Lifting Equipment Inspections

"Lifting equipment" is the broadest category in UK statutory inspection. It covers everything from a 50-tonne overhead crane down to a single eyebolt set into a wall — and LOLER Regulation 9 imposes the same fundamental duty across the whole range: thorough examination by a competent person at fixed intervals, with a written report retained as proof of compliance.

We provide lifting equipment inspections across Kent, London, Essex, Surrey, Sussex, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and throughout the UK through our network of qualified Engineer Surveyors operating independently of maintenance providers.

LOLER Regulation 9 — The Duty to Thoroughly Examine

LOLER Regulation 9 is the legal anchor for everything we do. It places a duty on the employer to ensure lifting equipment is thoroughly examined by a competent person:

• Before first use, where the equipment has not previously been used (Reg 9(1)).
• After installation or assembly at a new site, where its safety depends on the installation conditions (Reg 9(2)).
• At least every 6 months for equipment lifting persons and for lifting accessories, and at least every 12 months for other lifting equipment — or otherwise in accordance with a Written Scheme of Examination drawn up by a competent person (Reg 9(3)).
• After exceptional circumstances liable to jeopardise the equipment's safety.

A written report follows every thorough examination, dated and signed by the competent person. Defects identified as posing existing or imminent risk of serious personal injury must be notified immediately, with the equipment withdrawn from service until rectified.

In practice the regime is supported by HSE's Approved Code of Practice and guidance L113, which sets out how "competent person" is understood and addresses the practical independence expected between thorough examination and the maintenance arrangements for the same equipment.

Lifting Equipment vs Lifting Accessories

LOLER draws a clear distinction between two categories — and they're inspected at different intervals:

Equipment We Routinely Examine

Our Engineer Surveyors cover the full breadth of lifting equipment found in commercial, industrial, and public sector environments:

• Chain hoists, lever hoists, and pull-lifts
• Electric and pneumatic hoists, runway beams, and monorails
• Lifting beams, spreader bars, and modular lifting frames
• Eyebolts, lifting points, and pad eyes
• Shackles, slings (chain, wire, fibre, round), and softeners — including patient slings and personnel slings rated for lifting people (6-monthly interval, label legibility, stitching, fabric and load-bearing webbing all checked against the manufacturer's discard criteria)
• Pallet trucks, stackers, and platform trucks
• Dock levellers and tail lifts
• Patient hoists and ceiling-track systems (care environments)
• Pool hoists — for accessibility in swimming pools, leisure centres, hydrotherapy suites, hotels with pool facilities, and care home pool rooms. Pool hoists lift people, so 6-monthly LOLER examination applies. Marine-environment exposure means corrosion checks are particularly important.

Insurance inspection of lifting equipment

Buyers often arrive at this page looking for an "insurance inspection" of their lifting equipment, then find that what's described here is a LOLER thorough examination. In practice these are the same thing. UK engineering insurance policies covering lifting equipment typically specify "thorough examination by a competent person at the statutory interval" — which is the wording LOLER Regulation 9 uses verbatim. The HSE-defined competent person carrying out a LOLER thorough examination produces the report your insurer needs to see, and the report you keep as the legal record under LOLER Regulation 11. If a policy schedule references "engineering insurance inspection", "competent person inspection", "lifting equipment inspection", or "thorough examination" — these are all describing the LOLER Regulation 9 work covered on this page.

What Our Engineer Surveyors Check

A lifting equipment thorough examination is a statutory safety audit, not a service. On every visit, the surveyor verifies:

• Structural condition of load-bearing components, including welds and pinned joints
• Condition of chains, wire ropes, fibre slings, and rope terminations
• Operation of braking, locking, and limit-switch systems
• Security of anchor points, eyebolts, and pad eyes
• Legibility and accuracy of Safe Working Load (SWL) markings and identification numbers
• Where applicable, operation of overload protection and emergency descent systems

Reports You Can Defend to the HSE

Every examination is followed by a written report covering all observations — pass, defect, and observation alike. The report is the legal record that LOLER Regulation 10 requires you to keep available for inspection.

We issue reports digitally so they can be filed, shared with insurers, and retrieved during an HSE visit without delay. Reports for lifting equipment must be kept until the next examination; reports for lifting accessories must be retained for at least two years.

Where a defect is rated as a "matter of risk", we notify you immediately and the equipment must be withdrawn from service until rectified — a duty that falls on the holder, not the inspector.

Lifting Equipment Inspections by Location

We deliver lifting equipment thorough examinations across the South East:

• Kent Lifting Equipment Inspections
• London Lifting Equipment Inspections
• Essex Lifting Equipment Inspections

Lifting equipment inspection by sector

Independent of any maintenance contractor — see why independence matters in statutory inspection for the structural case under LOLER Reg 9 + HSE L113.

Sector-specific patterns for the equipment above:

• Care Homes — patient hoists, slings, bath lifts, stairlifts
• Warehousing & Logistics — dock levellers, chain hoists, lifting accessories
• Facilities Management — multi-site lifting equipment portfolios
• Construction — site lifting accessories, eyebolts, chain blocks
• Theatres & Entertainment Venues — counterweight flying, performer flying, scenic hoists, rigging hardware. See our dedicated theatre and stage equipment inspection service.

Frequently Asked Questions