LOLER Certification

LOLER stands for The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations, which was established in 1998. This accreditation is vital for any company that owns a lift, such as hospitals, shopping centres, care homes, and universities. If your building has a lift, you need to ensure it is LOLER compliant.

LOLER regulations refer to the inspections and examinations you must go through to ensure the lift environment is safe, and all lifting equipment is fit for purpose and able to do the job correctly. In order to check that the lifts adhere to the regulations, they need to go through an examination. You can find out more about what this includes here.

To put it simply, having a LOLER examination is a legal requirement. You are obligated to have one in order to use the lifts under your care. If you do not undergo the examination your lift must not be used.

As per the regulations, the following are required to undergo a thorough lift examination: 

• Passenger Lifts 
• Goods Lifts
• Automatic Service Lifts
• Mobility Lifting Aids
• Lifting Accessories 

LOLER regulations also cover a wide range of equipment such as cranes, forklifts, lift hoists, and vehicle inspection platform hoists.

A thorough examination is essentially an M.O.T for your lift, in that no remedial work is carried out, instead, a series of recommendations and notable failures are outlined. 

The examination is required by law and acts as a reassurance that maintenance is being carried out correctly and users remain safe. 

The examination is carried out by a third-party competent person who is able to inspect the safety components and bearing elements of the lift. These are parts of the lifts that could put someone in danger. 

It is carried out independently and is separate from your regular lift maintenance, which you will still need to book in routinely with your provider. (If you are interested in our lift maintenance services, you can find them here)

The examination is carried out by a competent person. 

This is someone who has the knowledge and experience of the lift industry and handling this equipment. They need to prove they have both the authority and the ability to be impartial when conducting the examination. 

Ideally, it should be a third party, however, it can be carried out by the same company who has serviced the lift, but you need to make sure it is not carried out by the same person who serviced your lift.

According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) a competent person refers to someone ‘who has sufficient technical and practical knowledge of the lift to be able to detect any defects and assess how significant they are.’ 

They also outline that the person needs to be impartial and independent. This is to make sure the examination is as objective as possible. 

The guidelines for testing provide additional information on the tests required to ensure the competent person is able to decide on any actions needed.

You can find out more about the guidelines stipulated by the Health and Safety Executive here.

The lift examination generally takes one to three hours. The time varies depending on the size of the lift, what type of lift it is, how old the lift is, and the condition in which the competent person finds it. 

Using the HSE guidelines as a base, the competent person will inspect the lift, noting down any risk factors involved. They have to take into consideration who is using the lift (ie, is it a goods passenger lift or a regular passenger lift), how often the lift will be used and the weight the lift can carry. 

After the examination has been carried out, the competent person will report to the lift owner and, in extreme cases, the Health and Safety Executive. 

In their feedback, they will outline actions that need to be taken as well as any additional tests required. 

All actions and tests should be carried out as soon as possible, however, the competent person may outline a specific deadline for certain actions to be completed. In this instance, it is crucial the actions are carried out within this time frame.

The responsibility of being LOLER compliant comes under the jurisdiction of the lift owner (otherwise known as the duty holder).  It is up to you to ensure the lifts are maintained and in safe working order.  If you own a lift or manage a building that features lifts, you are legally obliged to ensure each lift under your care is compliant with The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations. 

As a duty holder, you are responsible for:

• The safety of lift users
• Regular maintenance checks 
• Frequent examinations and inspections
• Regular repairs 
• Acting quickly to rectify any defects 
• Selecting and instructing the competent person
• Keeping records of reports to be handed to health and safety inspectors upon request.

The frequency of examinations depends on the type of lifts you have. For example, passenger lifts require an examination every six months, whereas non-passenger lifts need to be examined at twelve-month intervals. 

If you upgrade or refurbish your lift, a thorough lift examination is needed before it is back in use to make sure the substantial changes are all up to code. 

For those lift owners who have just installed a lift, you do not have to worry about an initial thorough lift examination, as long as the lift is installed in line with the Lifts Regulations 2016. At Sheridan Lifts, you can rest assured our engineers and technicians will make sure your lifts meet the standards outlined in this regulation.

You should also carry out additional lift inspections at regular intervals outside of the thorough lift examination. These inspections and checks can be done in-house.

A supplementary test refers to the dynamic testing that requires the assistance of a lift maintenance company such as Sheridan Lifts.

While the competent person cannot directly do the test, they may opt to be on site for the testing to ensure it is being carried out correctly. 

Our extensive experience here at Sheridan Lifts means we have the ability to detect, report and fix any issues found swiftly. To discuss this in detail, contact us on 0161 203 6299.

Supplementary testing can be carried out at a time suitable to you and your business. It will usually take roughly half a day to a full day, depending on the type of lifts and tests required. 

As well as testing parts of the lifts such as locks, supplementary testing also includes dismantling parts of the lift in order to determine what work needs to be carried out. 

In most cases, the repairs and recommendations can be corrected there and then but if that is not the case, the lift will be out of service until all the corrections have been made.

Once the examination has been carried out you will receive your LOLER certificate – a written and signed report.

The report will include the following: 

• The equipment that has been examined
• The date of the inspection
• The date  the next inspection should take place 
• The reason behind the inspection 
• The  safe working load of the equipment
• Details of the tests carried out
• Details of dangerous defects, repairs or alterations 
• Information about the person who carried out the inspection

When selecting your lifting equipment, make sure it is in line with the below:

• All equipment must be marked to indicate their safe working load ie: lifts should say the maximum weight they can hold. 
• Accessories should also be marked to indicate characteristics such as their weight.