LOLER Explained: Thorough Examination of Lifting Equipment
LOLER governs how lifting equipment in your building — passenger lifts, goods lifts, hoists, and the accessories that go with them — must be examined and by whom. This guide explains what a thorough examination actually is, how often it is required, and how it differs from the routine maintenance visit most FM teams already have in place.
In short
LOLER is the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998. It requires that lifting equipment at work is strong enough, properly installed, and subject to a thorough examination by a competent person at set intervals — every 6 months for equipment that lifts people, and every 12 months for equipment that lifts only loads.
What it typically costs
£75–£250 per examination; £150–£400 per lift for larger goods and passenger installations
- What moves the price
- Capacity, travel height, and machine complexity drive the number, as does whether the examiner is attending a single lift or a portfolio under one visit. Insurance-led schemes often bundle the examination into the policy rather than billing it separately.
- Typical time on site
- Typically 1–3 hours per lift, longer where the examiner needs pit and headroom access
Indicative UK market ranges compiled from published price guides, last reviewed August 2026. They are a planning guide, not a quotation — actual prices vary by region, building, and contractor. Always obtain quotes for your own site.
What a thorough examination actually is
A thorough examination is a systematic, independent assessment of whether lifting equipment remains safe to use. It is carried out by a competent person — someone with the practical and theoretical knowledge to spot defects and judge their significance, and crucially someone sufficiently independent of the maintenance provider to give an impartial verdict. That independence is the point: the examination exists to check the maintenance, so the person doing it should not be marking their own homework.
It is not the same as a service visit, and this is where FM teams most often come unstuck. A maintenance engineer attends to adjust, lubricate, and repair. An examiner attends to inspect and report. A lift can be under a full comprehensive maintenance contract and still be non-compliant with LOLER if nobody has arranged the thorough examination, because the contract covers the wrong activity. Where the same company provides both, ask explicitly which visits are examinations and check the reports exist.
- Carried out by a competent person, sufficiently independent to give an impartial judgement
- Assesses continued safety for use, not just current working order
- Results in a formal report of thorough examination, not a service sheet
- Distinct from — and additional to — the routine maintenance contract
How often: the 6 and 12 month rule
The interval depends on what the equipment lifts. Equipment used to lift people must be thoroughly examined at least every 6 months, which covers passenger lifts and platform lifts. Equipment that lifts only loads must be examined at least every 12 months, which covers goods lifts and most hoists. Lifting accessories — chains, slings, shackles, eyebolts — sit on the 6-month interval regardless of what they are attached to.
These are minimum intervals and cannot be extended for person-carrying equipment. They can be shortened: where a competent person judges that conditions warrant it, or where an examination scheme drawn up by a competent person specifies more frequent attention, the scheme governs. Equipment also needs examination after installation, after assembly at a new site, and after any event likely to have affected its integrity — so a lift that has been struck, flooded, or substantially altered needs examining before it goes back into service, whatever the calendar says.
- Passenger and platform lifts — at least every 6 months
- Goods lifts and load-only equipment — at least every 12 months
- Lifting accessories (chains, slings, shackles) — at least every 6 months
- Also after installation, relocation, or any event affecting safety
The report, and what to do with it
The competent person must produce a report of thorough examination. It records what was examined, any defect that is or could become a danger, the timescale for putting it right, and the date of the next examination. Where a defect presents an existing or imminent danger to people, the examiner must notify the duty holder immediately and also report it to the relevant enforcing authority — which means a serious finding does not stay between you and your contractor.
The duty holder has to keep these reports available and act on them. In practice this is where the paperwork problem bites: a portfolio with thirty lifts generates sixty reports a year, each with defects at different remediation timescales, and demonstrating to an auditor or insurer that every actionable item was closed out means finding the specific report and the specific evidence. Reports that live in an inbox or a contractor's portal are the ones that go missing when they are needed.
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Sources
The regulatory positions on this page come from the following primary sources. Where guidance and legislation differ, the legislation governs — always confirm the requirements that apply to your own site and jurisdiction.
- Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 — legislation.gov.uk
- LOLER: lifting equipment at work — Health and Safety Executive
- Thorough examination and testing of lifts (INDG339) — Health and Safety Executive
Frequently asked questions
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