects and decide whether a vehicle can be used, and planned maintenance to the manufacturer's guidance. For lift trucks, L117 says there should be a documented pre-shift check against the vehicle handbook, with defects affecting safe operation reported to the supervisor, and that a truck with a safety-critical defect should not be used until it is put right. That pre-shift advice is guidance, not Approved Code of Practice text, and L117 says there is no legal requirement to keep a record of maintenance checks; a record that is kept must be kept up to date.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Start-of-shift check for each truck or vehicle, identified by a QR tag on it: forks, chains, hydraulic leaks, tyres, lights, horn, brakes and steering, following the site's handbook-based list
• · Electric trucks: battery charged and leak-free; charger off, lead disconnected and stored
• · Pneumatic tyres: tyre pressure as a number against the handbook value the site has set as its limit
• · A defect reported as a finding, which stays open under Needs attention until someone answers it; telling the supervisor still follows the site's procedure. A vehicle whose start-of-shift round is not walked shows as missed or overdue

What Amberhold does not replace

• · Thorough examination of lifting parts by a competent person under LOLER, at least every 12 months or under an examination scheme. HSE says routine inspections and servicing are not a thorough examination
• · Operator training and written authorisation to operate. Amberhold holds no training records and authorises no one
• · Taking a vehicle out of use: Amberhold does not lock out a truck. That is the supervisor's decision under the site's procedure

Who it applies to

Workplaces where the work, the hazardous substances present or the first-aid needs assessment means emergency washing or eye irrigation is needed. Not every workplace.

What it means for a site

HSE sources set no single rule. The Workplace Regulations require suitable washing facilities, including showers where the work or health reasons require them. COSHH requires prepared emergency procedures, including appropriate first-aid facilities, unless only a slight risk to health is present and the employer's control measures are enough to control it (regulation 13(4)). L74 says sealed eyewash bottles should not be reused once opened, or used past their expiry date. HSE lists emergency showers and eyewash sprays as possible legionella sources, and HSG274 Part 2 recommends flushing them through to drain as the risk assessment indicates, but at least every six months: a legionella control, not a test that the unit works in an emergency. Outside legionella control we found no general HSE frequency for checking that showers and eyewash stations work. The site sets it from its own risk assessment.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · At a frequency the site sets, with a QR tag at each station: activated and water flowed, access unobstructed, sign visible
• · Eyewash bottle points: seals unbroken and within expiry date
• · Where the site's legionella risk assessment calls for it, each outlet flushed through to drain, with a note
• · A faulty station kept on the board as a temporary control, with a check scheduled each shift until it is repaired and cleared

What Amberhold does not replace

• · The COSHH emergency procedures and the first-aid needs assessment, which decide what provision is needed and where
• · The legionella risk assessment and written scheme: a flush record supports them but is neither

Who it applies to

Employers and self-employed people where a dangerous substance, such as a flammable liquid or gas, a combustible dust, a gas under pressure or a substance corrosive to metal, is present or liable to be present and could cause fire, explosion, a similar event or corrosion of metal.

What it means for a site

The employer must assess the risks, remove or reduce them as far as reasonably practicable, and keep the controls in place. Where explosive atmospheres may occur, those places must be classified into zones, protected from ignition sources and marked where necessary, and overall explosion safety verified by a competent person before first use. HSE says no further action is needed if the risk is trivial. Health risks from substances fall under COSHH, not DSEAR.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Daily at each zoned-area entry: warning sign in place and legible, the area identified by a QR tag outside the boundary
• · Each shift at a flammable-liquid or LPG store: ventilation clear, containers closed and undamaged, quantity against your own maximum
• · Daily dust housekeeping in milling, sanding or powder-handling areas
• · Weekly visual check that earthing and bonding clamps at filling points are present and undamaged

What Amberhold does not replace

• · The DSEAR risk assessment and its review
• · Hazardous area classification (zoning) and the choice of equipment for zones
• · Verification of explosion safety by a competent person before first use
• · A permit-to-work system for hazardous work, where your assessment calls for one

Who it applies to

Operators of establishments where listed dangerous substances are present, or expected to be present, at or above the lower-tier quantity. Smaller amounts of several substances can add up to bring a site into scope. HSE says it mainly affects the chemical industry, but also some storage activities, explosives sites, nuclear sites and other industries.

