Certificates of conformance for much of our lifting equipment was lost during a recent relocation (unfortunately we do not have any electronic copies), we do however still have the records of 6 monthly periodic inspection dating back 3 years.
Question is - is it possible to source copies of certificates of conformance from a database?
Is it legal to use the equipment if we do not have a certificate of conformance?
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Hi Jarsmith,
many thanks for the response - A certificate of conformity is not a certificate of safety or quality, rather it is a formal declaration by a manufacturer, or the manufacturer's representative, that the product to which it applies meets all relevant requirements of all product safety directives applicable to that product. It is a sign that a product has been designed and constructed for compliance with relevant essential requirements, and has been through the appropriate conformity assessment processes.
LOLER 1998 (Regulation 11) states that: 'Where, after the coming into force of these Regulations, an employer obtaining lifting equipment to which these Regulations apply receives an EC declaration of conformity relating to it, he shall keep the declaration for so long as he operates the lifting equipment'.

So in brief the certificate of conformity is issued with all new lifting equipment purchased after 1998, and the purchaser should retain the certificate for the life of the equipment.
We do have records of 6 monthly periodic inspections carried out by a competent person, but have lost the certificates of conformity which will state:

Business name and full address of the manufacturer and, where appropriate, his authorized representative;
Description and identification of the product, which may including information on model, type, and serial number
A declaration as to which Directive(s) the product fulfills all relevant provisions where appropriate, a reference to the harmonized standards used, and to which conformity is declared
Where appropriate, the name, address and identification number of the notified body which carried out conformity assessment
The identity and signature of the person empowered to draw up the declaration on behalf of the manufacturer or his authorised representative.

My view is that where a certificate of conformity is lost or eligible, a thorough examination of the equipment should be carried out by an independent agent, and a certificate issued that it has been tested and is fit for purpose, but am not sure if this would be acceptable if the equipment was involved in an accident and the certificate of conformity was not available.

Hi Tim,

Got ya now - I was away with he fairies and did not quite understand the terminology used.

O.K, so, I would completely agree with your assessment on this. I used to work for a company with a manufacturing arm and there was equipment specifically made for a particular task (one off's). We would keep an O&M manual with all of the documentation together. Luckily enough, we never had any reason to refer back to the information for civil litigation purposes etc, but it was always available should there be a need. Personally, we dealt with a server that could recall information if it did become lost into the abyss, maybe something your team may want to visit?

Thanks for the feedback, lessons learned - always back up paper copies of certification with a scanned copy - at least that way you have an audit trail back to the source document and author.
Plan is to have thorough inspections carried out on any lifting equipment for which we do not hold a certificate of conformance, by an independently approved competent supplier who is authorized to issue a certificate that the equipment is fit for intended purpose, and of course maintain 6 monthly inspection schedule of all lifting equipment (and retention of records of inspection)

Thanks again for advice

Tim