Firstly, the pallet (in all cases I've come across) is deemed to be part of the load, therefore no inspection under LOLER is required. The checks that PM15 is referreing to need to be taken in context with your "reasonably practicable" hat on. In the vast majority of (warehousing) applications it is not reasonably practicable to number each pallet and formally inspect before use (I would suggest impossible for most warehousing set-ups). it would depend on your organisation and operations. But the check points are a good guide as to what needs to be considered. The way we approach this is to use the information in PM15 in staff training, staff are trained to visually check the pallet before they use it (bearing in mind we have thousands of pallets), Goods In staff check the condition of incoming pallets (and instruct downstacking if required) and Goods Out staff check out-bound pallets. For us, it is not RP to document each check, but we have monitoring checklist that cover a % have been checked and are acceptable, this is risk based and if issuies are dientified this could be increased (has not been an issue to date). Achieving competence for checking pallets shouldn't be too difficult with training, it's not overly complicated and generally the pallet forms part if the load in any case.

thanks for the replies i am aware that they are not covered in LOLER, the pallets used are general heavy duty semi-diposable timber type for lifting bricks / blocks etc on a building site (using lifting forks and net) currently we do not have a formal inspection record, but the slingers and drivers do check that the pallets are suitable before use and skip any that are damaged.