If your business owns, hires, operates or controls equipment that lifts or lowers loads, including people, and you are in Great Britain, the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER) almost certainly apply to you. It does not matter whether you run a warehouse, a care home, a garage, a farm or a building site, or whether the equipment is large and powered or a simple chain block.
Many small businesses assume LOLER is only about cranes and construction. In practice it covers everything from the tail lift on a delivery van to the slings in a workshop and the hoists in a care home. This guide explains when LOLER applies, what counts as lifting equipment, who is responsible and what you need to do to comply.
What is LOLER?
LOLER is the main piece of health and safety law covering lifting equipment at work in Great Britain. It places duties on people and companies who own, operate or have control over lifting equipment, and the HSE is clear that this includes every business whose employees use lifting equipment, whether or not the business owns it.
In short, LOLER requires that lifting equipment is:
- strong and stable enough for the job and suitable for the task
- positioned and installed so the risk of injury is as low as reasonably practicable
- clearly marked with its safe working load
- used only in lifting operations that are planned by a competent person, properly supervised and carried out safely
- thoroughly examined at set intervals by a competent person, with written reports and records kept
LOLER is supported by the HSE’s Approved Code of Practice and guidance, L113 Safe use of lifting equipment. The Code is not law in itself, but it has a special legal status: following it will normally be enough to comply, and a court can take failure to follow it into account.
LOLER sits alongside the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER). Because lifting equipment is also work equipment, PUWER applies too, bringing its own duties on suitability, maintenance, inspection and training.
Does LOLER apply to your business? Three questions
Ask yourself these three questions. If you can answer yes to all of them, LOLER applies.
- Are you working in Great Britain? LOLER covers England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland have their own rules (see below).
- Do you provide or use equipment for lifting or lowering loads at work? A “load” includes materials, animals and people, so lifting a person in a hoist or a platform counts just as much as lifting a pallet.
- Do you own, hire, operate or control that equipment, or do your workers or self-employed contractors use it? Ownership is not the test. Control and use are.
Size and sector make no difference. A one-person firm with a van tail lift is caught by LOLER in the same way as a large manufacturer with overhead cranes, and the Regulations apply across all industry sectors. LOLER applies where lifting equipment is used by workers or relevant self-employed people at work.
If you answered no to question 2 because your equipment only moves loads rather than lifting them, or because it is used by the public rather than people at work, read the next section: there are some important exceptions and grey areas.
What counts as lifting equipment?
Lifting equipment is any work equipment for lifting and lowering loads, including the accessories used to do so and the attachments that anchor, fix or support it. The HSE’s list is wide:
| Type | Examples |
|---|---|
| Lifting machines | Overhead cranes and their runways, telehandlers, fork lift trucks, vehicle tail lifts, cranes fitted to vehicles |
| Lifts and hoists | Goods lifts, passenger lifts, patient hoists, motor vehicle lifts in garages |
| Access equipment that lifts people | Building cleaning cradles and their suspension equipment |
| Lifting accessories | Fibre or rope slings, chains, hooks, eyebolts, spreader beams, magnetic and vacuum lifting devices |
Lifting accessories catch many businesses out. A drawer full of slings and shackles in a workshop is lifting equipment in its own right and needs its own thorough examination.
Do you use lifting equipment in your business?
What LOLER does not cover
The HSE lists several items as outside LOLER’s specific rules, including pallet trucks where the consequence of the load falling off is very low, roller shutter doors, escalators, fall arrest ropes, tipper trucks and dentist chairs. Many conveyors and moving walkways also fall outside. If you use any of these at work, PUWER still applies, so you must still select, maintain, inspect and train people to use them safely.
Lifts that the public use
LOLER applies only to equipment used at work. Stair lifts in private homes and platform lifts for disabled customers in shops are not covered by LOLER or PUWER in those circumstances. However, if you let the public use lifting equipment you still have duties under section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and the HSE expects you to manage the risks to the same standard, using LOLER and PUWER as a guide. Your insurer may expect the same.
Who is responsible for LOLER compliance?
