Two words that describe the two halves
LOLER is the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998. The name is unusually honest about its scope, because it genuinely does two separate jobs.
Lifting equipment is the kit: is it strong enough, is it marked, is it in a fit state, has somebody competent examined it. Lifting operations is the event: has this particular lift been planned, by somebody who knows what they are doing, and is anybody supervising it.
A yard full of certificated equipment and an unplanned lift satisfies the first half and fails the second, and that combination is behind a great many incidents.
It is broader than cranes, and the accessories are the gap
Lifting equipment means equipment used at work for lifting or lowering loads. That is forklifts and telehandlers, hoists and MEWPs, passenger and goods lifts, vehicle tail lifts, patient hoists, scaffold gin wheels.
And it is the accessories, which is where sites come unstuck. A sling, a chain, a shackle, an eyebolt and a spreader beam are each an item of lifting equipment in their own right. Not components of the crane. Separate items, each needing its own marking and its own examination.
The four duties
- Adequate strength and stability. Both the equipment and, where it matters, what it is standing on.
- Positioned or installed to reduce risk. Specifically the risk of the equipment or the load striking somebody, and of a load drifting, falling freely or being released unintentionally.
- Clearly marked with the safe working load. Which is why an unmarked sling is not a cheap sling, it is an unusable one.
- Every lifting operation planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised, and carried out safely.
The last one is the one that gets treated as a formality on small lifts. It is the only duty in the list that is about the specific thing happening this morning rather than about the state of the equipment in general.
LOLER does not replace PUWER, it stacks on it
PUWER, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations, covers all work equipment: whether it is suitable, whether it is maintained, guarding, and the information and training that go with it. LOLER then adds its own duties for the equipment that lifts.
So a telehandler is under both simultaneously, and they ask for different things. A firm with a perfect folder of thorough examination reports and no maintenance regime has satisfied the LOLER half and left the PUWER half undone, which is a real and common position because the examination is the part somebody external turns up to do.
The rough division: PUWER is about the equipment being right for the job and kept in order. LOLER is about it being strong enough, marked, examined, and used in a planned lift.
Finding out whether yours is in date
Thorough examination runs on fixed intervals, and there is more than one interval depending on what the equipment does, plus circumstances that override the schedule entirely. The LOLER examination dates tool works through which band a given item falls into, and covers the difference between a thorough examination, an inspection and a pre-use check, which are three separate things that get called by each other's names constantly.
Where a lift is complex enough to need writing down, the lift plan is the document for the operations half, and the risk assessment covers the surrounding work.
Common questions
What does LOLER stand for?
The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998. It is British legislation covering equipment used at work for lifting and lowering loads, and the operations carried out with it. The name splits neatly into the two halves of what it does: lifting EQUIPMENT, meaning the kit itself and its condition, and lifting OPERATIONS, meaning how a particular lift is planned and run on the day.
What counts as lifting equipment?
Considerably more than cranes. It covers equipment used at work for lifting or lowering loads, which takes in forklifts, hoists, telehandlers, mobile elevating work platforms, passenger and goods lifts, vehicle tail lifts, patient hoists and scaffold gin wheels. Crucially it also covers lifting ACCESSORIES: slings, chains, eyebolts, shackles, spreader beams and anything else connecting the load to the machine. Those are separate items of lifting equipment in their own right, not parts of the crane.
How does LOLER relate to PUWER?
LOLER sits on top of it rather than beside it. PUWER, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations, covers all work equipment: suitability, maintenance, guarding, information and training. LOLER then adds a further set of duties for the subset of that equipment used for lifting. So a telehandler is subject to both at once, and satisfying LOLER does not discharge PUWER. A firm with immaculate thorough examination certificates and no maintenance regime has met one and not the other.
What are the main duties?
Four, and they are about the kit and the lift in roughly equal measure. Lifting equipment must be of adequate strength and stability. It must be positioned or installed so as to reduce, so far as reasonably practicable, the risk of the equipment or a load striking somebody, or of the load drifting, falling freely or being released unintentionally. It must be clearly marked with its safe working load. And every lifting operation must be properly planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out in a safe manner.
Does a sling need its own certificate?
Yes. A lifting accessory is an item of lifting equipment, so it needs its own marking, its own thorough examination and its own paperwork. It is the most common gap on an otherwise well-run site. The crane gets remembered because it is expensive and somebody visits it. The bag of slings and shackles in the back of the van gets used every day, is worth very little, and is the part most likely to be unmarked, undated and never looked at by anybody.
Does LOLER apply outside Great Britain?
Not as such. LOLER is British legislation, and Northern Ireland has its own equivalent regulations. Other markets regulate the same activity through different instruments: in the United States it runs through OSHA standards covering slings, rigging and cranes rather than one combined regulation; Australia handles it through the plant provisions of the WHS Regulations; and Canada is provincial. The engineering is the same everywhere, so the duties rhyme, but the document you are being asked for will not be called a LOLER certificate.