LOLER Questions, Answered
Short, straight answers to the 29 questions we are asked most, each linked to the page that answers it in full.
The basics
What is LOLER?
The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998. They apply across Great Britain to lifting equipment used at work, and require it 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.
What equipment does LOLER cover?
Work equipment for lifting or lowering loads: passenger and goods lifts, platform lifts, stairlifts, hoists including patient hoists, cranes, forklifts, telehandlers, MEWPs, vehicle lifts and tail lifts, along with the slings, chains, shackles and eyebolts used with them. Escalators and moving walkways are not covered by LOLER.
Who is responsible for arranging the examination?
Whoever controls the equipment, to the extent of their control: usually the employer, building owner, freeholder or management company, and a managing agent as far as it controls the equipment. Several parties can hold duties at once, and booking an examiner, appointing an agent or being insured hands the duty to nobody.
What is the difference between LOLER and PUWER?
PUWER covers all work equipment, from hand tools to machinery. LOLER adds specific duties for lifting equipment, including the thorough examination, so lifting equipment is covered by both.
How often
How often does lifting equipment need a thorough examination?
At least every six months for equipment that lifts people and for lifting accessories, and at least every twelve months for everything else, unless a written scheme of examination drawn up by a competent person sets different intervals.
What else triggers an examination?
Before first use, unless the equipment is new and its declaration of conformity was made within the twelve months before it goes into service; after installation, or assembly at a new site, where its safety depends on that; and after anything liable to affect its safety, such as damage, a serious fault or a major alteration.
Is there a grace period if the examination is overdue?
No. The interval is a maximum, and equipment whose examination has lapsed should not be used until it has been examined. Book an examination straight away and say it is overdue.
What is a written scheme of examination?
An alternative to the fixed intervals, drawn up by a competent person for specific equipment and based on how it is actually used. It sets the right frequency for how the equipment is actually used, which can mean examining more often as well as less.
The examination
What happens during a thorough examination?
A competent person examines the equipment and its safety-critical parts in detail, tests what needs testing, and records its condition in a written report. On a traction lift that covers the doors and their locks, the ropes, brake, governor and safety gear, and the alarm and controls.
How long does it take, and will the lift be out of service?
A single passenger lift usually takes one to three hours on site. It comes out of service for part of that time, because the brake, governor and safety gear cannot be tested with people in it, so agree a time in advance.
Full answer: Will the Examiner Leave My Lift Out of Service?
Is a service visit the same as a LOLER inspection?
No. A service keeps the equipment running. The thorough examination is a separate legal check of whether it is safe to keep using, and a service neither counts as the examination nor resets its date.
Can my maintenance company carry out the examination?
It is not automatically unlawful, but HSE says the person who maintains equipment should not also examine it, because they would be judging their own work. A maintenance company's own examiners need genuine independence from its maintenance side.
Full answer: Can My Lift Company Carry Out the LOLER Inspection?
Can I carry out the examination myself?
Only if you are a competent person: someone with the practical and theoretical knowledge and experience to find that equipment's defects, and independent enough to judge them impartially. Routine checks between examinations are worthwhile, but they do not replace it.
Does my insurer's inspection count?
Not necessarily. An insurer's engineer may survey equipment to understand the risk being underwritten, which is not the same as a statutory thorough examination, and being insured does not mean the examination has been done. Check that you hold a Report of Thorough Examination for every item.
Full answer: Does My Insurer Carry Out the LOLER Inspection?
Is there a LOLER licence or certificate?
No. There is no LOLER licence and no official register of approved examiners: competence is about knowledge, experience and independence. What the law requires after an examination is a written Report of Thorough Examination, not a certificate.
The report and defects
What should the report contain?
What Schedule 1 of LOLER sets out, including who it was made for, the equipment and its safe working load, the date of the examination and the latest date for the next one, whether the equipment is safe to operate, and any defect with what is needed to put it right. It must be signed or authenticated by the competent person.
Full answer: LOLER Certificate: What People Mean and What You Actually Get
What happens if a defect is found?
You are told straight away, followed by the written report. A defect that is a danger now means the equipment must not be used until it is put right, and one that could become a danger is given a date for repair. Where there is an existing or imminent risk of serious personal injury, the examiner must also send a copy of the report to the enforcing authority.
What do defect categories A, B and C mean?
The law does not use letters. Many examiners use A for a defect that is a danger now, B for one that must be put right by a date, and C for a minor point or observation. The labels vary, so read the key on your report and act on the dates.
How long must reports be kept?
Reports of periodic examinations, the six- or twelve-monthly ones or those under a scheme, must be kept until the next report or for two years, whichever is later. The report of the first examination must be kept for as long as you use the equipment, or two years for a lifting accessory, and the report of an examination after installation for as long as it is used at that site.
Full answer: LOLER Record Keeping: How Long to Keep Your Reports
Does second-hand or hired equipment need examining?
Equipment from another business must not be used unless it comes with physical evidence of its last thorough examination, such as the report; otherwise it needs examining first. On a long hire, the next examination falls to whoever has control of the equipment when it is due, often the hirer.
Full answer: Who Examines Hired or Leased Lifting Equipment?
Homes, flats and grey areas
Does a lift in a block of flats need LOLER?
Yes, in almost every block. Cleaners, caretakers and contractors use the communal lift at work, and the freeholder or management company controls it, so it needs a thorough examination at least every six months. Even where nobody works in the building, the duty to keep it safe remains.
Does a stairlift or home lift in a private house need LOLER?
Usually not, if it belongs to the household, even when visiting carers use it. It does where equipment is supplied for people to use at work, such as a hoist a council or care provider supplies for paid carers.
Full answer: Does LOLER Apply to a Stairlift in a Private Home?
What are the grey areas?
Equipment loaned by councils or the NHS, carers people employ themselves, social landlords' stairlifts in tenants' homes, lifts only the public uses, and halls run by volunteers. In each, the safe course is usually to treat the equipment as in scope.
Are escalators covered by LOLER?
No. HSE's guidance is that LOLER does not apply to escalators or moving walkways. They come under regulation 19 of the Workplace Regulations and PUWER, and guidelines drawn up in consultation with HSE recommend a thorough examination normally every six months.
Working with us
How soon do I get the report?
The same day. It is issued digitally, with photographs of what was examined and of any defect.
Do you carry out repairs?
No. We sell no repairs, so a defect on the report is never a quotation in disguise, and your own maintenance company does any work that is needed.
Will you remind me when the next examination is due?
Yes. We keep each item's next-due date on file and contact you before it falls due.
Do you inspect all makes?
Yes. We are independent of every manufacturer and maintenance company, so the name on the equipment makes no difference.
Which areas do you cover?
London, Kent and the South East, with the time of each visit agreed in advance.
Not answered here? Call the office, or browse the full guides in the knowledge base.
Book an Examination
Tell us what needs examining and where, and when the last report was dated if you know it. We'll tell you what is due and book a time that suits the building.
Already have an asset list or examination schedule? Email it to info@integrityliftcompliance.co.uk and we'll come back with a survey plan rather than ask you to retype it.