If you remember one thing: 6 months for lifting accessories and anything that lifts people, 12 months for everything else, unless a written examination scheme says otherwise. The detail below is about applying that rule correctly, because the edge cases are where companies get caught.
The statutory intervals
The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER), Regulation 9, sets the default thorough examination intervals:
| Equipment | Maximum interval |
|---|---|
| Lifting equipment for lifting persons (MEWPs, passenger hoists, lifts) | 6 months |
| Lifting accessories (chain slings, wire rope slings, shackles, eyebolts, lifting beams used as accessories) | 6 months |
| All other lifting equipment (cranes, hoists, forklift trucks used for lifting, vehicle lifts) | 12 months |
| Any lifting equipment | After exceptional circumstances — damage, failure, long out-of-service periods, or major modification |
Two further triggers apply regardless of the calendar:
- Before first use, unless the equipment is new and accompanied by an EC declaration of conformity less than 12 months old (and was not assembled on site).
- After installation or reassembly at a new site or location, where safety depends on the installation conditions. A tower crane re-erected on a new project needs examining before it lifts anything.
The examination scheme alternative
The fixed 6/12-month intervals are only the default. A written scheme of examination, drawn up by a competent person, can set intervals based on how the equipment is actually used: more frequent for gear in severe service, potentially less frequent where a documented assessment justifies it.
For inspection service companies, schemes matter commercially as well as legally: they let you align examination cadence to each client's duty cycle instead of a blanket calendar, and they're defensible when an HSE inspector asks why a particular asset is on a 4-month cycle and another is on 12.
The scheme must identify the equipment, specify the intervals, and, where appropriate, identify the parts to be examined. It needs reviewing when something material changes: usage, environment, or the equipment itself.
Thorough examination is not a pre-use check
LOLER expects layered checking, and conflating the layers is the most common compliance gap we see in registers that arrive from spreadsheets:
- Pre-use checks: by the operator, each time the equipment is used. Not recorded as statutory examinations.
- Inspections: where the risk assessment calls for them, between thorough examinations (e.g. weekly checks on a tower crane).
- Thorough examination: the systematic, detailed examination by a competent person at the statutory or scheme interval, recorded in a Report of Thorough Examination (ROTE).
Only the third discharges Regulation 9. A year of diligent pre-use checklists does not substitute for a missed thorough examination.
What the report must contain
Schedule 1 of LOLER prescribes the content of the ROTE: identification of the equipment and employer, date of last thorough examination and when the next is due, safe working load, the basis of the examination (6-month, 12-month, scheme, or exceptional circumstances), particulars of any defect and the action required, and the details and signature of the competent person. Our free ROTE template carries every Schedule 1 field.
Defects that are, or could become, a danger to persons must be reported to the equipment owner immediately. Where the defect involves an existing or imminent risk of serious personal injury, the competent person must also send a copy of the report to the enforcing authority.
Record keeping
Keep each ROTE until the next report is made or for 2 years, whichever is later. Keep the first-use report for the life of the equipment, and installation reports until you stop using the equipment at that location. If HSE visits, the examination history is the first thing they ask for, and gaps in the chain are treated as non-compliance even if the equipment is sound today.
Where Core fits
If your business performs thorough examinations for customers, the frequency rules turn into scheduling: every asset on its own 6 or 12-month clock, per-client examination schemes overriding the defaults, and proof the right competent person did each one. That's the workload Core automates: due-date tracking per asset, competency rules enforced at scheduling, ROTEs generated from the inspection itself, and a portal where each client sees their own register. That's what Core's LOLER inspection software does, end to end, or see it on your own workflow.
Sources
- HSE — Thorough examination of lifting equipment
- LOLER 1998, Regulation 9 and Schedule 1 — legislation.gov.uk
- HSE — Lifting equipment at work (LOLER overview)
Put this guide to work
Free ROTE template with every Schedule 1 field, in PDF and Word. Or see the whole program running (scheduling, mobile inspections, certificates) in an interactive demo. No signup, about 3 minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Do lifting accessories really need examining every 6 months?
Yes. Under LOLER Regulation 9, lifting accessories (slings, shackles, eyebolts, chains) and any equipment used to lift people must be thoroughly examined at least every 6 months, unless a written examination scheme drawn up by a competent person specifies otherwise. Other lifting equipment is at least every 12 months.
Is a pre-use check the same as a thorough examination?
No. Pre-use checks are routine visual checks by the operator before use. A thorough examination is a systematic, detailed examination by a competent person, recorded in a Report of Thorough Examination. LOLER requires both, and pre-use checks do not extend or replace the statutory examination interval.
How long do LOLER records need to be kept?
A Report of Thorough Examination must be kept until the next report is made, or for 2 years, whichever is later. Reports made when equipment is first put into service are kept for as long as you have the equipment.
Who can carry out a LOLER thorough examination?
A competent person: someone with enough appropriate practical and theoretical knowledge and experience of the equipment to detect defects and assess their importance. They should also be sufficiently independent and impartial; HSE guidance says this can be an in-house examiner, provided they can make impartial judgements.
What happens if a serious defect is found?
The competent person must report it to the equipment owner immediately, and where the defect involves an existing or imminent risk of serious personal injury, send a copy of the report to the relevant enforcing authority (HSE or the local authority). The equipment must not be used until the defect is remedied.
What is the maximum time allowed between thorough examinations of lifting equipment not designed for lifting people?
Twelve months. LOLER Regulation 9(3)(a)(ii) requires lifting equipment that is not used for lifting persons, and is not a lifting accessory, to be thoroughly examined at least every 12 months. Equipment for lifting people and all lifting accessories are on the 6-month clock under 9(3)(a)(i), and either interval can be replaced by an examination scheme drawn up by a competent person under 9(3)(a)(iii). A thorough examination is also required after exceptional circumstances liable to jeopardise safety, such as damage, a long period out of use, or a change of site.
Under LOLER, how often should hoists and slings be inspected?
Slings are lifting accessories, so they are thoroughly examined at least every 6 months. A hoist is lifting equipment, so it is thoroughly examined at least every 12 months, or every 6 months if it is used to lift people, unless an examination scheme sets different intervals. On top of the thorough examination, PUWER Regulation 6 and the equipment''s instructions call for pre-use checks by the operator, and the manufacturer''s manual sets any maintenance inspections in between.
Mechanical handling equipment needs to be periodically inspected: by whom, and how often?
By a competent person, at intervals set by the regulation that applies. Lifting equipment and accessories fall under LOLER Regulation 9: every 6 months for accessories and equipment lifting people, every 12 months for other lifting equipment, or per a written examination scheme. Other work equipment, such as conveyors or pallet trucks that do not lift, falls under PUWER Regulation 6, which requires inspection at suitable intervals where deterioration could lead to a dangerous situation, with the interval set by risk assessment. In both cases the competent person needs the knowledge and experience to find defects and judge their significance, and should be sufficiently independent to make an impartial decision.