Vertical Platform Lifts
Low-rise and enclosed vertical platform lifts giving step-free access in shops, offices, schools and public buildings.
Vertical, Inclined & Through-Floor Platform Lifts
Platform Lift Inspections in London
Independent six-monthly LOLER thorough examination of platform lifts: the vertical, inclined and through-floor lifts that give step-free access in shops, offices, schools, public buildings, care homes and blocks of flats. A platform lift carries people, so it is six-monthly however small or slow it is. The report, with photographs, comes the same day, and we remind you before the next one is due.
26+ Years Hands-On Engineering Experience
Independent of Maintenance Contracts
7 Days a Week, 6am to 6pm
Same-Day Reports, With Photos
Certificate expired or lift out of compliance? You're exposed to enforcement action, and your insurance may not respond, until it's resolved. What to do.
Written and reviewed by Mark Crowley, Director, Integrity Lift Compliance Ltd — 26+ years of hands-on lifting equipment engineering. NHS estates, commercial property and industrial lifting compliance.
Engineering Approach
What our platform lift inspection programme delivers
Independent, defensible statutory examination by an engineer with deep hands-on plant experience.
- Six-monthly LOLER thorough examination: platform lifts carry people
- Vertical platform lifts, inclined stair platform lifts and through-floor lifts
- Drive and safety nut, safety edges and sensors, gates and interlocks, emergency lowering
- Report with photographs issued the same day, and a reminder before the next is due
- Independent of the installer or maintenance company: all makes and models
- Planned around the people who rely on the lift, so step-free access is lost for as little time as possible
What a platform lift inspection covers
A platform lift is slower and simpler than a passenger lift, but it still carries people, so the examination concentrates on everything that holds the platform up and stops it trapping or crushing anyone. On a typical platform lift that means:
- Drive and safety nut: the screw and nut, chain, rope or hydraulic drive, and the back-up nut or device that holds the platform if the main one wears
- Safety edges and under-pan sensors: the switches that stop the platform if it meets a foot, a wheelchair or an obstruction
- Gates, doors and interlocks: that no gate can open unless the platform is there, and the platform cannot move with one open
- Controls: hold-to-run buttons, key switches, emergency stop and call points
- Emergency lowering: the manual or battery means of getting someone down in a power cut, and whether it works
- Structure and fixings: the enclosure or rail, its fixings to the building, and the platform itself
- Alarm: the means of calling for help from the platform
- Marking: rated load, number of persons and any changes since the last report
Safety edges and emergency lowering are where platform lifts most often fail. Both are easy to overlook because the lift seems to work normally until the moment they are needed.
Why platform lifts are six-monthly
LOLER 1998 Regulation 9 sets six months for any lifting equipment that carries people, and a platform lift is exactly that. Size and speed make no difference, and neither does how lightly it is used. Platform lifts are among the lifts most often missing from a building's schedule, because they look more like equipment than a lift and are usually on a separate maintenance contract from the passenger lifts.
How often do LOLER inspections need doing?What you get after the inspection
A Report of Thorough Examination with everything LOLER Schedule 1 requires — including the platform lift identified, the date examined, its safe working load, any defect with what must be done and by when, and the date the next examination is due — with each defect graded by severity. On top of that:
- Same-day report: issued digitally on the day of the inspection, not weeks later. The trade convention is 28 days
- Photographs: of what was examined and of any defect, in every report as standard
- Records and reminders: we keep each machine's record on file and remind you before the next six-monthly examination falls due
If it is not safe to use, you are told in writing before we leave. Because we sell no repairs, a defect on the report is never a quotation in disguise.
Assets We Examine
Asset classes covered under our platform lift inspection programme.
Inclined Stair Platform Lifts
Wheelchair platforms that run up a staircase on a rail, common in older buildings, schools and places of worship.
Through-Floor Lifts
Through-floor and home-style lifts in care settings, supported housing and light-commercial buildings.
Short-Rise Step Lifts
Low platform lifts that climb a few steps at an entrance, stage or mezzanine.
Manufacturers We Inspect
Independent of every installer and manufacturer — no conflict of interest, whichever make is on your site.
- Stiltz
- Cibes
- Terry Lifts
- Gartec
- Aritco
- AXESS2
- Liftup
- Nibav Lifts
Trusted by Critical Estates
Independent. Defensible. Genuinely Endorsed.
SAFed-aligned defect classification, and the endorsement below is a genuine NHS Trust quote — not stock marketing copy.
NHS
NHS
Critical estate passenger lift compliance experience
SK
Skanska
Construction & engineering compliance support
A·B·C
SAFed-Aligned Defect Grading
Defects graded A, B or C to the published SAFed severity scale — a grading standard we follow, not a membership we hold
DBS
Enhanced DBS
Director Mark Crowley holds an enhanced DBS check
NHS Trust Endorsement
“Exceptional response times and thorough documentation. Managing compliance across multiple critical medical estates is complex, but their team makes statutory lift auditing seamless.”
Phillip Nai
Critical Healthcare Estates Manager
Barts Health NHS Trust
Areas We Cover
Independent platform lift inspections across London.
Common Questions
Platform Lift Inspection FAQs
How often does a platform lift need a LOLER inspection?
Every six months, because it carries people. That applies to vertical platform lifts, inclined stair platform lifts and through-floor lifts in workplaces, public buildings, schools, care homes and blocks of flats.
Our platform lift is small and slow. Does it still count as a lift?
Yes. Size and speed do not change the law: it lifts people, so it is six-monthly. Small platform lifts are some of the most often missed lifts in a building.
Is a platform lift service the same as the LOLER inspection?
No. A service keeps the lift working and is done by the maintenance company. The LOLER thorough examination is a separate legal check that it is safe to keep using, and is best done by someone independent of the maintenance. A service does not reset its date.
Does a platform lift in a private home need a LOLER inspection?
Usually not, if it is in a private house and used only by the family. It does where people use it in the course of their work: carers operating it in someone's home, or a lift in a care home, supported housing or the common parts of a block of flats, which staff, cleaners and contractors use and the landlord or operator controls.
What happens if the platform lift fails its examination?
If it is unsafe, it stays out of service until repaired and we tell you in writing before we leave. Because the lift is often the only step-free route, we help you plan around that, but we sell no repairs; your own lift company does the work.
Do you inspect platform lifts in listed buildings?
Yes. Platform lifts retrofitted into older buildings often have unusual arrangements, and we examine them on the same six-monthly basis.
How soon do I get the report?
The same day, with photographs. We keep the lift's record and remind you before the next examination is due.
Request a Survey
Tell us what needs inspecting and where. We'll reply within one business hour.
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.
Survey Request Form
Further reading on platform lift inspections
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.
Which Standards and Regulations Apply to Your Lift?
Lift compliance is split between two very different things that get muddled constantly: the law that applies when a lift is supplied, and the law that applies while it is in use. Standards sit alongside both without usually being law themselves. Knowing which is which decides who is responsible for what.
Does LOLER Apply to a Stairlift in a Private Home?
For most householders the answer is no, and nobody tells them so. LOLER covers lifting equipment provided for use at work. A stairlift a homeowner installed and uses themselves is not work equipment. The moment someone's employee relies on it to do their job, the position changes.
Prefer to talk to an engineer?
07496 873972