Passenger and Goods Lifts Inspections

A commercial passenger lift runs more duty cycles than almost anything else in a building, and it keeps running them for decades, carrying members of the public who have no involvement in its maintenance and no way of assessing its safety. That's why LOLER places passenger lifts at the strictest end of the inspection regime: a statutory thorough examination at least every 6 months unless an examination scheme sets the intervals, by a competent person, with a written report retained for HSE inspection.

We provide lift inspections across Kent, London, Essex and throughout the UK through our network of qualified Engineer Surveyors operating independently of lift maintenance providers.

Lift Types Under LOLER

"Lift" under LOLER is a wide category. We examine the full range of vertical-transport equipment found in commercial, residential, and public-sector buildings:

• Passenger lifts: traction or hydraulic, in offices, residential blocks, retail, healthcare, and hospitality. Also sometimes called disabled lifts or hospital lifts depending on context, and goods lifts where the same equipment is operated for goods carriage.
• Goods lifts: including loading-bay lifts and inter-floor freight lifts (no passengers permitted).
• Service lifts, dumbwaiters, and kitchen lifts: smaller goods-only lifts in restaurants, hotels, libraries, and commercial kitchens. Kitchen lifts (also called dumbwaiters in hospitality contexts) follow the goods-only 12-monthly default, unless an examination scheme sets another interval.
• Platform lifts: short-travel accessibility lifts (typically less than 3 metres of travel).
• Stairlifts: domestic and commercial chair lifts following a staircase line. Stairlifts are LOLER-scope wherever they're used in a workplace or workplace-adjacent setting (e.g. care homes, managed residential blocks, public buildings) because they lift people.
• Homelifts (home lifts): small residential passenger lifts, typically 2–6 floors of travel. LOLER applies wherever the homelift is used in a workplace context: managed residential blocks where a managing agent oversees the equipment, lets, properties where staff use the lift in the course of work, or any installation where the building has dual residential/workplace use. The duty holder for a managed residential homelift is the managing agent or landlord, not the individual resident.
• Wheelchair platform lifts: vertical or inclined platforms providing step-free access.
• Firefighting and evacuation lifts: covered separately on our firefighting lifts page. Sometimes referred to as fireman's lifts, rescue lifts, or evacuation lifts, all describing lifts built to BS EN 81-72 or 81-76 and examined under LOLER.

The 6/12-Month Split

The single most important compliance question for lift inspections is "who travels in it": that determines the default interval under LOLER, which an examination scheme drawn up by a competent person can replace:

How a Lift Is Built vs How It's Examined: BS EN 81 and LOLER

Two different things govern a lift's safety, and they're easy to confuse. New passenger and goods passenger lifts in the UK are designed, constructed, and installed to BS EN 81-20:2020, the European Standard (adopted as a British Standard) that sets the construction and installation safety rules for lifts carrying persons and goods. That is the standard the lift was built to. Where a new lift goes into an existing building and building constraints mean some of BS EN 81-20's requirements cannot be met, BSI's scope for the standard points to BS EN 81-21 instead.

Once the lift is in service, LOLER 1998 takes over. LOLER imposes the statutory duty to keep the lift safe through thorough examination by a competent person: at least every 6 months for passenger lifts, or in accordance with an examination scheme drawn up by a competent person. BS EN 81-20 describes how the lift should have been made; LOLER governs how it is kept safe in use. A thorough examination judges the lift against its design intent and looks for anything that has degraded since installation.

Two related parts of the same series cover life-safety lifts: BS EN 81-72 for firefighters lifts and BS EN 81-76 for the evacuation of persons with disabilities using lifts. Those are covered on our firefighting and evacuation lift inspections page.

Accessibility Lifts and the Equality Act 2010

Platform lifts, stairlifts, and wheelchair lifts have a regulatory profile slightly different from standard passenger lifts. Where they form part of the access provision for premises or a service, the Equality Act 2010 places a duty on service providers and employers to make reasonable adjustments for disabled users, and that duty is engaged by the equipment that has been installed.

The LOLER regime applies in full: a thorough examination at least every 6 months, unless an examination scheme sets different intervals. The practical implication is that an extended outage of an accessibility lift, without alternative arrangements in place, may amount to a failure to make reasonable adjustments under the Act. We treat accessibility lifts with the same statutory rigour and the same urgency on defect rectification as primary passenger lifts.