What it means for a site

Every operator in scope must take all measures necessary to prevent major accidents and limit their consequences for people and the environment. Lower-tier and upper-tier operators alike need a major accident prevention policy put into effect through a safety management system, which covers matters such as safe operation and maintenance, ageing equipment and corrosion. Upper tier adds a safety report and an internal emergency plan. Records of routine checks are one kind of evidence a site may keep within that system; they are not the system.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Each shift on a tank farm: tank levels against your own high-level limit, bund free of liquid, drain valve closed
• · Daily: listed emergency equipment in its expected state, such as the fire-water pump selected to auto
• · Weekly walk of pipework and vessels: corrosion or a weeping flange reported as a finding
• · A temporary measure your own procedure has authorised, such as an alarm out of service, declared with a check scheduled each shift until it is cleared

What Amberhold does not replace

• · The major accident prevention policy and the safety management system itself
• · The safety report and internal emergency plan (upper tier)
• · Management-of-change procedures and the equipment condition strategy: Amberhold is not an MOC or maintenance system
• · Notification to the competent authority

Who it applies to

Operators of regulated facilities, such as installations, waste operations and medium combustion plant, unless an exclusion or exemption applies. Whether a site needs a permit depends on what it does, and many sites do not.

What it means for a site

A permitted site may only operate within what its permit allows, and failing to comply with a permit condition can be an offence. Permits for waste operations, installations and some other activities require a written management system that the operator puts into practice, with records showing it is being followed, including what checks were done, who did them and what action was taken. In England, the Environment Agency checks this through assessments, inspections and audits.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Waste storage areas and containers: no loss of containment, lids in place, at the frequency your management system sets
• · Bunds, each identified by a QR tag: intact, and whether liquid or rainwater is present
• · Quantity in each storage area as a reading against the maximum in your management system
• · Drainage, interceptors and spill kits; damage to impermeable surfaces reported as a finding

What Amberhold does not replace

• · The written management system itself, and keeping it up to date
• · The monitoring, sampling and reporting your permit specifies: Amberhold is not emissions monitoring or laboratory sampling
• · Programmed engineering inspections of bunds and below-ground structures
• · Your responsibility for meeting every permit condition: a recorded check is not evidence of permit compliance

Who it applies to

Permitted sites that accept combustible waste, such as waste metals, non-hazardous waste and WEEE sites, and in part some biowaste and other sectors. It does not apply to landfill, wet anaerobic digestion or land spreading, and does not cover storing coal, liquids, healthcare waste, COMAH dangerous substances or hazardous waste other than WEEE.

What it means for a site

A fire prevention plan forms part of the site's management system, and the Environment Agency can require it to be approved and put into practice. Several of its measures are routine checks: fire watches during and at the end of the working day, housekeeping to stop loose combustible waste and dust building up, keeping to pile sizes and separation distances, temperature monitoring for waste stored for more than three months, and keeping a quarantine area clear.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Fire watches during the working day and at the end of it
• · Pile temperatures as readings against the trigger in your own plan, each pile identified by a QR tag
• · Pile height against the maximum in your approved plan; separation distances kept
• · Quarantine area clear; damaged batteries kept in the designated container

What Amberhold does not replace

• · The fire prevention plan itself and its approval
• · Fire detection and alarm systems: Amberhold does not detect fires or raise alarms
• · Records of what waste is stored and for how long
• · Exercises to test the plan, and staff training on it

Who it applies to

Anyone who imports, produces, carries, keeps, treats or disposes of controlled waste, or controls it as a dealer or broker, such as factories and other businesses that produce waste. Householders have a separate, narrower duty.

