What Is a Thorough Examination Under LOLER?

What a LOLER thorough examination involves, how it differs from maintenance, who carries it out, and why it is a legal requirement.

The thorough examination is the absolute cornerstone of LOLER compliance. It is a mandatory statutory inspection prescribed by UK law and remains entirely distinct from routine maintenance, pre-use checks, or a manufacturer’s recommended service schedule.

Understanding precisely what a thorough examination is — and, crucially, what it is not — is vital for duty holders responsible for lifting equipment across commercial, residential, and industrial environments.

The legal basis for thorough examinations

Under Regulation 9(1) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER), lifting equipment must be thoroughly examined ‘by a competent person’ at specified intervals.

While the regulation uses the phrase ‘thorough examination’ without fully defining the mechanical criteria, the Health and Safety Executive’s Approved Code of Practice (ACOP L113) provides the technical detail. It specifies that this is an examination of all parts of the equipment and accessories liable to cause danger or injury to anyone in proximity.

It is not a performance test, and it is firmly not the same as routine maintenance.

How a thorough examination differs from maintenance

This is one of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of LOLER compliance. Maintenance is a commercial arrangement between the equipment owner and a contractor. Thorough examination is a statutory duty that cannot be discharged by maintenance alone.

• Maintenance keeps equipment running. It includes servicing, lubrication, component replacement, and tuning to manufacturer recommendations.
• Pre-use checks are daily or weekly visual inspections performed by the operator.
• Thorough examination is an independent statutory safety inspection by a competent person, focused on identifying defects that could cause injury — regardless of whether the equipment is currently running well.

You can have perfectly-maintained equipment that fails a thorough examination because of latent defects — corroded anchor bolts, fatigue cracks, or interlocks that have drifted out of calibration. That is exactly why the regulation requires an independent eye.

What does a LOLER thorough examination involve?

The exact scope of a thorough examination is determined by the nature of the equipment and its risk profile. However, a standard statutory inspection typically encompasses:

• Visual inspection — assessment of all structural components for cracks, deformation, corrosion, and excessive wear
• Component assessment — checking safety-critical mechanical elements such as brakes, pawls, ratchets, safety gears, and buffers
• Suspension means — detailed examination of ropes, chains, and suspension equipment for wear, broken wires, kinking, or environmental corrosion
• Safety and control systems — full testing of control systems, safety devices, and interlocks (including overspeed governors and slack-rope devices)
• Functional testing — where safe to do so, operating the equipment to verify safety systems activate correctly

Equipment-specific inspection scopes

• Passenger lifts — inspection of the lift car, landing doors, guide rails, machine room, pit, and overrun spaces
• MEWPs (cherry pickers & scissor lifts) — assessment of the platform, guardrails, hydraulics, stabilisers, outriggers, and emergency descent systems
• Patient hoists — inspection of the track system, trolley, hoist unit, sling attachment points, and rated Safe Working Load (SWL) markings
• Tower and mobile cranes — boom structural integrity, jib, wire ropes, hook condition, load moment indicators, slew rings, and outrigger stability
• Vehicle lifts — column or scissor structure, hydraulic seals, mechanical safety locks, foundation anchors, and synchronisation on multi-post lifts
• Dock levellers and loading platforms — hinges, lip extensions, safety support arms, and hydraulic release systems

The competent person may also conduct physical function testing of safety systems under load (or simulated conditions) and will always review previous thorough examination reports to ensure historical defects have been rectified.

Who is classified as a “competent person”?

LOLER does not define a ‘competent person’ by pointing to a single specific qualification. Rather, the HSE ACOP explains that a competent person must possess the practical and theoretical knowledge, alongside the experience, required to detect defects and critically assess their importance to the equipment’s continued safety.

In practice, a thorough examination is normally carried out by a qualified Engineer Surveyor. The most critical requirement is independence. The competent person must be sufficiently independent from the daily maintenance activity to make an impartial, objective judgement on safety. An engineer who routinely services the equipment they are inspecting is not considered truly independent.