Insurance inspection of lifts

Many lift owners receive insurance policy schedules that require an "insurance inspection" of their passenger or goods lift. In practice this is the LOLER thorough examination described on this page. UK engineering insurance policies for lifts specify "thorough examination by a competent person at the statutory interval", the same wording LOLER Regulation 9 uses. The report we issue after each examination is the document your insurer needs to see, the document the HSE expects you to retain, and the same document under any name a policy schedule may use ("competent person inspection", "engineering inspection", "thorough examination", "statutory lift inspection": same regulatory work).

What a Lift Thorough Examination Covers

A lift examination covers the machine room (or motor housing), the car, the shaft, and the pit. Our Engineer Surveyors verify:

• Suspension rope condition, termination integrity, and tension balance
• Traction sheave wear and groove profile
• Overspeed governor function and safety gear deployment
• Car and landing door interlocks, including emergency release
• Buffer condition and pit cleanliness
• Brake operation, including static and dynamic tests
• Levelling accuracy, door dwell times, and emergency communication
• Machine-room access, ventilation, and lighting

Inspection Independent of the Maintenance Contractor

LOLER Regulation 9 requires the thorough examination to be carried out by a competent person, but it sets no independence test of its own. The bar comes from HSE guidance: the competent person should not be the same person who performs routine maintenance, because they would be assessing their own work, and should be sufficiently independent and impartial to make objective decisions. HSE is clear that this can be met by someone employed by a separate company or selected from an employer's own staff. Relying on the same company to maintain a lift and to declare it safe is the arrangement that guidance warns against.

Our Engineer Surveyors carry out thorough examinations only. We don't sell lift maintenance, parts, or modernisation, which is what makes our report a credible piece of evidence in the duty holder's compliance file.

Lift Inspections by Location

Passenger and goods lift thorough examinations across the South East:

• Kent Lift Inspections
• London Lift Inspections
• Essex Lift Inspections

Lift inspection by sector

Independent of any lift maintenance contractor: see why independence matters in statutory inspection for the structural case under HSE's LOLER guidance (L113).

Sector-specific patterns for passenger and goods lift compliance:

• Property Managers: block-managed residential and commercial buildings
• Care Homes: resident passenger lifts and platform lifts
• Hotels & Hospitality: guest lifts, service lifts, dumbwaiters
• Hospitals & Healthcare: clinical lifts and platform lifts in healthcare estates

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a lift inspection a legal requirement?

Yes. Under LOLER 1998, lifts used at work and in commercial buildings must undergo regular Thorough Examination.

How often does a passenger lift need to be inspected?

At least every 6 months for equipment carrying people. Lifts handling strictly goods require a thorough examination at least every 12 months. Either interval can instead be set by an examination scheme drawn up by a competent person.

Who is responsible for arranging lift inspections?

The duty holder, which is typically the building owner, facilities manager, or employer responsible for the lifting equipment.

Can my maintenance provider perform the Thorough Examination?

HSE guidance advises against it: the competent person should not be the same person who performs routine maintenance, because they would be assessing their own work, and should be sufficiently independent and impartial to make objective decisions. LOLER itself requires only a competent person and sets no independence test.

What happens if an inspection is missed?

Non-compliance compromises passenger safety and can lead to immediate HSE enforcement action and fully invalidated liability insurance.

How often does a goods lift need to be inspected?

A goods-only lift that never carries people needs a thorough examination at least every 12 months, unless an examination scheme sets a different interval. The moment a lift is used to carry a person, even occasionally, the default becomes 6-monthly, so goods-only status must be maintained by signage and procedure.

Does a platform lift or stairlift need a LOLER inspection?

Yes. Platform lifts, wheelchair lifts, and stairlifts used in a workplace or managed building carry people, so LOLER requires a thorough examination at least every 6 months, the same as a passenger lift, or at the intervals of an examination scheme.

What standard are passenger lifts built to?

New passenger and goods passenger lifts in the UK are constructed and installed to BS EN 81-20:2020; where a new lift goes into an existing building and building constraints mean some of its requirements cannot be met, BS EN 81-21 should be considered. That is the design and construction standard; once the lift is in service, LOLER 1998 governs the statutory thorough examination that keeps it safe to use.