What it means for a site

The duty of care is mainly about handling and transferring waste: taking reasonable steps to stop it escaping your control, checking that whoever takes it is authorised, and passing on an accurate written description. Separately, since 1 October 2026, operators of sites in England and Wales that hold an environmental permit and receive controlled waste must report each load through the government's Report receipt of waste service, normally within two working days. There are exceptions, such as household waste recycling centres, and sites working only under a registered waste exemption are outside this duty, because it falls on environmental permit holders. Waste transfer notes and hazardous waste consignment notes still apply alongside it. Amberhold can record routine checks that stored waste is contained, labelled, covered and kept separate; it does not track waste.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Waste storage walk: containers labelled and covered, no leaks or overflow
• · Skip and compactor area secure, no waste escaping
• · General, recyclable and hazardous waste kept in their own marked containers
• · Hazardous waste store: drums closed and labelled, drip trays intact, spill kit present

What Amberhold does not replace

• · Waste transfer notes and hazardous waste consignment notes
• · Checking that carriers, brokers and receiving sites are authorised
• · Classifying waste
• · Reporting each load you receive through the Report receipt of waste service: Amberhold is not waste tracking software and does not replace it

Who it applies to

Anyone who causes or knowingly permits a water discharge activity, such as discharging trade effluent, sewage effluent or polluting matter into rivers, lakes, coastal or territorial waters, unless it is exempt. GOV.UK guidance for England says some discharges need no permit, for example clean rainwater from roofs, and that trade effluent sent to the public sewer under a consent or agreement with the sewerage undertaker does not need a water discharge permit, although other permits can sometimes still apply. Whether a discharge needs a permit is for the operator and the regulator.

What it means for a site

Unless it is exempt, a water discharge activity is allowed only under, and to the extent authorised by, an environmental permit. Breaching a permit condition is an offence, including the permit's monitoring, record-keeping and reporting conditions, and so is intentionally making a false entry in a record a permit condition requires. The site's own permit sets what must be measured, any limits and how results are reported. Environment Agency guidance for England asks operators to agree the sampling point with the Environment Agency, document it and label it clearly and permanently, and sample at the frequencies the permit states. It says automatic samplers and flow meters used for self-monitoring must be MCERTS certified.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Scan the QR tag (or NFC tag, in the Android app) at the permitted outfall or agreed sampling point, so the record shows which discharge point was checked
• · pH and the other readings the permit or site procedure asks for, from the site's own meter, each against the site's own limits
• · Visual check at the outfall: oil sheen, foam, discolouration or unusual odour
• · Effluent treatment alarm panel status (normal, in alarm or fault), with any fault raised as a finding
• · Autosampler ran and collected a sample this period; sampling point label present and legible

What Amberhold does not replace

• · The permit's own conditions, including the monitoring, sampling, reporting and notification it requires
• · Formal monitoring with MCERTS-certified or accredited equipment, staff and laboratories, unless the Environment Agency agrees otherwise in writing
• · The written management system and accident plan a permit holder must keep. Amberhold is not document control

Who it applies to

The person with custody or control of oil, including petrol, diesel, biofuels and vegetable oils, stored in a container over 200 litres. In England, containers inside a building or wholly underground are outside the Regulations, as are refineries and onward distribution. In Wales the Regulations do apply inside buildings, but not to storage covered by an environmental permit. Other exclusions apply in both.

What it means for a site

Containers must be strong enough that they are unlikely to burst or leak in ordinary use and must sit in secondary containment, such as a bund or drip tray, holding at least 110% of the container (or, for several containers, the greater of 110% of the largest and 25% of the total; a drum used with a drip tray needs at least 25%). The base and walls must be impermeable, with no drain valve or opening. In England, fixed tanks need further equipment, such as taps and valves locked shut when not in use, and underground pipework without continuous leak detection must be leak tested before first use and then at least every 5 years (with mechanical joints) or every 10 years (without). The England Regulations set design and equipment standards; they set no routine visual inspection frequency for bunds.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Scan the tank, IBC or bowser tag: bund or drip tray free of oil and rainwater, with any liquid found raised as a finding with the action taken
• · Bund base and walls free of visible cracks, holes or drain points; nothing else stored in the bund
• · Taps and valves locked shut, sight-gauge valve closed, drip tray in place at a remote fill point
• · Tank level recorded before a delivery is ordered, against the site's own safe-fill limit

What Amberhold does not replace

• · Leak testing of underground pipework at the intervals the Regulations set
• · Meeting the capacity and impermeability requirements: a visual round does not measure capacity or show that a bund is impermeable

Who it applies to

Businesses in England that store or handle substances that could pollute water or land, whether or not they hold an environmental permit. This is regulator guidance, not an Approved Code of Practice.

