This awareness-level qualification introduces learners to:

• The particular hazards of power presses
• The legal framework, including PUWER 1998
• The types of power press and their safeguarding arrangements
• The requirement for thorough examination and testing
• The role of the appointed and competent person
• The setting, adjustment and trial of tools
• Daily inspection and testing of safety devices before use
• The certificates and records required for power presses
• Safe systems of work for maintenance and tool changing
• The reporting of defects and dangerous occurrences

• Presses have their own law for a reason. They are the only machinery class given dedicated prescriptive requirements, because general duties proved insufficient.
• A press may not be used until signed off. Guards and protection devices must be inspected and tested at the start of each working period and after tool changes, with a signed certificate before use.
• Flywheels store energy that cannot be released instantly. Stopping performance governs every guarding decision, and it worsens as brakes wear.
• Repeat strokes injure people. A press that cycles again without demand, while hands are in the tools, is the characteristic failure of mechanical presses.
• Setting is where the risk sits. Tool changes, adjustments and try-outs expose people in ways that production running does not.
• Safe tooling removes the problem. Tools designed so that access to the trapping point is impossible protect regardless of guarding, operator behaviour or device condition.

• Foundation-level (Level 1) qualification for press operators, setters, maintenance and supervisory personnel
• Minimum of 4 hours’ instructional contact time, designed for flexible short-course delivery
• Delivered entirely online through the Britsafe learning management system (LMS) no physical classroom attendance is required
• Course materials are provided digitally (soft copy) via the LMS
• Assessed via an online examination through the Britsafe Examination Management System (EMS), with a minimum pass mark of 70%
• Certification issued with an anti-counterfeit hologram security seal, available both as a physical copy and as a soft (digital) copy
• Explains the dedicated statutory regime applying to power presses
• Gives proper weight to setting and tool changing, where injuries concentrate
• Covers repeat strokes and the clutch and brake systems that prevent them
• Explains safe tool design as the most reliable protection available
• Available fully online to learners in the UK and internationally

Knowledge developed:

• The dedicated statutory regime applying to power presses
• Press types, flywheel energy, clutch and brake systems
• Guarding methods, safe tooling and their relative reliability
• Setting, tool changing and try-out hazards
• Inspection, certification, thorough examination and records

Skills developed:

• Confirming a press has been inspected and certified before use
• Recognising abnormal press behaviour, including any repeat stroke
• Recognising guards or devices that have been moved, adjusted or bypassed
• Never reaching into tools between strokes
• Recognising when safety props should be in place during setting
• Reporting changes in stopping behaviour, noise or brake performance

This Award is designed for anyone working with or around power presses, including:

• Power press operators
• Tool setters and toolmakers
• Maintenance and engineering technicians
• Production supervisors and team leaders
• Quality personnel accessing press areas
• Materials handling and scrap removal operatives
• Cleaning teams working in press shops
• Contractors working on press equipment
• Production managers responsible for press operations
• Health and safety advisers and coordinators
• Those preparing for competent person appointment
• Apprentices and trainees entering press work

No prior qualification is required this Award is intended as an accessible entry point into the subject.

There are no formal academic prerequisites for this Level 1 Award. It is open to learners aged 16 and above with a reasonable standard of spoken and written English, sufficient to engage with course materials and complete the assessment. No prior engineering knowledge is assumed.

Course content is structured around progressive learning blocks covering why presses are separately regulated; press types and operation; flywheel energy and stopping performance; clutch and brake systems; brake wear and its consequences; repeat and double strokes; guarding methods; two-hand controls and their limitations; sensing protective devices on presses; safe tooling and tool design; setting, adjustment and try-out; safety props, blocks and isolation; inspection and testing of guards and devices; timing of inspections and tool changes; certification before use; the competent person; thorough examination; records and reports; and ancillary hazards including noise, tooling handling and scrap.

Assessment is conducted through an online examination via the Britsafe Examination Management System (EMS). Learners must achieve a minimum score of 70% to pass. On successful completion, learners receive a certificate, available both as a physical copy and as a soft (digital) copy. Results and certificates are typically issued promptly following successful completion.

