Posted By John Holland1
The company I work for has a ground probing rig for carrying out ground investigation work.

The way this rig operates is that a petrol driven motor drives a chain for lifting an anvil and drops the anvil from a specified height to impact on the drive rods that penetrate into the ground.

To add further length of rods the motor is shut down and the anvil rests on top of the drive rod. To lift the anvil and insert a further length of rod there is a hand operated winch fixed above the anvil with a hook on the end of the winch wire which is then hooked on to the anvil and manually winched to a height which enables a further length of rod to be inserted.

My question is. Are the drive chain and the winch, winch wire and hook required to be inspected and certified under LOLER?

Thanks
John

Posted By RP
Just to help out more here.

We use such equipment for highway works and find that 6 monthly inspection suits best to include the equipment and the attachements (gear) rather then 12 monthly. Thee should also be a record of periodic inservice inspections by a competent person. This could be carried out by the user as part of pre-start checks or in accordance with the manufacturers guidance. Here I would suggest at least montly recorded inspection. The in service inspection is not to load test but to examine all component parts for obvious signs or wear and tear. Any repairs should also be recorded.