BS EN 12999: Loader cranes

BS EN 12999 is the European product standard for hydraulic loader cranes and their mountings. This guide covers what it applies to, what Amendment 1 changed and how it fits with UK law.

Overview

What BS EN 12999 is

BS EN 12999 is the UK edition of the European product standard for loader cranes, the hydraulic cranes fitted to lorries and other carriers. It covers the crane itself and how it is fitted to the lorry, trailer or other base it works from.

In short

In Great Britain, using a lorry loader on site falls under LOLER, with BS 7121-4 as guidance.
The 2025 amendment deals with the crush risk from stabiliser legs that tilt under power.
Lifting people is outside its scope.
How the crane is mounted on its lorry or base, and its stability there, are part of the standard.

Full title	Cranes — Loader cranes
Reference	BS EN 12999:2020+A1:2025
Current edition	The 2020 edition with Amendment 1, published 31 March 2025. It replaced BS EN 12999:2020, which itself replaced BS EN 12999:2011+A2:2018.
Publisher	BSI (BSI Standards Limited)
Status	Current
Legal status	Designated in Great Britain under the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008. It has no legal force of its own.
Intended for	Manufacturers and installers of loader cranes

Scope

What BS EN 12999 applies to

BS EN 12999 covers how hydraulic loader cranes and their mountings are designed and tested. The crane can sit on a goods vehicle or trailer, a tractor pulling a goods trailer, a demountable body, a crawler, rail or inland waterway carrier, or a fixed foundation.

It does not cover cranes on seagoing vessels or booms built into special machines such as forestry forwarders, and it leaves out the hazards of lifting people. Cranes made before publication are outside it, and a crane designed under an earlier edition can keep that edition’s structural calculation rules.

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

Requirements

What the requirements cover

BSI sells the full text and shows the contents list free in its preview. The requirements fall under these headings.

Limiting and indicating devices	Rated capacity limiter and indicators, the lowering facility, other limiters, warnings and the stopping device
Structure	Structural calculation and stress analysis
Hydraulics and controls	The hydraulic system, controls and control stations
Installation	Mounting the crane on the vehicle and its stability there, with an annex on installation
Verification	The tests that show the safety requirements are met
Information for use	Instructions for installers and users, and marking

The 2020 revision replaced the reference to the old control system standard, EN 954-1, with EN ISO 13849-1, and improved the stability test.

Amendment 1

Amendment 1 and powered stabiliser legs

Amendment 1 adds requirements on the crush risk from stabiliser legs that a ram tilts up to the vertical for travel. HSE’s safety notice on lorry loaders (December 2023) describes operators crushed by partly rotated powered stabiliser legs.

The amendment also makes clear throughout whether a crane cabin or the lorry cab is meant, and asks for an adequate field of view when the crane is worked from the lorry cab. Timber cranes can be operated only from a high seat or a cabin. One extra stability test has changed from a requirement to a recommendation.

The law

How BS EN 12999 relates to LOLER and PUWER

Manufacturers use the standard to show a crane meets the law on supplying machinery. Under regulation 7(4) of the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008, a machine built to a designated standard is presumed to meet the essential requirements that standard covers, and the government’s designated standards list includes EN 12999:2020+A1:2025. In the EU, Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/546 listed the amended edition as a harmonised standard, and the 2020 edition stops giving presumption of conformity there on 20 January 2027.

Once the crane is in use, regulation 10 of PUWER requires it to keep meeting the supply law that applied when it was first supplied or put into service. Regulation 8 of LOLER covers planning and supervising each lift, and BS 7121-4 is the British Standard code of practice for lorry loaders. Regulation 9 covers thorough examination, and BS 7121-2-4 is the code for inspecting and examining loader cranes.

LOLER and PUWER apply in Great Britain. Northern Ireland has equivalent regulations from 1999, such as the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999, and follows EU rules for placing machinery on the market.

Editions

Edition history

The 2011 edition was amended twice before the 2020 revision replaced it, and CEN approved Amendment 1 on 20 January 2025. Mobile cranes are covered by a separate product standard, BS EN 13000.

Sources and further reading

Questions

Common questions

When was the current edition of BS EN 12999 published?

BSI published the 2020 edition with Amendment 1 on 31 March 2025, replacing the 2020 edition on its own.

Who has to meet BS EN 12999?

Using it is voluntary. A crane built to it is presumed to meet the supply law requirements it covers, and in Great Britain PUWER requires employers to provide equipment that met that law. Northern Ireland has its own 1999 version of PUWER.

What should a lorry loader operator do with tilting stabiliser legs?

HSE’s safety notice asks for tilting legs to be pinned or locked vertical before the stabiliser beam moves in or out, and for the crush risk to be covered in the risk assessment.