LOLER work has three levels. This sheet holds the first two. The third is a report from a competent person, and no checklist stands in for it.
Pre-use check
By a trained user, before use each working day or shift. Report and record any defect.
Inspection
By a competent person, often an operator or fitter, weekly, monthly or quarterly as your risk assessment shows. Kept as a written record.
Thorough examination
By a competent person independent of routine maintenance. Every 6 months for accessories and anything lifting people, every 12 for the rest, or to a written scheme. It ends in a report.
Accessories and machines
Sheet 1 is for accessories, which normally need no inspection beyond a proper pre-use check and the thorough examination (INDG422).
All equipment
ID and SWL marked and readable
Last thorough examination in date, report held
People-lifting equipment marked as such
Chain slings
Top fitting not distorted
Chain not stretched, links move freely
Links not bent or twisted
No wear at interlink seats
Hook throat not opened out, lower fitting sound
Safety catch works
No cuts, nicks, gouges, cracks or corrosion
No heat discolouration
Joining devices correctly assembled
Wire rope slings
Terminal fittings and thimbles sound
Rope, splice, ferrule sound, not slipping
No broken wires
Safety catches work
No corrosion or dried lubricant
No kinks or permanent set
Wires and strands in place, core not showing
No heat damage, blueing, spatter or arcing
Hook throat not opened out, fittings sound
Shackles and hooks
Shackles not distorted
Hooks have a safety catch where possible
Sheet 2 is for machines such as cranes, forklifts and hoists, which is where a regular inspection usually applies.
Machines
Limiters and indicators work
Controls work
No components missing, such as bolts
Interlocks work, not defeated
Rated capacity indicator works
Tyre pressures, if mobile
Lifting ropes undamaged
Lifting equipment inspection checklist PDF
Download this lifting equipment inspection checklist as a two-sheet A4 PDF to print, or as Word or Excel to change. The top of the sheet takes the equipment, its ID, its safe working load and the reference of its last report of thorough examination.
Equipment used away from its usual place needs evidence of that examination to go with it.
LOLER checklist questions
Does this checklist meet LOLER regulation 9?
No. Only a competent person’s thorough examination does that, and it ends in a report with the content Schedule 1 sets out. Keep this sheet alongside it.
Do slings need a weekly inspection?
Not normally. L113 says accessories such as slings can rely on a proper pre-use check and the thorough examination. Your risk assessment may still ask for more.
What if a check finds a defect?
Record it and report it. If it is or could become a danger, tell the employer at once and stop using the equipment until it is put right.
How long is an inspection record kept?
Until the next one is made. It does not have to be on paper.
