LOLER Inspection Checklist: What to Prepare and What Is Checked

Is there an official LOLER inspection checklist?

Not in the law. LOLER requires a thorough examination by a competent person but does not list what to check. Industry guidelines describe what is usually examined on each kind of equipment, and the competent person decides the scope for each item from its age, condition, use and history. Two identical machines on different sites can need different attention, so one tick sheet applied to everything is a warning sign rather than a standard. The table above shows the parts that usually get the most attention on each kind of equipment. The examiner also reads the history, operates the safety devices rather than just looking at them, and examines the load path at close quarters.

What should you have ready before the visit?

A visit goes faster, and misses nothing, when the paperwork and access are sorted first. Have ready:

1. A list of every item to be examined, where it is and how it is identified. The free LOLER register template is built for this.
2. The last report for each item, and what has been done about any defect on it.
3. Records of repairs and parts replaced since then, and of anything that has happened to the equipment, such as damage, an overload or a long spell out of use.
4. Keys and access to the machine room, pit, roof or wherever the equipment is, any permit your site needs, and someone on site to let the examiner in.
5. A time when the equipment can be out of service: part of the visit for a lift, between shifts for a forklift or MEWP.
6. Slings, chains and shackles gathered in one place and clean enough to examine, with anything damaged already set aside.
7. For a lift, whether your lift company needs to attend, agreed in advance, for example when supplementary tests are due.

What should you check when the report arrives?

That it contains what Schedule 1 of LOLER requires. A report missing any of these is not doing its job:

1. Each item identified, so the report can be matched to the equipment in front of you.
2. Its safe working load.
3. The date of the examination and the latest date for the next one.
4. Whether the equipment is safe to operate.
5. Any defect, what is needed to put it right, and by when.
6. The name and qualifications of the person who made the report, and a signature or authentication.

What should you do after the examination?

Act on the report, not just file it:

1. Stop using anything the report says is a danger now until it has been put right.
2. Have other defects put right before the dates on the report: after that date the equipment must not be used until they are.
3. Keep the repairer's record of each repair, and check whether the repair needs an examination of its own.
4. Put each item's next due date in your register and book the examination before it.
5. Keep the report: for a periodic examination, until the next report or for two years, whichever is later.

Does equipment pass or fail a LOLER inspection?

Not in those words. The report states whether the equipment is safe to operate and lists any defect, each with what is needed and by when. People say it failed when a defect is a danger now, because the equipment must then not be used until it is put right. A defect with a date is not a fail, but the date still binds: once it passes, the equipment must not be used until the defect has been put right.

What checks should happen between examinations?

Pre-use checks by whoever operates the equipment, inspections where the risk calls for them, and the maintenance the maker specifies. LOLER requires lifting equipment to be inspected by a competent person at suitable intervals between thorough examinations where that is appropriate, and PUWER requires work equipment to be kept in efficient working order and in good repair. None of these replaces the thorough examination, and the thorough examination does not replace them.