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Integrity Lift Compliance
Knowledge Base

How Often Does a Crane Need a Thorough Examination?

Twelve months where the crane lifts loads, six where it lifts people. But with cranes the calendar is rarely what catches people out — it is Regulation 9's other trigger, which requires examination after installation and after assembly at each new site, and which a monthly diary reminder will never prompt.

Written and reviewed by Mark Crowley, Director, Integrity Lift Compliance Ltd — 26+ years hands-on lifting equipment engineering — NHS, commercial and industrial estates

What interval applies to a crane?

Twelve months under LOLER Regulation 9 for a crane lifting loads, six where it is used to lift persons — a man-riding application, which is exceptional and carries additional requirements of its own. Lifting accessories used with the crane, including slings, shackles and spreader beams, are on six months regardless, which is a separate programme from the crane itself.

Why does relocation matter more than the date?

Because Regulation 9 requires a thorough examination where safety depends on the installation conditions, after installation and before first use, and again after assembly at each new site. A tower crane or a mast climbing platform erected on a new site needs examining there, on that ground, in that configuration — the certificate from the last site says nothing about this one. This is the trigger most often overlooked.

What does the examiner check on an overhead travelling crane?

The structure — girders, end carriages, welds and bolted connections — plus the long travel and cross travel mechanisms and their rails, the hoist and its brake, the wire rope along its length and at the terminations, the hook and its safety catch, limit switches at every extreme of travel, the overload protection, and the pendant or radio controls including the emergency stop.

Why are hooks measured rather than looked at?

Because a hook deforms gradually under repeated loading, and the throat opens before anything visibly cracks. Examiners measure the throat against its original dimension and look for wear in the saddle, twist across the plane of the hook, and the condition of the safety catch. A hook that has started to open is carrying loads through a changed geometry, and the deterioration accelerates.

What makes wire rope fail an examination?

Broken wires, concentrated in a lay length or at a termination; corrosion, including internal corrosion that shows as a reduction in diameter; deformation such as birdcaging, kinking or core protrusion; and wear on the crown wires from sheave contact. Terminations take disproportionate attention because deterioration concentrates where the rope is held and where it is hardest to inspect.

Does a lift plan still apply if the crane is examined?

Yes, and the two are frequently confused. Regulation 9 covers the equipment's condition. Regulation 8 requires each lifting operation to be properly planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out safely — the load, the route, the ground, the people beneath. A current examination report demonstrates nothing about how the lift was planned, and prosecutions more often concern the operation than the equipment.

Sources & Further Reading

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Related Knowledge

LOLER 1998 Regulation by Regulation
Almost every conversation about LOLER is a conversation about Regulation 9 — the thorough examination — because that is the bit somebody sells you. It is one of eight duties that actually apply to you, and it is not the one most prosecutions turn on. This sets out what each regulation requires and where people come unstuck.
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Do Slings and Chains Need Examining as Often as the Lift?
Lifting accessories are examined every six months, not every twelve. That surprises people, because accessories do not lift persons and the six-monthly limb is usually explained as the one for passenger-carrying plant. Accessories are on it in their own right, and they are the items most often missed entirely.
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How Often Are LOLER Inspections Required?
Six months for equipment that lifts people and for lifting accessories, twelve months for everything else, or in line with a written examination scheme drawn up by a competent person. That is the whole rule. What catches duty-holders out is rarely the interval itself — it is when the clock starts, what resets it, and the examinations that fall outside the cycle altogether.
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