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Integrity Lift Compliance
Knowledge Base

LOLER vs PUWER

PUWER covers all work equipment and sets the general duties: suitable, maintained, inspected where it can deteriorate, guarded and used by trained people. LOLER adds specific duties for equipment that lifts, including a thorough examination at fixed intervals with a prescribed written report. Lifting equipment is covered by both; other work equipment comes under PUWER but not LOLER.

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

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LOLER and PUWER compared
ComparedPUWER 1998LOLER 1998
Applies toAll work equipmentWork equipment that lifts or lowers loads, including people
Core dutiesSuitability, maintenance, inspection, guarding, controls, trainingStrength, stability, marking, planned lifts, thorough examination
Formal checkInspection where safety depends on installation or deteriorationThorough examination by a competent person
IntervalSet by risk assessment (fixed only for power presses)6 months for people and accessories, 12 months otherwise, or a written scheme
RecordInspection result, kept until the next inspectionReport with the particulars in Schedule 1
ExamplesSaws, presses, grinders, conveyors, escalatorsLifts, cranes, forklifts, MEWPs, hoists, slings

What does PUWER cover?

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 apply to any machinery, appliance, apparatus, tool or installation used at work: hand tools, ladders, photocopiers, drilling machines, saws, presses, conveyors, vehicles and lifting equipment alike. The equipment must be suitable for the job, maintained in good working order, inspected where it can deteriorate dangerously, guarded where it has dangerous parts, fitted with proper controls and emergency stops, capable of isolation, and used only by people with adequate information, instruction and training. PUWER also has specific rules for mobile work equipment, such as protection against overturning, and a fixed examination regime for power presses.

What does LOLER add?

The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 apply on top of PUWER to equipment that lifts or lowers loads, including people. They add duties PUWER does not have: strength and stability for the load, extra safeguards when people are lifted, marking of the safe working load, planned and supervised lifting operations, and above all a thorough examination by a competent person at fixed intervals, with a written report whose contents are set out in law.

Does lifting equipment have to meet both?

Yes. LOLER does not replace PUWER for lifting equipment; it adds to it. Take a forklift: LOLER governs the thorough examination of the mast, chains, forks and hydraulics, while PUWER governs the brakes, steering, rollover protection, seat restraint, maintenance and operator training. Or a passenger lift: the maintenance contract is how the owner meets PUWER's duty to keep it in good repair, and the six-monthly thorough examination is what LOLER requires. One does not count as the other.

What is the difference between a PUWER inspection and a LOLER thorough examination?

A PUWER inspection is required where equipment's safety depends on its installation, or where it is exposed to conditions that could cause dangerous deterioration. Its interval is set by risk assessment, and the result must be recorded and kept until the next inspection. A LOLER thorough examination has fixed maximum intervals of six or twelve months, or those in a written scheme, and must produce a report containing the particulars in LOLER Schedule 1. Both must be carried out by a competent person.

Which equipment is PUWER only?

Anything that does not lift, and escalators. Machine tools, woodworking machines, grinders, guillotines, press brakes and conveyors fall under PUWER rather than LOLER. Escalators are a common source of confusion: they do carry people between levels, but HSE's guidance is that LOLER does not apply to them or to moving walkways. They come under regulation 19 of the Workplace Regulations and, as work equipment, under PUWER. No interval is fixed in law, but guidelines drawn up in consultation with HSE recommend a thorough examination normally every six months. Power presses are PUWER-only too, but are the one class with fixed statutory examination intervals of their own.

What should a duty-holder do about both?

Keep one register of work equipment, marking which items are lifting equipment. For those, hold the LOLER examination dates and reports. For everything, keep the maintenance records, the risk assessments that set PUWER inspection intervals, and the training records for operators. Make sure pre-use checks happen. Then act on what the reports say: a clean LOLER report is not evidence of PUWER compliance, and a PUWER inspection is not a LOLER thorough examination.

Sources & Further Reading

See our full PUWER 1998 Compliance overview
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Related Knowledge

What is LOLER?
LOLER is the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998. It applies across Great Britain to lifting equipment used at work, and requires that equipment to be strong and stable enough for the job, properly installed and marked, used in planned lifting operations, and thoroughly examined by a competent person at set intervals: every six months for equipment that lifts people and for lifting accessories, and every twelve months for everything else, unless a written examination scheme sets different ones.
Read article
What Is PUWER?
PUWER is the set of UK laws that keeps people safe when they use machinery and tools at work. It covers everything from a hand tool to a factory machine or a vehicle, and it says equipment must be right for the job, kept in safe working order, checked regularly, and used only by people trained to use it. The formal name is the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
Read article
PUWER Risk Assessment & Maintenance Duties
PUWER 1998 requires work equipment to be suitable for the risks it presents, kept properly maintained and used only by trained operators, and the Management Regulations require those risks to be assessed — obligations that continue even where LOLER's periodic examination has just been completed.
Read article