What it means for a site

Businesses must not cause or allow pollution. The guidance says to keep containers in good condition under an inspection and maintenance programme, with secondary containment, and to remove rainwater from bunds regularly; to keep a drain plan and colour-code manhole covers (blue for surface water, red for foul); to check oil separators at least every 6 months, as it says the British Standard recommends; and to keep spill kits near storage, loading and transfer areas. If polluting material has entered, or could enter, a watercourse or the ground, it says to call the Environment Agency incident hotline immediately (0800 80 70 60). For permitted sites, Environment Agency permit guidance adds measures such as inspecting containers, drums and small packages in storage areas at least once a week.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Gullies near storage, loading and transfer areas clear, with no spills, staining or blockage
• · Manhole covers colour-marked and flow arrows visible
• · Oil separator alarm status, and oil and silt depths against the site's own trigger levels where the site measures them
• · Spill kit at each storage, loading and transfer point present, complete and sealed
• · Each penstock or drain isolation valve on the drainage plan: position recorded against its normal position, operating key or handle present

What Amberhold does not replace

• · Separator servicing and the 5-yearly integrity test the guidance attributes to the British Standard
• · Calling the incident hotline: a finding in Amberhold reports nothing to the regulator
• · A drainage survey and an up-to-date drain plan
• · Testing that a penstock or isolation valve closes and seals: the round records its position, not whether it holds

Who it applies to

Operators of permitted installations, waste operations and other regulated facilities with emissions to air, such as scrubbers, fabric filters, odour abatement and stacks. Many sites need no permit. Only the site's own permit says which conditions apply.

What it means for a site

Operating a regulated facility outside its permit, or failing to comply with a permit condition, is an offence, with a narrow exception for certain waste competence conditions. Environment Agency guidance says most conditions are objective-based; where the risk is high, a permit can set the equipment to use or the emission limit to meet. The permit's own wording sets what must be monitored, how and how often, and what must be reported or notified. For Environment Agency permits, its guidance says that if you exceed an emission limit in your permit, you must notify the Environment Agency. Environment Agency guidance says monitoring should use MCERTS-certified or accredited equipment, staff and laboratories unless it agrees otherwise in writing, and that permanently installed continuous emission monitors used for compliance monitoring are quality-assured under EN 14181. Some Environment Agency guidance for England also expects abatement to be monitored and maintained: its chemical waste guidance names scrubber liquor flow and chemical concentration, and liquor kept at the correct pH; its odour guidance says the direct odour assessment, at least once a year, does not show the abatement working between sampling events, so relevant secondary parameters should be monitored frequently or, where practical, continuously. Routine operator checks are the site's own records; they are not the monitoring the permit specifies.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Each shift, at each abatement unit the site lists against its permit: if the process it serves is running, is the unit running at the time of the check? A no is raised as a finding
• · Scrubber recirculation flow and liquor pH, or fabric filter pressure drop, each against the site's own limits (for a fabric filter, a band the site has set from the manufacturer's figures)
• · Continuous emission monitor panel free of fault or maintenance alarms, with any alarm raised as a finding
• · An abatement unit or monitor out of service, kept on the board as a temporary control with a check scheduled each shift until it is back and cleared with a reason

What Amberhold does not replace

• · Emissions monitoring the permit requires, by MCERTS-certified or accredited resources unless the Environment Agency agrees otherwise in writing
• · Notifying the regulator when an emission limit is exceeded or key abatement plant fails
• · Calibration and quality assurance of continuous emission monitors, and their data system. Amberhold is not calibration management or a data acquisition and handling system, and does not handle monitoring data

Who it applies to

Operators of combustion plant with a rated thermal input of at least 1 MW and below 50 MW, and of specified generators, from the dates their permits are required. For example, an existing plant of 5 MW or less needs a permit from 1 January 2029. Some plant is excluded.