While this Level 1 Award is a foundation awareness qualification rather than a competence credential, it provides relevant grounding for roles including:

• Power Press Operator
• Tool Setter or Toolmaker
• Maintenance or Engineering Technician
• Production Supervisor or Team Leader
• Materials Handling Operative in press shops
• Production Manager with press responsibilities
• A stepping stone toward setter training and competent person appointment

Metal pressing, stamping and forming

• Automotive component manufacture
• Aerospace and precision engineering
• White goods and consumer product manufacture
• Sheet metal fabrication
• Fastener and hardware production
• Packaging and container manufacture
• Electrical component manufacture
• Contract press work and subcontract manufacturing
• Tool and die making
• Machinery maintenance and inspection services

• Supports compliance with the dedicated statutory requirements applying to power presses
• Reinforces the requirement for certification before use following inspection
• Improves recognition of repeat strokes and abnormal press behaviour
• Focuses attention on setting and tool changing, where injuries concentrate
• Supports the case for safe tooling, the most reliable protection available
• Improves reporting of brake and stopping performance changes
• Reduces informal adjustment or relocation of guards and protective devices
• Provides documented evidence of training for audit, inspection and insurance purposes

• A recognised, portable credential relevant across pressing and metal forming sectors
• Understanding of why presses are regulated differently from other machinery
• A flexible short-course format (minimum 4 hours) that fits around shift patterns
• Knowledge of the specific failure that has cost press workers their hands
• Confidence to stop and report abnormal press behaviour
• A foundation before setter training and competent person appointment

Learners can apply this qualification directly to:

• Confirming the press has been inspected and certified before starting work
• Reporting any occasion on which the press strokes without demand
• Never reaching into the tools between strokes for any reason
• Using tools, hooks or extraction devices rather than hands to clear or place work
• Checking that guards and devices are in their correct position
• Reporting guards or devices that appear to have been moved or adjusted
• Ensuring safety props are in place before anyone works within the tools
• Confirming isolation before tool changing where required by procedure
• Reporting changes in press noise, stopping behaviour or brake performance
• Handling tooling and dies with appropriate lifting aids
• Wearing hearing protection in designated press areas

This Award is best positioned as an awareness foundation before role-specific training. Learners often progress into:

• Power press setting training
• Competent person training for press inspection and testing
• Machinery safety and PUWER training
• Electro-sensitive protective equipment training
• Safe isolation and lock-off training
• Tool design and safe tooling training
• Level 2 and Level 3 occupational health and safety qualifications

• Tool setting and toolmaking career routes
• Competent person appointment for press inspection
• Machinery safety engineering pathways
• Production and manufacturing management development
• Professional membership routes with relevant engineering and safety bodies

Britsafe Qualifications UK Limited delivers this qualification fully online, making it accessible to learners across the UK and internationally without the need to attend a physical training centre. Press mechanics are the same everywhere: flywheels store energy, brakes wear, repeat strokes occur and setting remains the most hazardous activity. The dedicated inspection and certification regime described is specific to Great Britain, and other jurisdictions regulate presses differently, so learners working outside Great Britain should confirm the requirements applicable locally.

1. What does this qualification cover?
It covers power press safety: press types and flywheel energy, clutch and brake systems, repeat strokes, guarding methods and their limitations, safe tooling, setting and tool changing, the statutory inspection and certification regime, thorough examination, records, and ancillary hazards including noise and tooling handling.

2. Why do power presses have their own regulations?
Because of their injury record. Work equipment law in Great Britain is generally goal-setting, leaving organisations to determine how duties are met. Power presses are the exception: they are given dedicated prescriptive requirements covering inspection, testing, certification and thorough examination, because general duties were not preventing the amputations and crush injuries that presses were causing.

3. What is the inspection and certification requirement?
Guards and protection devices on a power press must be inspected and tested by a competent person at the start of each working period, and again after any setting, adjustment or change of tools. That person signs a certificate or declaration, and the press must not be used until it has been signed. This is one of the most prescriptive arrangements in machinery law and it applies daily, not annually.

4. Why can’t a mechanical press stop instantly?
Because it works by storing rotational energy in a flywheel and releasing it through a clutch. That stored energy is what forms the metal, and it cannot be removed instantaneously. Once a stop is demanded, the brake has to arrest a moving mass, which takes measurable time. Every guarding decision the distance protective devices sit from the tools, the position of two-hand controls, whether fixed guarding is needed instead is based on that measured stopping performance.

