Safe use of lifting equipment

Safe use of lifting equipment Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998

Approved Code of Practice and guidance Health and Safety This Approved Code of Practice and guidance is for those that work with any lifting equipment provided at work or for the use of people at work, those who Executive

Safe use of lifting equipment Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 employ such people, those that represent them and those who act as a competent person in the examination of lifting equipment.

It sets out what you should do to comply with the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER).

LOLER applies to lifting equipment and builds on the requirements of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER).

This edition brings the document up to date with regulatory and other changes. The guidance clarifies which equipment is subject to the provisions of the Regulations and the role of the competent person. Approved Code of Practice and guidance

L113 (Second edition) Published 2014 The context and examples have been expanded to show that LOLER applies across every sector using such lifting equipment. New examples show the impact on the health and social care sector.

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© Crown copyright 2014

First published 1998 Second edition 2014 (with amendments 2018)

ISBN 978 0 7176 6588 0

This information is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/

Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to: copyright@hse.gov.uk

Some images and illustrations in this publication may not be owned by the Crown and cannot be reproduced without permission of the copyright owner. Where we have identifed any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. Enquiries should be sent to copyright@hse.gov.uk

Printed in the United Kingdom for The Stationery Offce. J003441808 c4 04/18

Approved Code of Practice This Code has been approved by the Health and Safety Executive, with the consent of the Secretary of State. It gives practical advice on how to comply with the law. If you follow the advice you will be doing enough to comply with the law in respect of those specifc matters on which the Code gives advice. You may use alternative methods to those set out in the Code in order to comply with the law.

However, the Code has a special legal status. If you are prosecuted for breach of health and safety law, and it is proved that you did not follow the relevant provisions of the Code, you will need to show that you have complied with the law in some other way or a Court will fnd you at fault.

Guidance This guidance is issued by the Health and Safety Executive. Following the guidance is not compulsory, unless specifcally stated, and you are free to take other action. But if you do follow the guidance you will normally be doing enough to comply with the law. Health and safety inspectors seek to secure compliance with the law and may refer to this guidance.

Safe Safeuse useof oflifting liftingequipment equipment

Contents

Introduction 5 Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 8 Regulation 19 Protection of young persons 8 Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 10 Regulation 1 Citation and commencement 10 Regulation 2 Interpretation 10 Regulation 3 Application 13 Regulation 4 Strength and stability 23 Regulation 5 Lifting equipment for lifting persons 27 Regulation 6 Positioning and installation 32 Regulation 7 Marking of lifting equipment 35 Regulation 8 Organisation of lifting operations 38 Regulation 9 Thorough examination and inspection 48 Regulation 10 Reports and defects 57 Regulation 11 Keeping of information 60 Regulation 12 Exemption for the armed forces 61 Regulation 13 61 Regulation 14 Amendment of the Docks Regulations 1988 61 Regulation 15 Repeal of Provisions of the Factories Act 1961 61 Regulation 16 Repeal of section 85 of the Mines and Quarries Act 1954 61 Regulation 17 Revocation of instruments 61 Schedule 1 Information to be contained in a report of a thorough examination 62 Schedule 2 Revocation of instruments 64 Appendix: Notice of Approval 66 Glossary 67 References and further reading 69 Further information 72

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Introduction

About this book

1 This Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) and associated guidance provide practical advice on how you can comply with the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER).

Who should read this book?

2 This book is for employers and dutyholders, as well as anyone who has responsibility for controlling lifting equipment. Throughout this book we have referred to the employer and others who have duties as ‘you’. Where the guidance is addressed to some other dutyholder, for example a competent person, the text is clear about who it is intended for.

What does LOLER apply to?

3 LOLER applies to the use of lifting equipment provided as work equipment. These Regulations implement the lifting provisions of the Amending Directive to the Use of Work Equipment Directive (AUWED, 95/63/EC) and build on the requirements of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) for which HSE has made available separate guidance.1

Where does LOLER apply?

4 Subject to the provisions of regulation 3, LOLER applies to all workplaces and work situations where the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSW Act) applies and extends beyond the mainland of Great Britain to specified offshore areas and activities.

5 This document contains Approved Code of Practice and guidance on the duties in LOLER and other regulations which are applicable to the use of lifting equipment in all sectors of industry and in all work activities. These other regulations are principally the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (the Management Regulations) and PUWER.

6 PUWER applies to all work equipment including lifting equipment. For example, PUWER places requirements on dutyholders to provide suitable work equipment for the task (regulation 4), information and instructions (regulation 8) and training (regulation 9) to the people who use it. PUWER also requires measures to be taken concerning dangerous parts of machinery (regulation 11), controls and control systems (regulations 14 to 18), stability (regulation 20) and mobility (regulations 25 to 29).

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7 In addition to complying with LOLER, dutyholders who provide lifting equipment should also comply with all relevant aspects of PUWER and any other applicable health and safety law.

8 Like the scope of PUWER, the potential scope of these Regulations is extremely wide. LOLER applies to any item of ‘lifting equipment’ as defined in regulation 2, but a dutyholder should consider the extent of the risk and the measures needed to eliminate or control it.

9 The Management Regulations require risks to be assessed to identify the nature and level of risks, including those associated with a lifting operation. You should then manage these risks to reduce them as far as reasonably practicable. Action taken should be proportionate to the risk identified. Trivial risks can usually be ignored, unless the work activity adds to those risks.