What it means for a site

Permits include emission limit values and periodic emissions measurements: at least every three years for plant of 1 to 20 MW and every year above 20 MW; for plant on limited operating hours, the frequency can be set by operating hours instead, but never less than once every five years. Operators record fuel type and quantity and any malfunction or breakdown of abatement, and keep records for at least six years; where secondary abatement is used, they keep records that it operates effectively and continuously. Under the SR2018 No 7 standard rules, each plant must be run to its manufacturer's instructions with records to show it, there must be no persistent dark smoke, and records must be legible, made as soon as reasonably practicable, amended so the original stays legible or retrievable, and kept for at least 6 years unless the Environment Agency agrees otherwise in writing.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Weekly hours-run meter reading for each boiler, engine or generator
• · Fuel in use on dual-fuel plant, and hours on back-up gas oil since the last round
• · No fault alarms on the panel, and flue gas temperature within the site's own band
• · On start-up: no persistent dark smoke seen at the stack, with notes

What Amberhold does not replace

• · Periodic stack emissions measurements to the monitoring standard the permit names, and monitoring returns
• · The fuel and operating-hours records the permit requires. If a site keeps a permit-required record in Amberhold, it should first check that the record meets the permit's own rules

Who it applies to

Occupiers of buildings with chimneys, people in possession of a fixed boiler or industrial plant served by a chimney, and occupiers of industrial or trade premises. Under section 41A these parts of the Act stop applying to an activity regulated under the environmental permitting regime from its determination date; whether that applies to a site is a question for its adviser.

What it means for a site

Emitting dark smoke from a chimney, or from industrial or trade premises, is an offence, with prescribed exemptions and statutory defences. Dark smoke means smoke as dark as, or darker than, shade 2 on the Ringelmann chart, though a court can find that smoke was dark without an actual chart comparison.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · On boiler or furnace start-up and once each shift: smoke at the chimney (none visible, light or dark-looking), with a note of how long it lasted
• · Dark-looking smoke raised as a finding, with the time and the likely cause

What Amberhold does not replace

• · A formal Ringelmann assessment, or deciding whether an offence or a defence applies
• · For plant on the SR2018 No 7 standard rules, the permit's own dark smoke rule

Who it applies to

Employers and people in control of premises, where the premises are controlled in connection with a trade, business or other undertaking, water is used or stored, and there is a way of creating and spreading droplets that may be inhaled, such as cooling towers, evaporative condensers and some other water systems.

What it means for a site

HSE says the general duties of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 extend to legionella, and that COSHH more specifically provides the framework: assess the risk, prevent exposure or, where that is not reasonably practicable, control it adequately, and keep plant and equipment provided as control measures maintained. L8 is an Approved Code of Practice with special legal status: following it is enough to comply on the matters it covers, and someone who departs from it and is prosecuted must show they complied in another way. L8 says the system's condition and performance will need to be monitored, that records should include the state of operation and the results and dates of monitoring, and that monitoring records are kept for at least five years. HSG274 Part 1 recommends inspection frequencies for cooling systems: daily, that the system is operating as the operations manual describes, and a visual check of the cleanliness of the water; weekly, its physical condition and a dip slide; every one to three months according to risk, the central control, blow-down and conductivity sensor calibration. Its typical on-site water tests are weekly conductivity or TDS, pH and oxidising biocide, and monthly inhibitor and other water chemistry; HSE says these tests may be omitted or added to for the specific system. HSE says routine legionella testing of cooling towers should be carried out at least quarterly, and HSG274 says samples should be tested by a UKAS-accredited laboratory.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · System state each round: in use, on standby or drained down
• · Daily: operating as the operations manual describes; water clean by eye (clear, cloudy or debris visible)
• · Weekly: conductivity or TDS, pH and oxidising biocide reserve against the limits in the site's written scheme, with a yes or no that the biocide result was pH-corrected as the site's method requires
• · Weekly: dip slide taken, with the count read after incubation entered on a follow-up round against the site's action levels
• · Dosing pumps running with no leaks; treatment chemical stock adequate, low or empty

What Amberhold does not replace

• · The risk assessment, the written control scheme and its limits, and appointing the competent responsible person
• · Legionella sampling and laboratory analysis, and competent interpretation of results
• · The water treatment provider's service report, cleaning and disinfection, and sensor calibration
• · Signing records: L8 guidance says records should be signed, verified or authenticated by the people doing the tasks. Each record carries the signed-in operator's name and the time, but Amberhold is not an electronic-signature system, so the site decides whether its records meet that
• · Keeping monitoring records for the period L8 sets: the site owns its record retention

Who it applies to

Each person who has, to any extent, control of non-domestic premises used for or in connection with a trade, business or other undertaking (whether for profit or not) where a cooling tower or evaporative condenser is situated. A device with no water exposed to air, and whose water and electrical supplies are not connected, is not notifiable.