The duty holder is whoever provides the lifting equipment for use at work or has control of how it is used. That usually means:
- Employers whose staff use lifting equipment, whether the business owns, hires or leases it
- Self-employed people who use or provide lifting equipment at work
- Anyone with control of the equipment or the lifting operation, such as a site manager, a facilities manager or a building owner who runs a lift
If you hire equipment in, check that it has a current thorough examination report before it is used. If you hire equipment out, you need to be able to provide a copy of the latest report when the equipment leaves your control, and a competent person who finds a defect must tell the person from whom the equipment was hired as well as the user.
If several businesses share a lift or a crane, agree in writing who arranges the examinations and keeps the reports. Responsibility that nobody has accepted is the most common reason examinations are missed.
What does LOLER require you to do?
Once you know LOLER applies, these are your core duties:
- Choose suitable equipment. It must be strong and stable enough for the load and positioned or installed to reduce the risk of the equipment or load striking someone, drifting, falling freely or being released unintentionally.
- Mark it. All lifting equipment and accessories must show their safe working load. Equipment that lifts people should show how many people it can carry, and equipment that could be mistaken for people-lifting equipment should be marked as not for lifting people.
- Plan every lift. A competent person must plan the lifting operation, it must be appropriately supervised and it must be carried out safely. A routine lift may need little more than trained, competent people using a standard method. A complex lift needs a detailed written plan.
- Carry out pre-use checks and inspections. Simple checks before use, such as on slings and chains or daily checks on lift trucks, and regular inspections between examinations where your risk assessment says they are needed.
- Have it thoroughly examined. A competent person must examine the equipment at the right intervals and complete a written report.
- Act on defects. If an examiner finds a defect that is or could become a danger to people, they must tell you immediately, and you must not use the equipment until it is put right. They must also send a copy of the report to the enforcing authority.
- Keep records. Keep thorough examination reports, inspection records and declarations of conformity, protected from unauthorised alteration and ready to produce on request.
The examiner must be competent, which means having the practical and theoretical knowledge and experience to find defects and judge their importance. The examiner can work for your business, provided they are independent and impartial enough to examine without fear or favour, but should not be the person who carries out routine maintenance on the same equipment.
How often must lifting equipment be thoroughly examined?
Unless a competent person has drawn up an examination scheme that sets different intervals, the HSE gives these maximum intervals for in-service examinations:
| Equipment | Maximum interval |
|---|---|
| Lifting equipment and its accessories used to lift people | 6 months |
| All lifting accessories (slings, chains, hooks, eyebolts and similar) | 6 months |
| All other lifting equipment | 12 months |
Examinations are also needed at other points in the equipment’s life:
| Situation | What is required |
|---|---|
| Before first use | An examination, unless the equipment has a declaration of conformity less than one year old and was not assembled on site |
| After assembly or installation | An examination at each new location before use, for example a tower crane or a platform lift installed in a building |
| Exceptional circumstances | An examination after damage or failure, long periods out of use, or major changes such as modifications or replacement of critical parts |
Most businesses simply book examinations at the 6 or 12 month intervals. An examination scheme can suit equipment used heavily or in harsh conditions, because it lets a competent person set the parts, methods and intervals to match the real risk.
A thorough examination is not the same as a service or a daily check. It is a systematic, detailed examination by a competent person, and it does not normally include a load test, because overload tests can themselves damage equipment. Testing is used only where the competent person decides it is needed.
Common misconceptions about LOLER
“LOLER is only for construction and cranes.” It applies across all sectors, including care homes (patient hoists), garages (vehicle lifts), warehouses (fork lifts and slings), retail and logistics (tail lifts) and offices (passenger lifts).
“Our engineer services the equipment, so it is covered.” A service is maintenance. A thorough examination is a separate legal requirement and should be carried out by a competent person who is independent enough to judge the equipment fairly. The HSE advises that this should not be the same person who does the routine maintenance.
“New equipment does not need an examination.” It may not need one if it comes with a declaration of conformity less than 12 months old and was not assembled on site. Equipment that is assembled or installed on site needs an examination before first use.
“Pre-use checks replace examinations.” Daily or pre-use checks, such as looking over a sling or checking a lift truck, are part of safe use. They do not replace the periodic thorough examination.