5. What is a repeat or double stroke?
A press cycling again without any further demand from the operator. It can be caused by a worn or slipping clutch, a failing brake, a broken spring, a control fault or a damaged component. It is the characteristic mechanical press failure and it is severe precisely because it happens at the moment an operator believes the stroke has finished and reaches in. Preventing repeat strokes is a central purpose of the clutch and brake inspection regime.

6. Why does brake wear matter beyond maintenance?
Because it lengthens stopping time, and stopping time determines safety distances. A protective device positioned correctly when the press was commissioned may be too close once the brake has worn, without anything visibly changing. This is why stopping performance is measured periodically and why changes in braking behaviour should be reported rather than tolerated.

7. Are two-hand controls a complete solution?
No. They keep the operator’s hands occupied during the stroke, which protects that person, but they do nothing for anybody else standing at the machine a second operator, a colleague passing, someone loading from the other side. They must also be positioned at an appropriate distance, and they require features preventing them being tied down or operated with one hand and a knee. They are a useful control with clearly defined limits.

8. What is safe tooling and why does it matter so much?
Tooling designed so that the trapping point cannot be reached at all the tool itself provides the protection, through enclosure, restricted openings or design that prevents a hand entering the danger zone. It is the most reliable protection available for presses because it does not depend on a device functioning, a guard being in position, a distance being correct or an operator behaving as expected. Where safe tooling is achievable, it removes the problem rather than managing it.

9. Why is setting more dangerous than production?
Because setting requires access to exactly the area that guarding is designed to prevent access to. Tools are changed, dies adjusted, alignment checked and setups tried out, frequently with guards open or removed and sometimes with the press moving under inching control. The injury history of power presses is overwhelmingly a history of hands in the tools during setting, which is why setters receive specific training and why safety props and isolation arrangements exist.

10. What are safety props and blocks?
Physical supports placed between the tools so that the slide cannot descend, whatever happens to the clutch, brake, controls or hydraulics. They provide mechanical certainty rather than relying on a system remaining in a safe state. Where anyone must work within the tools, props are what stands between them and the weight above.

11. Who is a competent person for press inspection?
Someone with the training, knowledge and experience specific to power press guards and protective devices, appointed by the employer for that purpose. It is a defined role with defined responsibilities, and it carries real consequence, because production cannot lawfully begin until that person has certified the press.

12. Does this qualification make me a competent person or allow me to set tools?
No, and this matters before purchasing. Competent person status for press inspection, testing and certification requires specific training and appointment. Tool setting requires its own training and authorisation. This Award provides underpinning awareness for operators, maintenance staff and supervisors working in press environments.

13. What should be done if a press behaves abnormally?
Stop using it, isolate it where procedure requires, and report it immediately. Any repeat stroke, unexpected movement, change in braking, unusual noise or apparent control fault is a reason to stop rather than to continue and mention it later. Presses give warning before they injure people, and those warnings are frequently reported after the event rather than before it.

14. Who is this qualification aimed at?
Press operators, setters, maintenance technicians, supervisors, quality and materials handling staff working in press shops, contractors, production managers and safety personnel.

15. Are there any entry requirements?
No formal prerequisites are required. Learners should have a reasonable standard of English and be aged 16 or above.

16. How long does the course take to complete?
The qualification has a minimum instructional contact time of 4 hours, making it a compact, focused course suitable for induction-level delivery.

17. How is the qualification assessed?
Through an online examination via the Britsafe Examination Management System, with a minimum pass mark of 70%.

18. What materials are provided with the course?
Learners receive digital (soft copy) course materials via the Britsafe learning management system. The course is delivered entirely online; there is no physical classroom attendance or physical course material.

19. What happens after I pass the exam?
Successful learners receive a certificate from Britsafe Qualifications UK Limited, featuring an anti-counterfeit hologram seal for authenticity. The certificate is available both as a physical copy and as a soft (digital) copy.

20. Is this qualification recognised internationally?
Yes. Britsafe Qualifications UK Limited delivers this qualification fully online to learners across the UK and internationally, though the inspection and certification regime described is specific to Great Britain and local requirements should be confirmed.

21. Can this qualification lead to further study?
Yes. It provides a foundation for setter training, competent person appointment, machinery safety and PUWER training, protective device training and higher-level occupational health and safety qualifications.