BS 7121-4: Lorry loaders

BS 7121-4 is the British Standard code of practice for using lorry loaders safely. This guide covers how lorry loader lifts are planned and sited, and who is responsible when goods arrive by lorry loader.

Overview

What BS 7121-4 is

BS 7121-4 is the British Standard code of practice for using lorry loaders safely. A lorry loader is a commercial vehicle or trailer fitted with a loader crane, and it can carry a load as well as lift it.

In short

It is read together with BS 7121-2-4, which covers loader crane inspection and examination.
A routine delivery of blocks still needs a lift plan from an appointed person.
Goods unloaded by the lorry’s own crane count as a contract lift, so the supplier plans and runs it.
Near overhead power lines, the electricity company is consulted at the planning stage, before the lorry arrives.

Full title	Code of practice for safe use of cranes – Part 4: Lorry loaders
Reference	BS 7121-4:2010
Current edition	Second edition, in effect from 28 February 2010
Publisher	BSI
Status	Current
Legal status	British Standard code of practice. Its recommendations have no legal force of their own.
Intended for	Anyone planning or running a lift with a lorry loader in the UK

Scope

What BS 7121-4 applies to

The standard covers how a lorry loader lift is planned and run, and how the machine is maintained and examined. It also deals with special uses, from timber handling cranes to attachments such as grabs, pallet forks, hoists and car-lifting frames. Two annexes set out training for appointed persons and for operators and slingers.

It sits alongside the general part, BS 7121-1, and adds what is particular to a crane on a vehicle: the stabilisers and the load bed, and lifting on or beside a road.

Planning

Planning a lorry loader lift

An appointed person, the competent person named in writing to plan the lift and control it, grades every lift by how hard the load and the site are. The standard’s worked examples show the same pallet delivery moving up the grades.

Basic	Set down on the ground in the operator’s clear view
Intermediate	Placed over an obstruction that may hide the landing area from the operator
Complex	Landed at height on a partly built structure, out of sight and near scaffolding or power lines

A basic lift can often run on a generic risk assessment and method statement if no extra hazards turn up on site. A complex lift needs a site visit and a dimensioned drawing of the set-up and load path.

A white eight-wheel rigid lorry with a red knuckle-boom loader crane mounted behind the cab, parked on a gravel yard — A lorry with a knuckle-boom loader crane mounted behind the cab.

Deliveries and hire

Part 4 treats a delivery unloaded by the lorry’s own crane as a contract lift. For a business customer, the supplier provides the appointed person and runs the lift, and any information the business provides should go to the supplier in writing. For a householder, the supplier takes full responsibility.

When a lorry loader is hired with an operator, the owner supplies a maintained machine with a current report of thorough examination and a competent operator. The hirer names the appointed person and plans the lift, including the choice of machine. If the hirer has no one to plan it, a contract lift puts the planning with the supplier.

Siting

Siting the lorry loader

Ground under the stabiliser feet carries the highest pressure, so the appointed person checks it can take the loaded vehicle and the lifted load together. Packing under the feet should be strong enough for a fully loaded vehicle with its crane working. The appointed person keeps stabilisers away from excavations, cellars, drains and weak decking, and takes extra care on pavements and driveways. The lorry loader is not worked on a slope steeper than its handbook allows.

The 2010 standard says to consult the electricity company within 15 m plus the boom length of lines on steel towers, or 9 m plus the boom length of lines on poles. HSE’s current GS6 (2013) asks for the risk to be managed within 10 m of the nearest wire, so follow GS6 where it is stricter. A lorry loader should never travel under live lines with its boom raised or extended. Within 6 km of an aerodrome, a lorry loader that will stand higher than 10 m, or higher than the buildings and trees around it, needs the aerodrome manager’s agreement, and the Civil Aviation Authority has its own notification rules for cranes.

Running the lift

The hoist rope or hook stays plumb, and the load is never dragged or pulled sideways, because the crane’s ratings assume the load hangs freely. The operator raises the load a little and holds it while the slinging is checked. The radio remote transmitter goes with the operator or is locked away, and a lorry loader is never left with a load hanging. Few lorry loaders carry an anemometer, so the risk assessment decides how wind is measured, by a handheld anemometer or a site wind reading.

People are lifted on a loader crane not designed for it only in exceptional cases. The crane must lower under power with no free fall, and needs at least twice the capacity normally needed. Motions are limited to 0.5 m/s, and the personnel carrier is not used in wind above 7 m/s. A lift shared between two or more lorry loaders or cranes is kept for loads one machine cannot handle, and the appointed person down-rates each machine, by 20% or more where the standard’s factors call for it.

Inspection

Checks and thorough examination

The operator runs pre-use checks at the start of each shift, including the stabiliser locks and hoses, the limiting devices, the over-height warning and the controls. The report of thorough examination travels with the vehicle. Grabs and buckets need a thorough examination at least every six months, and the standard adds further tests as the crane gets older, and after it is re-mounted or has major repairs.

Loader crane inspection has its own part, BS 7121-2-4, revised in 2025 to take in the inspection and testing content of Part 4, so check it before relying on this section. HSE’s safety notice on lorry loaders (December 2023) reports three operators killed since 2019 by partly rotated powered stabiliser legs, and asks for tilting legs to be pinned or locked vertical before the stabiliser beam moves.

The law

How BS 7121-4 relates to LOLER and PUWER

The foreword names the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER) and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER). It says HSE took part in drafting the standard and commends it to employers and others with duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Regulation 8 of LOLER requires employers to make sure every lifting operation is properly planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out safely, and regulation 9 sets when thorough examinations are due. The design standard for loader cranes is BS EN 12999:2020+A1:2025.

LOLER and PUWER apply in Great Britain. Northern Ireland has its own versions, such as the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999.

Editions

Editions and related parts

Part 4 was first published in 1997 and fully revised in 2010. The industry body for lorry loaders, ALLMI, reports that BS 7121-1 is being revised first, with Part 4 to follow. The design and construction of loader cranes is covered by a separate product standard, BS EN 12999.

Sources and further reading

Questions

Common questions

What should a business do before a delivery by lorry loader?

Check the supplier is competent and send it your site details in writing, including the ground conditions and anything overhead.

When does a lorry loader lift become complex?

When the load is hard to handle or carries people, when two or more lorry loaders share it, or when the site has exceptional hazards, such as a chemical plant. The standard’s examples show some person-lifting jobs graded lower, depending on the equipment.

What happens if a lorry loader touches an overhead power line?

An operator on the vehicle remains on board and warns others away, jumping clear only if forced off, for example by fire. An operator on the ground moves away and keeps others back. The electricity company is told at once, and someone keeps people away until the line is made safe.