Posted By alan robinson Question If LOLER requires that lifting equipment for lifting persons has to be thoughly examined by a competant person every 6 months (Reg 9(3)(a)(i))what is the position legaly if a man basket is utilised on a site using lifting equipment that is only examined on a 12 monthly cycle (mobile crane)and the last examination was over 6 months in the past

Posted By Paul Hay Used to have a similar situation with forklifts that occasionally used cages to lift personal. My understanding was once someone was lifted by a piece of lifting equipment it required 6 monthly inspection regardless of what it was used for on a day to day basis. Paul

Posted By george guy i have to agree with last response if a crane/FLT is to be used to lift persons in a basket then the lifting apparatus needs to be examined as per loler 6 monthly cycle. no matter what other work it carries out. we have 1 designated FLT that is inspected every 6 months for use with lifting frames. no other FLT is allowed to be used for this purpose. george

Posted By Paul J Williams Hope this helps: Periodic thorough examination (reg.9(3)(a)) 100 L113 para 298 advises that all lifting equipment deteriorates in use and should be thoroughly examined. 101 Even when an employer is using the fixed periods between thorough examination contained in reg.9(3)(a)(i) and (ii), the competent person should still confirm that those periods are appropriate by considering the use of the equipment, eg the number of hours it works and the conditions in which it is used. 102 Lifting equipment used in arduous conditions is likely to require a thorough examination more frequently than the maximum periods stated in reg.9(3)(a)(i) and (ii). The words ‘at least' in those regulations give the competent person the facility to recommend shorter periods. Alternatively, they may prefer to recommend the adoption of a scheme of examination which formalises this need. L113 explains the factors to be taken into account when designing or amending a scheme of examination. 103 For equipment used in much less arduous conditions, employers can also make use of the flexibility which a scheme of examination allows in extending the 'traditional' periods of examination given in the regulation. 104 Inspectors should not insist on examination at fixed periods of lifting equipment used very infrequently as long as such equipment is thoroughly examined immediately before use. Such equipment may be most appropriate for inclusion under a scheme of examination, possibly supplemented by an (in-house) inspection immediately before use. 105 In sectors for which there was no specific lifting legislation, HSW Act was previously used as the legal basis for requiring the periodic thorough examination of some lifting equipment. Where, using that basis, an interval of 12 months between examinations was previously considered acceptable, there is likely to be little justification for now reducing it to 6 months, where that is the corresponding ‘fixed period’ determined by reg.9(3)(a). If the longer period is to be adopted, where that is justified on risk grounds, the equipment should be examined within a scheme of examination. 106 The frequency of thorough examination for certain lifting equipment may now alter. Some equipment, including wire ropes on vehicle service hoists and FLT chains, was classed as lifting accessories under earlier legislation (and received 6-monthly examinations) but is now considered to be part of the lifting machinery (annual examination, if no scheme of examination). Inspectors may find that 6-monthly examinations will continue to be requested by competent persons carrying out examinations, for example as a result of risk assessment of work carried out underneath a vehicle on a service hoist or to persons being lifted on it. Inspectors should not object to such requests if the risks justify them. 107 The 6-monthly period between thorough examinations specified in reg.9(3)(a)(i) applies to all lifting accessories, whether or not they are used for lifting persons. The regulation also applies to all other lifting equipment used for lifting persons. Such machinery, eg a crane or FLT, even if intended to be used only occasionally for lifting persons, should be examined in accordance with reg.9(3)(a)(i) unless the employer arranges to have the equipment examined in accordance with a scheme of examination.