Examination interval checker

The intervals apply to lifting equipment exposed to conditions that could make it deteriorate and lead to danger, which is nearly all lifting equipment in use.

• At least every 6 months: lifting accessories, such as slings, chains, shackles, eyebolts, hooks, lifting beams and spreaders, clamps and lifting magnets, and a vacuum lifter moved between cranes; and equipment for lifting people, such as MEWPs, passenger lifts and hoists, and man-riding baskets (regulation 9(3)(a)(i)).
• At least every 12 months: other lifting equipment, such as mobile, crawler, tower and overhead cranes, lorry loaders, chain blocks and lever hoists, forklifts and telehandlers, goods lifts and tail lifts, a vacuum lifter fixed to its crane, and jacks and gantries that raise a load (regulation 9(3)(a)(ii)).
• Also lifts people: 12-month equipment that is also used to lift people, for example a crane with a man-riding basket, is 6 months. An accessory is 6 months either way.
• An examination scheme: a competent person can draw one up with intervals to suit how and where the equipment is used. They can be longer or shorter, and the scheme’s interval then applies (regulation 9(3)(a)(iii)).

The due date is the same date that many months after the last thorough examination. Where that date does not exist, it is the last day of the month, so 31 August plus 6 months is 28 February (29 February in a leap year). The days left are counted from today’s date in the UK, and Due soon means due within 30 days.

The competent person’s report gives the latest date for the next thorough examination (LOLER Schedule 1). If it is earlier than the date here, the report’s date applies. Damage, a long time out of use and other exceptional circumstances also call for a thorough examination (regulation 9(3)(a)(iv)).

The calendar entry repeats every interval from the due date, each with a reminder 30 days before. After each examination, check the date on the new report.

The tag is 85 × 55 mm, the size of a business card, so it fits a card holder or can be laminated and fixed to the kit. Its QR code opens the result here, worked out again on the day it is scanned.

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LOLER 1998, regulation 9 and Schedule 1; HSE, Thorough examinations and inspections of lifting equipment; and HSE’s guidance L113, explained in our guide to L113. Our guide to LOLER covers the rest of the Regulations. In Northern Ireland, LOLER (Northern Ireland) 1999 sets the same intervals.