Compliance hub / Sector guide
Lifting equipment compliance — LOLER & PUWER explained
If your business owns, operates or rents lifting equipment — hoists, gantries, slings, chains, fork attachments or vehicle tail-lifts — LOLER and PUWER apply. The two regulations work together: PUWER governs the equipment, LOLER adds the lifting-specific duties on top.
What the law says
Under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER), all lifting equipment must be of adequate strength, marked with its Safe Working Load (SWL), positioned to minimise risk and subject to thorough examination by a competent person — every 6 months for equipment lifting persons or accessories, every 12 months for other lifting equipment, and after any event likely to affect its integrity. PUWER 1998 sits underneath, requiring suitable equipment, maintenance, inspection and training.
Recommended starter spec
- Schedule of thorough examinations (6/12 monthly) with reminders for every item.
- Sling and chain inspection register with pre-use visual checks recorded.
- SWL marking on every accessory — replace any with worn or illegible labels.
- Competent person appointed for examinations (typically LEEA-registered engineer).
- Out-of-service quarantine procedure for failed equipment.
- Operator training records: counterbalance, reach, pedestrian and tail-lift as applicable.
Common gaps we find
- Accessories in service past the 6-month inspection date.
- Slings with no ID tag — examiner can't issue a report.
- Tail-lifts on company vans treated as 'just vehicle equipment' (they're not — LOLER applies).
- No written scheme of examination where the equipment supplier provides 'guidance' rather than a documented schedule.
- Damaged kit returned to the rack instead of quarantine.