TITLE:

LIFTING OPERATIONS AND LIFTING EQUIPMENT REGULATIONS 1998 STATUTORY INSTRUMENT 2307

SUMMARY: LOLER replaces existing legal requirements relating to the use of lifting equipment. The Regulations aim to reduce risks to people's health and safety from lifting equipment provided for use at work. The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 apply to all work equipment including lifting equipment but LOLER applies over and above the general requirements of PUWER in respect of all lifting equipment. The duty throughout LOLER is almost universal in demanding that the duty for compliance with the specific regulations is absolute. In some cases, the requirement is to reduce risks to as low a level as is practicable. Definition of Lifting Equipment The Regulations define lifting equipment as "work equipment used at work for lifting and lowering loads and includes attachments used for anchoring, fixing or supporting the load." Such a definition covers a wide range of equipment such as cranes, vacuum lifting cranes, hoists, scissors lifts, fork lift trucks, passenger lifts, mobile elevating work platforms, vehicle inspection platform hoists, vehicle tail lifts, bath hoists, dumb waiters, pallet trucks, agricultural lifting equipment such as front-end loaders. Equipment that does not have as its principal function a use for lifting or lowering of the type associated with traditional lifting equipment (cranes, chains, etc.) is generally excluded from the Regulations, e.g. three-point linkage on tractors and horizontal conveyors or horizontal winching operations. The safety of such equipment would be subject to PUWER. Attachments include chains, ropes, slings, pulleys, eyebolts, shackles; examples of situations where attachments would be used include rope and pulley systems on building sites and ropes used for climbing or work positioning in arboriculture). The regulations apply whether the equipment is owned, borrowed or hired; old or new. Selection of Equipment Three aspects need to be considered when selecting lifting equipment: a. b. c. its initial integrity; the place where it will be used; the purpose for which it will be used.

Reg 4: Strength and Stability The employer is under an absolute duty to ensure that all lifting equipment is manufactured from materials which are suitable for the conditions under which it will be used, having regard for the induced stress at its mounting or fixing points, e.g. the lifting lugs or the base of waste disposal skip.

Reg 5: Precautions for Lifting People Work equipment should only be used for lifting people where it has specifically been designed for that purpose e.g. passenger hoist, bosuns chair. Such equipment must be clearly marked to indicate that it is equipment for lifting persons, and should also state how many people it can carry. Regulation 5(1)b is qualified in that the employer shall so far as is reasonably practicable prevent a person being injured while carrying out activities from a carrier e.g. mobile elevating work platforms. In addition fall arrests may need to be provided to such platforms, which in turn will need to be subjected to an inspection. Reg 6: Postioning and Installation Lifting equipment should be positioned to ensure that it is installed to reduce as low as is reasonably practicable the risk of the equipment or load striking a person, or from the load drifting or falling freely, or being released unintentionally, and that it is otherwise safe. Reg 7: Marking of Lifting Equipment All machinery and accessories (previously known as lifting tackle) for lifting loads must be marked in a clearly visible manner with the safe working loads. Where the safe working load depends upon the equipments configuration, this must be clearly identified for each configuration. Alternatively this information must be retained with the equipment. Accessories should also be similarly marked. Reg 8: Organisation and Planning of Lifting Operations All lifting operations must be: a. b. properly planned and supervised by a competent person; and, carried out in a safe manner.

Regulation 8 is at the centre of the requirements of LOLER. In principle, a lifting operation that was deemed safe before the new Regulations is considered to be a safe operation after the Regulations have come into force. Some specific requirements of the Approved Code of Practice (AcoP) are that lifts should be planned to avoid lifting over people where possible. The loads carried should be prevented from falling freely and where lifting equipment travels along a fixed path persons should be prevented from coming into contact with the operation (eg, overhead travelling cranes). Every lifting operation must be planned by a competent person and supervised. The guidance to the Regulations/ACoP does state that the competent person carrying out the planning task is unlikely to be the same person as the competent person undertaking the thorough examination and testing (regulation 9), and in most circumstances this will be managed internally by the undertaking.

Reg 9: Thorough Examination and Inspection A thorough examination is required for lifting equipment when it has been installed or assembled in a new location. An assessment must be made of all other work equipment to determine what level of inspection is needed and how often. A thorough examination must be carried out: a. when the equipment is brought into service for the first time; b. where safety depends upon conditions after installation, and before being used for the first time. If it is new equipment that has not been used before, there should be a declaration of conformity which confirms that the equipment has undergone a thorough examination prior to first use. If the equipment is obtained from another undertaking, as in the case of hired equipment, then a copy of the previous certificate of thorough examination must accompany the equipment. Thorough Examination Periods: a. Equipment for lifting persons must be thoroughly examined at least every 6 months. b. Lifting accessories must be thoroughly examined at least every 6 months. c. All other lifting equipment must be thoroughly examined at least every 12 months. d. In addition, all lifting equipment should be thoroughly examined each time that exceptional circumstances liable to jeopardise the safety of the lifting equipment occur. The employer may decide to examine specific items of lifting equipment at different intervals in accordance with an examination scheme approved by a competent person. The employer of the undertaking where the equipment is to be used is responsible for ensuring a competent person has thoroughly examined the lifting equipment. In the case of hired in equipment, this will mean checking the reports of the thorough examination prior to the agreed use of the equipment. The first thorough examination under LOLER should be made before the date on which the next thorough examination under the old Regulations would have been due. Reg 10: Reports and Defects The person carrying out the examination or inspection shall make out a report of the examination or inspection as soon as possible. These records must be in writing and can be contained in a register, attached to the equipment itself, or stored electronically. In the event of a defect being identified during the thorough examination that may become a danger to persons, a copy of the report must be sent to the relevant enforcing authority. Reg 11: Keeping of Information

Where an employer receives an EC declaration of conformity relating to lifting equipment, they shall keep the declaration so long as they operate the lifting equipment. References Safe use of lifting equipment L113 (HSE Books). Safe use of work equipment L22 (HSE Books). Safety in working with lift trucks HS(G) 6 (HSE Books). British Standard Code of practice for the Safe Use of Cranes BS 7121: 1989 (British Standards Institution).