The six-month band has two halves and everybody remembers one
Regulation 9(3) of LOLER 1998 sets six months for lifting equipment for lifting persons, six months for accessories for lifting, and twelve months for everything else.
The first half is obvious. A MEWP, a scissor lift, a passenger hoist: nobody argues that these need looking at twice a year.
The second half is slings, chains, shackles, eyebolts, lifting beams and spreader bars, and they are on exactly the same six months. They are also the cheapest things on the job, they get bought without ceremony, and they live in a bag in the back of a van. That combination is why accessories are the commonest overdue item on any site.
The reason the law treats them the same is straightforward. A machine failing is bad. An accessory failing drops the load on whoever is standing under it.
Two things beat the interval outright
Exceptional circumstances. An overload, a shock load, a major repair, visible damage, or a long spell out of use. Regulation 9(3) requires an examination each time these occur, so an item examined last week and shock loaded yesterday is due today.
Installation or assembly somewhere new. A tower crane, a hoist or a rigged gantry gets examined at each site before it is used there, whatever the calendar says.
Both of these exist because the interval is a floor rather than a promise. Nothing about a date in six months' time makes a chain that was dropped off a roof safe this afternoon.
An examination scheme is an alternative, not a lever
Regulation 9(3)(b) lets you work to a written scheme drawn up by a competent person instead of the default interval.
It can be longer where the use is light and the environment kind. It can equally be shorter, and for hard-worked kit in a corrosive environment it often should be. That is the part people forget when they hear the word scheme.
What it cannot be is a decision. It has to be written, by a competent person, and produceable. "We do ours annually" with nothing behind it is a breach with a story attached to it.
The two retention periods, and why both get binned
Regulation 11 sets different periods for the two things, and the difference is easy to miss.
A report on lifting equipment is kept until you cease to use that equipment. For a crane you own, that is the life of the crane.
A report on an accessory is kept for two years after it is made.
Almost everybody applies one rule to everything. Keep it all for two years and you have thrown away the history of your machines. Keep it all forever and you are fine, just buried. The rule is per item type, so set it up that way once.
Hired-in kit arrives with a duty attached to it
Regulation 9(4): lifting equipment leaving an undertaking or obtained from another must be accompanied by physical evidence that the last thorough examination has been carried out.
That is a check on delivery, and it falls on the person receiving it rather than on the hire desk. A sling that arrives without a report is a sling that does not lift, and the moment to establish that is while the wagon is still there.
The insurer does the examination. You hold the duty.
Most thorough examinations in this country are carried out by an engineer surveyor working for an insurance company, and that arrangement quietly moves the whole subject into the box marked insurance.
Regulation 9 puts the duty on the employer. If the visit gets missed, if the item was off site that week, if the renewal lapsed, it is not the insurer who has breached anything.
Three different things, not one
The thorough examination is by a competent person and produces a report under regulation 10.
Inspection happens at suitable intervals between examinations, and regulation 9(3) asks for it separately.
The pre-use check is the user, on the day, looking at the thing before they pick a load up with it.
A firm with a full folder of certificates and nobody looking at a sling before they sling with it has covered the paperwork and none of the mornings.
Common questions
Is it six months or twelve?
Both, and the split is not where people expect. Regulation 9(3) of LOLER 1998 puts lifting equipment for lifting persons on six months, and accessories for lifting on six months as well. Everything else is twelve. So a MEWP is six-monthly, which everybody knows, and so is a sling, which is the half that gets missed.
Do slings and shackles really need examining every six months?
Yes. An accessory for lifting sits in the same six-month band as a machine that lifts people, because an accessory failing drops the load on whoever is underneath. They are also the cheapest items on site and live in a bag in the back of a van, and that is how they fall off the planner.
What is an examination scheme?
Regulation 9(3)(b) lets you examine in accordance with a written scheme drawn up by a competent person instead of on the default interval. It can set a longer or a shorter period depending on the equipment and the use. It has to be written, it has to be by a competent person, and you have to be able to produce it. Deciding you will do yours annually is not a scheme.
The item was examined last month but it has been overloaded. Do I wait?
No. Regulation 9(3) requires a thorough examination each time exceptional circumstances liable to jeopardise the safety of the lifting equipment have occurred. An overload, a shock load, a major repair, damage, or a long period out of use. The interval is a floor, not a schedule that protects you from an event.
How long do I keep the reports?
It depends which thing it is, which is why both get thrown away. Under regulation 11 a report on lifting equipment is kept until you cease to use that equipment, which for something you own is years. A report on an accessory is kept for two years after it is made. Most people apply one rule to everything and get one of them wrong.
We hire our lifting gear in. Whose job is it?
Yours to check, on delivery. Regulation 9(4) says lifting equipment obtained from another undertaking must be accompanied by physical evidence that the last thorough examination has been carried out. If it turns up without the report, it does not lift. The time to find that out is on the back of the wagon, not during an investigation.
The insurance company does ours. Is that covered?
The examination probably is. The duty is not. Most thorough examinations are done by an engineer surveyor from an insurer, which leads people to treat the whole thing as an insurance matter somebody else is tracking. Regulation 9 puts it on the employer, so if the visit does not happen it is not the insurer who has breached it.
Is a thorough examination the same as an inspection?
No, and there are three things rather than two. The thorough examination is by a competent person and produces a report under regulation 10. Regulation 9(3) separately requires inspection at suitable intervals between examinations. And the user still checks the kit before using it. A firm with a folder full of certificates and no pre-use regime has covered the paperwork and none of the mornings.