Do Employees Have Duties Under LOLER?

Does LOLER put duties on employees?

Not as employees. Regulation 3 applies LOLER's duties to employers, for lifting equipment provided for or used by their employees at work, and to anyone who has control of lifting equipment, of a person at work who uses or supervises or manages its use, or of the way it is used, to the extent of that control. Control only counts where it is exercised in connection with a trade, business or other undertaking that person carries on. A supervisor or manager who directs a lift does it as part of their employer's undertaking, so the LOLER duty is the employer's. Employees' own duties come from the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

What duties do employees have around lifting equipment?

Five, from two pieces of law, and breaching any of them is a criminal offence:

1. Take reasonable care for your own health and safety and that of anyone your acts or omissions at work may affect (section 7 of the 1974 Act).
2. Co-operate with your employer as far as needed for it to meet its legal duties (section 7).
3. Never intentionally or recklessly interfere with or misuse anything provided for health and safety, such as a limit switch, an interlock or an overload alarm (section 8, which applies to everyone, not only employees).
4. Use lifting equipment in line with your training and your employer's instructions (Regulation 14 of the Management Regulations).
5. Tell your employer, or a colleague with responsibility for health and safety, about any situation your training tells you is a serious and immediate danger, and about any shortcoming in the safety arrangements (Regulation 14).

What does that mean for someone using lifting equipment?

Day to day, it comes down to a handful of habits:

1. Use only equipment you have been trained to use, and only in the way you were shown.
2. Carry out the pre-use checks your employer asks for, and do not use equipment that fails them.
3. Never exceed the safe working load marked on the equipment or accessory, and do not use a sling with no marking.
4. Follow the lift plan and the supervisor's instructions, and stop and ask if conditions change from what was planned.
5. Never ride on a load, on the forks of a forklift, or on anything else not designed to carry people.
6. Report damage, overloads, near misses and defects straight away.

What should an employee do about overdue or defective equipment?

Not use it, and tell the supervisor or employer straight away: reporting it is part of the duty under Regulation 14. Many employers show the next examination date on a tag or label; otherwise the equipment register or the last report has it. Once a report says equipment must not be used until a defect is put right, the employer must make sure it is not used.

What about supervisors and managers?

Regulation 8 requires every lifting operation to be properly planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out in a safe manner. That is the employer's duty, but supervisors and managers are usually the people who carry it out, and PUWER requires the employer to give those who supervise or manage the use of work equipment the same kind of information, instructions and training as the people who use it. A supervisor is also an employee, with the same personal duties as everyone else. And where a company commits an offence with the consent or connivance of a director or senior manager, or through their neglect, section 37 of the 1974 Act makes that person guilty of the offence too.

Do the Work at Height Regulations add anything?

Yes, for work in a MEWP or a cradle, or wearing a harness. Regulation 14 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 requires anyone working under someone else's control to report to that person any activity or defect relating to work at height that they know is likely to endanger themselves or anyone else.

What must the employer give employees in return?

The means to do it right. PUWER requires adequate health and safety information, written instructions where appropriate, and adequate training for everyone who uses lifting equipment and everyone who supervises or manages its use. LOLER requires lifting operations to be planned and supervised, equipment and accessories to be marked with their safe working loads, and thorough examinations to be kept in date. An employee cannot follow a lift plan that was never made, or check a date nobody recorded.

Can an employee be prosecuted?

Yes. HSE's guidance to its inspectors is that an employee is most likely to be prosecuted under section 7 where they have shown a reckless disregard for health and safety that has resulted in serious risk. Working as you were trained, using equipment as instructed and reporting what is wrong is what the law asks of an employee, and it is also the best protection.