“If it is not covered by LOLER, nothing applies.” Pallet trucks, escalators and similar equipment sit outside LOLER, but PUWER still requires you to select, maintain and inspect them, and to train people to use them.
“Hired equipment is the hire company’s problem.” Both sides have duties. Before you use hired lifting equipment, ask for a copy of its current thorough examination report and check that the next examination is not overdue.
“LOLER and PUWER are the same thing.” They overlap but are different. PUWER covers all work equipment, while LOLER adds specific rules for lifting equipment and lifting operations: marking, planning, thorough examination and reporting.
LOLER in Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland
LOLER 1998 applies in Great Britain only. If your business operates elsewhere, different legislation applies:
- Northern Ireland: the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999, enforced by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI)
- Republic of Ireland: the General Application Regulations 2007, enforced by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA)
- Isle of Man: its own legislation, so do not assume the GB rules apply
The core ideas are similar across these jurisdictions: competent planning, marked safe working loads and periodic thorough examination. The detailed duties and intervals can differ, so check the rules for each place where you operate. If your business works across more than one of these jurisdictions, we can help you build one lifting equipment management system that meets each set of rules.
LOLER compliance checklist
Use this list to check where you stand:
- You have a register of every item of lifting equipment and every lifting accessory you own, hire or control
- Each item is marked with its safe working load, and people-lifting equipment shows the number of people it can carry
- Each item has a current thorough examination report, and you know the date the next one is due
- Examinations are carried out by a competent person who is independent of your maintenance work
- Hired-in equipment arrives with a current report before it is used
- Declarations of conformity for new equipment are kept
- Every lift is planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out by trained people
- Operators carry out pre-use checks, and inspections between examinations are scheduled where your risk assessment says they are needed
- Defective equipment is taken out of use immediately and not returned to service until the defect is put right
- Reports and records are stored securely and can be produced on request
- Someone is named as responsible for each item, especially where equipment is shared
LOLER FAQs
Does LOLER apply to fork lift trucks?
Yes. Fork lifts and telehandlers are named in the HSE’s list of lifting equipment. The truck, its lifting mechanism and any attachments such as forks, cages or lifting jibs need thorough examination, and operators should carry out daily checks.
Does LOLER apply to the self-employed?
Yes, if they use or provide lifting equipment at work. A self-employed person with their own hoist, sling set or vehicle crane has the same examination duties as an employer.
Who can carry out a LOLER thorough examination?
A competent person with the practical and theoretical knowledge and experience to detect defects and judge how they affect safety. They can be in-house or external if they are independent and impartial, but should not be the person who maintains the same equipment.
What happens if an examiner finds a defect?
If the defect is or could become a danger to people, the examiner must tell you immediately and confirm it in writing, and you must not use the equipment until it is put right. The examiner must also send a copy of the report to the enforcing authority, which is the HSE for industrial workplaces and the local authority for most other workplaces. For less serious defects, you must fix the problem or stop using the equipment within the time stated in the report.
How long must I keep LOLER records?
Keep thorough examination reports, inspection records and declarations of conformity, protected from alteration. The retention periods are set out in the HSE guide Thorough examination of lifting equipment: A simple guide for employers.
What happens if I do not comply?
The HSE or your local authority can inspect, issue improvement or prohibition notices, and prosecute for breaches of health and safety law. Beyond enforcement, equipment that fails in service can cause serious or fatal injuries and lead to civil claims and increased insurance costs.
Does LOLER apply to lifts that customers use?
Not directly, because LOLER covers equipment used at work. But the HSE expects businesses that let the public use passenger lifts to manage the risks to the same standard, and insurers often require it.
Need help with LOLER compliance?
Not sure whether LOLER applies to your equipment? Our consultants can review your business activities and sites and provide a detailed legal register identifying all the applicable health and safety legislation for your business. Contact one of our team to see how we can help your business.
This article is general guidance for businesses in Great Britain and is not legal advice. The law and HSE guidance can change, so check the current position or take professional advice for your own circumstances. Last reviewed: November 2026.
