Hi All

I work for a fire and rescue service and we have gym equipment in every station to keep firefighters fit for duty. It is a requirement for every firefighter to complete fitness training, therefore as a service we supply gym equipment in order for them to complete their fitness competency.

My question is does items of gym equipment required to be used for work purposes come under the LOLER regs.

I appreciate that as this equipment it is used for work purposes,so it does already come under PUWER

Many Thanks

Kevin

Edited by user 22 June 2017 09:41:35(UTC)  | Reason: Alter one word in subject

Hi John

Many thanks for your reply.

In my opinion I think it would be classed as work equipment under PUWER as we require our staff to use the equipment at work to keep themself it, so indirectly using the equipment for work purposes.

The equipment itself would be multi gyms & lateral pull down machines, as you say they they may not be actual lifting equipment although they do lift weights.

Should for instance a cable snap causing injury what regulations do you think would then apply?

Thanks again

Kevin

Edited by user 22 June 2017 14:16:51(UTC)  | Reason: Correct Spelling Error

Hi,

Yes, it would be PUWER but may also fall under reg 12 of working at height (schedule 3) depending on what equipment it is.

Allianz complete our inspections of the gym equipment for the company I work for. Hope that helps?

Agree with everything A Kurdziel says above in terms of not getting bogged down in Regulation, except for one thing - 

The OP asked specifically about LOLER since (I'm guessing) they wanted to know if they should add any of the various machines to their scheduled Thorough Examination list. As this is often done by an external provider it makes sense to know. These are machines which users add weights to which are then lifted via pulleys to generate resistance.

OP, I'd suggest these do NOT fall under LOLER (although you'll get a more definitive answer from one of the independent inspection organisations like Allianz, or from a large gym company). LOLER is concerned with machines which lift objects as their primary function and I'd think the primary function of these items is buffing your sixpack or whatever. However, as they're reasonably similar to items which DO fall under LOLER I'd definitely get some expert opinion (which should be easy and free, given how common these things are) before deciding.

You still have to make sure they're safe, as others have said.

No.  Not lifting equipment therefore no LOLER.

As an aside, think carefully about purpose of induction etc.  Its a great idea for teaching users about certain elements of the equipment/facilities but larger gyms are moving away from it since they cannot get members to do it and PAR-Q health questions etc. are out of date the next day, even assuming no-one lied on them.  They're coming up with other means of getting information to customers.

Clearly in a workplace gym it's a more controllable environment but check out UKActive's 'Health Committment Statement' as part of an alternative if interested.

LOLER for gym equipment LOL....so your saying then gym equipment needs LOLER certs of thorough examaniantion every 12 months? Come on seriously, this thread is getting silly now.

Sorry, forgot to add be worth reading INDG422.

I did actually go back and ask the LOLER engineer from Allianz and he wasn't 100% sure.  He said that the weights are enclosed so probably not, but then you would still have to ensure it was safe under PUWER.  However, in the event of maintenance of the piece of equipment where it might need stripping down it may very well fall under LOLER and the maintenance engineer is "at work".  Also, you do have a duty of care so even though it may not strictly be under LOLER you might want to have it examined and certified because of the duty of care element.

So, that's a marvellous definitive answer from the experts for you.