This means, as a rule:

• Your maintenance contractor should not also be carrying out your thorough examinations
• The engineer surveyor should have no commercial incentive to sign off equipment that isn’t safe
• The inspection firm should be registered with a recognised body (e.g. SAFed — Safety Assessment Federation)

Inspection intervals

LOLER Regulation 9(3) specifies the statutory minimum examination intervals:

• Every 6 months — for lifting equipment used to lift people (passenger lifts, MEWPs, patient hoists, stairlifts, platform lifts)
• Every 6 months — for all lifting accessories (slings, shackles, eyebolts, chain blocks)
• Every 12 months — for all other lifting equipment used for lifting loads only
• At any time following exceptional circumstances likely to affect safety — such as substantial repair, damage, or relocation
• In accordance with a Written Scheme of Examination drawn up by a competent person, which may specify different intervals based on usage, environment, or risk

A Written Scheme of Examination specifies the interval appropriate for the specific system — which may be shorter or longer than the default intervals under Regulation 9, depending on the engineering risk assessment carried out by the competent person. The WSE cannot simply reduce inspection frequency for commercial convenience; the rationale must be engineering risk-based.

The written report and record retention

Following the inspection, Regulation 10 requires the competent person to issue a written report containing:

• Premises address and equipment description
• The Safe Working Load (SWL)
• The date of the current and prior examinations
• A clear statement on whether the equipment is safe to continue in use
• The date the next examination is due
• Any defects identified, with a classification of their severity
• The signature and details of the competent person

Under Regulation 11, duty holders must retain these reports safely. For lifting equipment, reports must be kept until the next such report is made or for two years — whichever is later. For lifting accessories, the minimum retention is two years.

Digital record-keeping is now standard and accepted by the HSE. Reports must be produced on request to HSE inspectors and will be examined in the event of an incident.

Understanding defect classifications

Any defects identified during a thorough examination are legally categorised under Regulation 10:

Category 1 — imminent danger

If the competent person believes a defect is, or could quickly become, a danger to persons, they are legally obligated to send a copy of the report to the enforcing authority (the HSE or local authority) forthwith. The equipment must be taken out of service immediately and cannot be used again until the defect is rectified and a satisfactory re-examination has been conducted.

Category 2 — defect requiring repair within a timeframe

For defects that are not an imminent danger but still require necessary repair, the report will specify a timeframe within which the repair must be completed. The duty holder cannot legally continue to use the equipment beyond this specified deadline unless the defect is remedied.

Observations

Non-critical notes that do not affect current safety but may indicate emerging issues the duty holder should address before the next examination.

Consequences of non-compliance

Failing to arrange thorough examinations — or continuing to use equipment in breach of a Regulation 10 notification — exposes duty holders to serious legal consequences:

• HSE Improvement or Prohibition Notices requiring immediate action
• Unlimited fines on summary or indictable conviction
• Personal liability for directors, managers, and senior officers under section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, where the corporate offence is proved to have been committed with their consent or connivance, or attributable to their neglect
• Corporate manslaughter charges against the organisation under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, where a gross breach of duty by senior management causes a death — note this is an offence against the organisation itself, not individuals; the HSWA section 37 route above is what carries personal director liability
• Invalidation of insurance — most commercial liability and plant insurance requires current LOLER reports as a condition
• Exclusion from procurement — CHAS, SafeContractor, Constructionline and other SSIP schemes require evidence of up-to-date LOLER compliance

The reputational consequences of an HSE enforcement notice on a public register can be as damaging as the financial ones, particularly for facilities managers, property agents, and contractors whose clients conduct due diligence.

What duty holders should do

If you are a duty holder for lifting equipment — typically the employer, building owner, managing agent, or operator — your responsibilities are:

1. Maintain a register of every item of lifting equipment under your control
2. Schedule thorough examinations before the statutory due date, ideally 2–4 weeks ahead
3. Engage an independent competent person — not your maintenance contractor
4. Retain reports for the statutory period and make them available to HSE inspectors
5. Act on defect notifications — Category 1 defects require immediate removal from service; Category 2 defects require repair within the specified timeframe
6. Review the Written Scheme of Examination (if in place) annually

Related services

Our engineer surveyors carry out LOLER thorough examinations across all equipment types:

• Lifting equipment inspections — hoists, slings, dock levellers
• Crane inspections — tower, mobile, overhead cranes
• Passenger and goods lift inspections — building lifts
• Work at height equipment inspections — MEWPs, access platforms
• Mobile plant inspections — forklifts, telehandlers, excavators
• Firefighting and evacuation lift inspections

For more detail on what gets checked during an examination, see our LOLER inspection checklist, or read our guide on LOLER vs PUWER to understand how the two regulations interact.