What it means for a site

A notifiable device must not be on the premises unless the local authority has been told in writing, on an HSE-approved form, with the premises address, a person in control, the number of devices and where each one is. Changes must be notified within one month. If a device ceases to be, and is no longer intended to remain, a notifiable device, that must be notified as soon as reasonably practicable; that notice is not required when a device is only suspended for maintenance or for a seasonal shutdown. This is a written notification duty, not a routine inspection.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Device status on each round: in use, suspended for maintenance, seasonal shutdown, or taken out of use for good
• · Periodically: any cooling tower or evaporative condenser added, removed or moved since the last check? A yes is raised as a finding; updating the notification stays with the dutyholder
• · Each device carries its own QR tag (or NFC tag, in the Android app), so rounds show which one was checked

What Amberhold does not replace

• · The written notification to the local authority and its updates. Amberhold notifies no one

Who it applies to

Food businesses: any business carrying out commercial operations with food, such as selling, preparing, storing or transporting it for sale. 'Business' includes canteens and institutions, whether or not run for profit.

What it means for a site

The framework for food law in Great Britain. The Food Standards Agency sums up the main duties as not making food harmful to health, selling food of the nature, substance or quality consumers expect, and not describing food in a false or misleading way. The Act gives officers powers such as improvement notices, and a defence where a business took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Pre-production hygiene round: food-contact equipment cleaned to your own schedule
• · Goods-in: chilled delivery temperatures against your own acceptance limit
• · Each shift: the check your plan sets at each sieve, magnet or metal detector, each unit identified by a QR tag scan
• · Damaged packaging, a pest sighting or broken glass near open product reported as a finding

What Amberhold does not replace

• · A food safety management system, which the Food Standards Agency says a food business needs
• · Traceability records and withdrawing or recalling unsafe food, which come from general food law (assimilated Regulation 178/2002): Amberhold is not a traceability or recall system
• · Deciding whether the due diligence defence is made out: that is for a court, on all the evidence

Who it applies to

Food business operators in England.

What it means for a site

These Regulations enforce the food hygiene rules, including the requirement for a procedure based on HACCP principles. They also set temperature rules. Subject to exemptions and defences, it is an offence to keep food likely to support the growth of harmful micro-organisms or the formation of toxins above 8 °C, or to keep cooked or reheated food for service or display below 63 °C where it needs that heat to control them. These rules do not apply to operations covered by Regulation 853/2004, or on ships or aircraft. Your own food safety plan decides which temperatures and hygiene points are monitored, against which limits and how often.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Each shift: cold-room and chiller temperatures against your own limits
• · Hot-holding temperatures in an on-site canteen, where food is held for service
• · Weekly premises round: walls, floors, drains, doors and strip curtains in good repair
• · Daily pest-control walk: a QR scan at each bait point or fly unit

What Amberhold does not replace

• · Your HACCP-based procedure: Amberhold only holds records of the checks it calls for
• · Keeping HACCP and procedure documents up to date
• · The scientific assessment needed before recommending storage above 8 °C

Who it applies to

Food business operators carrying out any stage of production, processing or distribution of food after primary production, such as food manufacturers.

What it means for a site

The business must put in place, implement and maintain a permanent procedure based on HACCP principles: identify hazards and critical control points, set critical limits and monitor them, set corrective actions, verify that the system works, and keep records in proportion to the size of the business. The Food Standards Agency describes a food safety management system as a written set of processes, checks, rules and records. Your HACCP plan, not any software, decides what is monitored, against which limits and how often.

Checks Amberhold can help you record

• · Readings your HACCP plan says are taken by hand on a round, such as a core or chill temperature, against the limit your plan sets
• · A reading beyond the limit your plan sets, flagged as it is entered and listed under Needs attention until a manager or site administrator records what was decided or done
• · Shift start-up hygiene checks: hand-wash stations stocked, food-contact equipment clean
• · Missed or overdue monitoring rounds stay visible to supervisors

What Amberhold does not replace

• · The HACCP plan and procedure: Amberhold is not a HACCP or food safety management system and does not validate one
• · Hazard analysis and setting critical control points and critical limits
• · Verifying that the HACCP measures work, and reviewing them when products or processes change
• · Calibration of thermometers and probes, and training records