The short answer
The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 require lifting equipment used at work to be strong and stable enough, safely positioned, marked with its safe working load, used in planned and supervised lifts, and thoroughly examined by a competent person at set intervals, with written reports kept as records.
On this page
The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998, SI 1998/2307, came into force on 5 December 1998 across Great Britain. Northern Ireland has its own version from 1999 with the same effect. They are short: fourteen regulations and one schedule. HSE’s Approved Code of Practice, L113, explains them in more detail and has special legal status: if you follow it, you are doing enough to comply on the points it covers.
Who the regulations apply to
LOLER applies to employers, the self-employed, and anyone who has control of lifting equipment or of how it is used at work, to the extent of that control. Lifting equipment means work equipment for lifting or lowering loads, including its attachments for anchoring, fixing or supporting it. A lifting accessory is anything that attaches the load to the equipment: slings, shackles, hooks, eyebolts, spreader beams.
They do not apply to equipment a householder uses privately, but they do apply when an employer provides equipment for work in someone’s home, such as a council supplying a hoist that carers use.
The regulations in order
| Regulation | What it requires |
|---|---|
| 4 Strength and stability | Equipment strong and stable enough for each load, including accessories and anything used to fix it |
| 5 Lifting persons | Extra safeguards on equipment that lifts people: preventing falls, crushing and trapping, and a way of rescue |
| 6 Positioning and installation | Positioned to reduce the risk of loads striking people, drifting, falling or being released unintentionally |
| 7 Marking | Safe working load marked, with variations for different configurations; accessories marked so their characteristics are clear; equipment for people marked if not meant for them |
| 8 Organisation of lifting operations | Every lift properly planned by a competent person, supervised and carried out safely |
| 9 Thorough examination and inspection | Examinations before first use, after installation, at intervals and after exceptional circumstances; inspections where needed |
| 10 Reports and defects | The examiner reports in writing, tells you at once about dangerous defects and informs the enforcing authority where there is a serious risk |
| 11 Keeping of information | Reports kept and available for inspection for set periods |
Regulations 1 to 3 cover the title, interpretation and where the rules apply; 12 to 14 deal with exemptions for the armed forces, amendments and repeals. Schedule 1 lists what a report must contain.
Regulation 9 in more detail
Regulation 9 is the one most people mean when they talk about a LOLER inspection. It requires a thorough examination by a competent person:
- before first use, unless the equipment has not been used before and comes with an EC or UK declaration of conformity made no more than 12 months earlier;
- after installation and before first use at each new location, where safety depends on installation conditions;
- periodically while exposed to conditions causing deterioration: at least every 6 months for equipment for lifting people and for accessories, at least every 12 months for other equipment, or in line with an examination scheme;
- after exceptional circumstances liable to jeopardise safety.
It also requires inspections between examinations where needed, and that equipment leaving your business, or coming from another, is accompanied by evidence of its last examination.
Regulation 10: reports and defects
The competent person must:
- tell you at once about any defect that is or could become a danger;
- make a written report as soon as practicable (L113 says within 28 days) with the Schedule 1 information;
- where there is an existing or imminent risk of serious personal injury, send a copy of the report to the enforcing authority.
You must not use the equipment again until a dangerous defect is put right.
Regulation 11: how long to keep reports
| Report | Keep it |
|---|---|
| Before first use (equipment) | Until you stop using the equipment |
| Before first use (accessory) | Two years from the report |
| After installation | Until the equipment leaves that location |
| Periodic and exceptional examinations | Until the next report, or two years, whichever is later |
| Inspections | Until the next inspection is recorded |
How LOLER is enforced
HSE enforces LOLER in factories, construction, hospitals and most industrial premises; local authorities enforce it in offices, shops, warehouses within retail and leisure, and some care settings. Inspectors can serve improvement notices, prohibition notices that stop equipment being used, and prosecute. Breaching the regulations is an offence under section 33 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
What this means for you
For most organisations LOLER comes down to five habits:
- Know what lifting equipment and accessories you have.
- Make sure each is suitable and marked.
- Plan lifts that need planning.
- Have everything examined on time by a competent, independent person. See the interval guide.
- Act on every report and keep it.
If you need an examiner for the fourth, send us your equipment list.