How often does lifting equipment need thorough examination?

At least every 6 months for lifting equipment used to lift persons and for lifting accessories, at least every 12 months for other lifting equipment, or at the intervals set out in an examination scheme drawn up by a competent person. That is regulation 9 of LOLER 1998.

Are lifting slings and chains covered by the 6 month interval?

Yes. Chains, slings, shackles, eyebolts and lifting beams are lifting accessories and fall within the 6 month interval, however lightly they are used. Putting accessories on a 12 month cycle is one of the most common LOLER errors.

Who can carry out a thorough examination?

A competent person with the practical and theoretical knowledge and experience to detect defects and judge their significance, and who is sufficiently independent and impartial. In practice this is normally an engineer surveyor, often appointed through an insurer, rather than the contractor who maintains the equipment.

Is thorough examination the same as maintenance?

No. Thorough examination is a statutory inspection by a competent person to identify defects. Maintenance is the work that keeps equipment in good order, and pre-use checks are what the operator does each shift. All three are needed and none substitutes for another.

Logbook · publication

Free LOLER Thorough Examination Register Template (UK)

Every item of lifting equipment with its correct interval and next due date, so nothing runs past examination unnoticed.

The most common LOLER failure is not a missed examination. It is an item put on the wrong interval: a lifting accessory logged annually when regulation 9 requires six months, or a passenger lift examined yearly because that is when the maintenance visit happens. This register has the interval as a column, so the mistake is visible rather than buried in a service contract.

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The regulation 9 intervals

Under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998, lifting equipment exposed to conditions causing deterioration liable to result in dangerous situations must be thoroughly examined:

At least every 6 months for lifting equipment used to lift persons, and for lifting accessories
At least every 12 months for other lifting equipment
Or in either case in accordance with an examination scheme drawn up by a competent person

Lifting accessories are the category people underestimate. Chains, slings, shackles, eyebolts and lifting beams are all accessories and all sit on the six month interval, regardless of how lightly they are used.

What's in the template

Equipment, ID or serial number and location
Whether it lifts persons and the resulting interval, so the six versus twelve month decision is recorded rather than assumed
Last examination, next due, report reference
Defects noted, the action taken and the date it was closed

How to use it

Sort by next due at the start of every month. Anything past its date comes out of service immediately: LOLER does not permit continued use while the paperwork catches up, and an accident involving equipment that was out of examination is very difficult to defend.

Record defects and their closure in the same row as the equipment. A report of thorough examination that identifies a defect starts a clock, and the competent person will specify the timescale. The register is where you show that the timescale was met, which is a separate question from whether the examination happened.

Keep this distinct from your own inspections and maintenance. Thorough examination is carried out by a competent person and is a legal requirement in its own right; it does not replace pre-use checks by the operator, and pre-use checks do not replace it. Related: crane inspection records and LOLER on construction sites and work at height record keeping.

Who must keep this record

The employer or person who has control of the lifting equipment. That includes equipment you hire in: the duty follows control and use, so a site using a hired telehandler needs to see and hold its current report of thorough examination rather than assuming the hire company's file is enough.

The examination itself must be carried out by a competent person, meaning someone with the practical and theoretical knowledge and experience to detect defects and assess their significance, and sufficiently independent to make an impartial judgement. In practice that usually means an engineer surveyor rather than the maintenance contractor who services the equipment.

How long to keep it

Keep reports of thorough examination until the next one is carried out, and for lifting accessories keep them for at least two years. Many organisations keep them for the working life of the equipment plus a period afterwards, which is more useful: a full examination history is what supports a claim that a failure was not foreseeable.