Construction sites are among the hardest
places to ensure lifting equipment compliance. There are cranes, hoists,
slings, shackles, chains and everything else covered by Lifting Operations and
Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998, which are popularly called LOLER.
In our experience supplying lifting gear to
UK construction businesses for over 25 years, LOLER compliance is the aspect
which confuses the people the most. The operators understand that compliance is
necessary, but they sometimes lack the exact understanding of what it means.
This article is an attempt to make LOLER compliance easy to understand for construction site operators.
LOLER imposes obligations on people and
organisations that own, operate or control lifting equipment – including all
organisations whose employees operate this equipment, even if it does not
belong to them.
LOLER obligations are imposed on operators
even if the lifting equipment has been hired, because operators control its use
while owners control its safety.
All lifting operations must be planned and executed by a competent person in a safe way and in a safe environment. All the equipment used for lifting must be suitable for its use, marked and in most cases subject to statutory thorough examination. Records of all thorough examinations must be provided, and all the detected defects must be reported to the responsible person and the enforcing authority.
One may think that LOLER applies only to
cranes, hoists and other bulky equipment. But the reality is much wider.
Examples of lifting equipment that can be
found on the typical construction site include tower cranes, mobile cranes,
excavators used for lifting, construction hoists, telehandlers, gin wheels,
chain blocks, lever hoists, eye bolts, shackles, lifting slings and wire rope.
In general, all the equipment that can lift the load on construction sites
falls under the LOLER requirements.
Not only the equipment, but also the lifting accessories (slings, shackles, hooks and similar equipment) are covered by LOLER regulations. According to our experience, the accessories are often the source of compliance gaps, especially on busy construction sites where small items are used by different operatives without proper inspection.
According to LOLER regulations, all the
lifting equipment must be examined at prescribed intervals – at least every six
months for equipment used for lifting persons and for lifting accessories, and
at least every twelve months for other lifting equipment.
Sometimes, in the case of construction
sites and taking into account harsh conditions of their work and intensive use
of the equipment, more frequent examination is necessary. According to our
experience, the equipment that is used extensively during construction projects
often requires inspection more often than prescribed statutory intervals.
A thorough examination must be performed by a competent person who is described by HSE as a person with appropriate knowledge of the equipment, capable to thoroughly examine it, identify any issues and report his findings.
This issue can become quite confusing on
construction projects which involve several contractors.
The duty holder is a person or organisation
that owns, operates or controls the lifting equipment. On multi-contractor’s
sites the responsibility should be determined and documented in advance.
Thinking that another contractor will take care of LOLER compliance is the
reason why sites find themselves with non-compliant equipment.
In our opinion, the reasonable solution is to organise by the principal contractor a process of verifying LOLER compliance certificate for all the lifting equipment, either owned or hired, before its use on construction site.
Statutory thorough examinations by a
competent person cannot be substituted by pre-use checks, which must be done by
operatives before each use of equipment. They should verify that the equipment
has no visible damages, slings are not worn or frayed, hooks are not bent,
safety catch mechanisms are installed correctly and all the items are in a good
condition.
These checks seem to be quite simple, but according to our experience, they are exactly the kind of checks that tend to be skipped on busy and overloaded sites. And this is the time when the risks are greatest.
The HSE launched a Call for Evidence in
October 2025 in order to review LOLER within the framework of Regulatory Action
Plan of the Government and to reduce the number of requirements, to clarify
obligations and modernise the processes – to reduce the costs of compliance
without reducing safety measures.
The review is currently underway. Present LOLER requirements are still fully applicable and nothing has changed yet regarding current obligations of construction sites.
LOLER compliance on construction sites
involves several basic principles – to use properly rated and certified
equipment, to plan every lifting operation with a competent person, to maintain
the record of examinations updated and to conduct pre-use checks without fail.
According to our experience, sites which
successfully implement LOLER are not those having most sophisticated processes
but those that consistently follow the basics.
If you need lifting equipment with full
certification and documentation for your construction operations, please
contact our specialists.
Call us on 01384 76961 or reach us through
the website.
