Lifting Equipment Law and Legislation

The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER)

There are several important pieces of Health and Safety legislation that are of concern to Certex and its customers and come under 3 broad headings of “Prime Safety Legislation”, “Design, Manufacture and Supply of Lifting Equipment” and “Use of Lifting Equipment”

Prime Safety Legislation
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

This act places duties on everyone at work to ensure health and safety of individuals. This is considered to be the prime legislative document and is therefore written in very broad terms in order to embrace all other health and safety regulations and bring them under its umbrella.

Of the 85 sections contained in the 1974 Act of Parliament, there are 3 that are of prime importance with regard to the safety of individuals:

Section 2 defines the duties of an employer with regard to the safety of their employees
Section 6 defines the duties of the designer, manufacturer, importer, installer, and / or supplier of equipment.
Section 7 defines the duties of employees while at work to “take reasonable care for the health and safety of himself and others who may be affected by his acts or omissions at work”.

The Manual Handling Operations Regulation 1992
These regulations refer directly to lifting operations and place additional duties on employers over and above those stated in section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act. They require risk assessments to be carried out for any operation where loads are handled manually or where manual effort is needed with a view to reducing the number of injuries resulting from such operations. Where risks are judged to be high or where an operation can be made safer, the regulations require the introduction of lifting appliances.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
These regulations modify section 2 and 7 of the Health and Safety at Work Act stipulating the requirements for employers to provide adequate instruction and training in the safe use of equipment used by their employees in the course of their work and for employees to ensure that they undergo such training as necessary and follow the instructions given by their employers.

Design, Manufacture and Supply of Lifting Equipment

Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 1992 (plus the 1994 amendments)

Within the United Kingdom, these regulations effectively implement the European Machinery Directive that are intended to remove barriers to trade between the member states of the European Union by the recognition of common safety requirements within all of those member states.

These regulations are the prime legislation for new lifting equipment being taken into service and they add to the requirements of section 6 of the Health and Safety at work Act.

They state that equipment must be designed, made and, if necessary, tested to ensure that it is safe. Such equipment must then be marked with the “CE” mark to signify its compliance with the Machinery Directive and an EC Declaration of Conformity issued by a “responsible person” from within that organisation.

The EC Declaration of Conformity is sometimes referred to as the “Birth Certificate” for a piece of lifting equipment and must have been issued by the equipment manufacturer (or importer if manufactured outside the E.U.) before it can be taken into service.

In keeping with section 6 of the Health and Safety at Work Act, manufacturers must also provide information regarding the care and safe use of the equipment.

As members of the Lifting Equipment Engineers Association, Certex provide safety information leaflets:

The Electromagnetic Compatibility Regulations 1992

For electrically operated lifting equipment there is an additional European Directive with which the equipment must comply, the European Electromagnetic Compatibility Directive. This is implemented in the United Kingdom by The Electromagnetic Compatibility Regulations. These are concerned with the emission of and susceptibility to interference. Manufacturers must build their equipment in such a way that it does not cause interference with other electrical equipment and so that it is not subject to the effects of interference emitted by other equipment.

Use of Lifting Equipment

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (P.U.W.E.R.) and The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (L.O.L.E.R.)

When P.U.W.E.R. was first introduced in 1992 it effectively implemented the European Use of Work Equipment Directive within the United Kingdom. However as this Directive did not incorporate lifting equipment, it led to the issue of a mixture of regulatory requirements applying to different sectors of industry. The European directive was subsequently amended to include lifting equipment and new regulations were issued in 1998 as two sets of Statutory Instruments, i.e. P.U.W.E.R. and L.O.L.E.R.

The requirements in P.U.W.E.R. apply to all work equipment, whereas LOLER applies over and above the general requirements of P.U.W.E.R. 1998, and deals with the specific hazards and risks associated with lifting equipment and their use.

The main regulations that make up L.O.L.E.R. are:

Regulation 1 Citation and Commencement
Regulation 2 Interpretation
Regulation 3 Application
Regulation 4 Strength and Stability of Lifting Equipment
Regulation 5 Lifting Equipment for Lifting Persons
Regulation 6 Positioning and Installation of Lifting Equipment
Regulation 7 Marking of Lifting Equipment
Regulation 8 Organisation of Lifting Operations
Regulation 9 Thorough Examination and Inspection
Regulation 10 Reports and Defects
Regulation 11 Records
Schedule 1 Information to be contained in a Report of Thorough Examination

Regulation 2 of L.O.L.E.R. defines lifting equipment as “Any work equipment for lifting or lowering loads and includes its attachments used for anchoring, fixing or supporting it” and an accessory for lifting as “Work equipment for attaching loads to machinery for lifting”

The scope and importance of L.O.L.E.R. is very broad and now embraces and includes equipment that was previously not considered to be lifting equipment such as:

Pallet Trucks
Paper Roll Hoists on Printing Machines
Automated Goods Storage and Retrieval Systems
Patient Hoists in Nursing Homes and Hospitals

Regulation 9 addresses the matter of ‘thorough examination’ requiring that all lifting equipment be thoroughly examined either

In the case of lifting equipment for lifting persons or of an accessory for lifting, at least every six months
In the case of other lifting equipment, at least every 12 months
In accordance with an examination scheme
After the occurrence of exceptional circumstances

Schedule 1 of L.O.L.E.R. defines the information that must be contained in a Report of Thorough Examination and has been used as the basis for reports issued by Certex (UK) Limited.

Simplified Summary of Requirements

In short the various regulations for lifting equipment must cover the following points:

The equipment must be safe and suitable for the intended use.
Manufacturers and suppliers must provide information on the safe use of their equipment
Those obtaining equipment for others to use must ensure it is safe and suitable for the intended purpose and that it complies with the relevant directives.
The personnel who use the equipment must be suitably trained.
The equipment must be maintained in a safe condition.
Record of conformity, test and examination etc. must be retained.

Further information regarding the laws concerning lifting equipment may be obtained from your nearest Certex Lifting Centre or the Quality Systems Manager who is based at Doncaster Head Office.