10 Further guidance on risk assessment can be found in Risk assessment: A brief guide to controlling risks in the workplace INDG163.2

11 When deciding how to reduce the risks from using a particular piece of lifting equipment, you need to consider the:

(a) type of load being lifted, its weight, shape and what it consists of; (b) risk of a load falling, moving, breaking up or striking a person or object and the consequences; (c) risk of the lifting equipment striking a person or an object and the consequences; (d) risk of the lifting equipment failing or falling over while in use and the consequences; and (e) risk of damage to the lifting equipment that could result in failure.

12 New lifting equipment must satisfy certain essential health and safety requirements as laid down in Article 100a Product Safety Directive. You are not necessarily required to ensure that existing lifting equipment meets the same level of protection as new equipment but this will depend on the degree of risk. You must assess the risk in each particular case; the nature and extent of the risk will dictate what steps you should take to control it.

13 The risk assessment may well identify significant risks not addressed by LOLER. For example, it could identify the risk of the operator falling from a height. In such circumstances you must consider safeguards under the Work at Height Regulations 2005.3

Changes in this edition

14 Changes in this edition include:

(a) a simple decision tree has been included which provides the main elements that must apply to a piece of equipment for it to be subject to LOLER (see Figure 1); (b) some changes have been made to bring the guidance in line with other advice, for example clarifying that you should not take lifting equipment within 10 m of overhead power cables; (c) the context and examples have been expanded to show that LOLER applies across every sector using lifting equipment. New examples show the impact on the health and social care sector.

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About ACOPs

15 Approved Codes of Practice are approved by the HSE Board with the consent of the Secretary of State. See the Appendix: Notice of Approval for details.

16 The ACOP describes preferred or recommended methods that can be used (or standards to be met) to comply with the Regulations and the duties imposed by the Health and Safety at Work etc Act (the HSW Act). The accompanying guidance also provides advice on achieving compliance, or it may give information of a general nature, including explanation of the requirements of the law, more specific technical information, or references to further sources of information.

17 The legal status of ACOP and guidance text is given on the copyright page (page 2).

Presentation

18 The ACOP text is set out in bold and the accompanying guidance in normal type, the text of the regulations is in italics. Coloured borders also indicate each section clearly. Some regulations are preceded by a short summary of the main duties imposed by that regulation. This text is for information only.

Other guidance

19 HSE publishes separate guidance specific to particular industry sectors, which links the requirements of these Regulations to specialised work equipment used in industries such as agriculture and construction. You should also take account of any relevant HSE publications giving guidance on other regulations, industries or equipment. There is a non-exhaustive reference section at the back of this document.

Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act 1993 20 This Act implements the employment protection requirements of the EC Health and Safety Framework Directive. It applies to all employees, including those working offshore, and gives rights regardless of their age, hours of work or length of service. The Act entitles employees to take their case to an industrial tribunal if any action is taken against them by their employer if they leave the workplace because of dangerous circumstances or take appropriate steps to protect themselves, or others, from the danger.

Consulting employees

21 If you are an employer you have a legal duty to consult with your employees on matters relating to health and safety in the workplace. For further information see Consulting employees on health and safety: A brief guide to the law INDG232.4

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Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations

Regulation 19 Protection of young persons Regulation 19 (1) Every employer shall ensure that young persons employed by him are protected at work from any risks to their health or safety which are a consequence of their lack of experience, or absence of awareness of existing or potential risks or the fact that young persons have not yet fully matured.

(2) Subject to paragraph (3), no employer shall employ a young person for work –

(a) which is beyond his physical or psychological capacity; (b) involving harmful exposure to agents which are toxic or carcinogenic, cause heritable genetic damage or harm to the unborn child or which in any other way chronically affect human health; (c) involving harmful exposure to radiation; (d) involving the risk of accidents which it may reasonably be assumed cannot be recognised or avoided by young persons owing to their insufficient attention to safety or lack of experience or training; or (e) in which there is a risk to health from – (i) extreme cold or heat; (ii) noise; or (iii) vibration,

and in determining whether work will involve harm or risk for the purpose of this paragraph, regard shall be had to the results of the assessment.

(3) Nothing in paragraph (2) shall prevent the employment of a young person who is no longer a child for work –

(a) where it is necessary for his training; Management (b) where the young person will be supervised by a competent person; and (c) where any risk will be reduced to the lowest level that is reasonably Regulations practicable.

Guidance 19 22 Young people – those who are under 18 years of age – are often exposed to risks to their health and safety when using work equipment due to their immaturity, lack of experience or because they do not recognise existing or potential risks. Therefore you should not allow them to use high-risk lifting machinery (such as cranes, construction site hoists and forklift trucks) unless they have the necessary maturity and competence, which includes having successfully completed appropriate training. However, during training they may use such equipment if they are adequately supervised.

23 Competence and maturity are not simply a matter of the age of the worker. Management Training in itself will not ensure competence but it is part of what is required. The Regulations level of supervision needed will depend on how mature the workers are and whether they can work safely without putting themselves or others at risk. Even

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Guidance 19 when they have been trained, young people may need more supervision to make sure that they do not act irresponsibly or take short cuts which put themselves and others at risk.

24 You do not have to carry out a separate risk assessment specifically for a Management young person. If you have not previously employed a young person you should Regulations review your existing risk assessment and take into account the specific factors for young people, before they start work with you.

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Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations

Regulation 1 Citation and commencement Regulation 1 (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 and shall come into force on 5th December 1998. LOLER

Regulation 2 Interpretation Summary

Regulation 2 clarifies the meaning of terms used in this document.

Regulation 2 (1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires —

“the 1974 Act” means the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974;

“accessory for lifting” means work equipment for attaching loads to machinery for lifting;

“EC declaration of conformity” means a declaration which complies with —

(a) section A of part 1 of Part 2 of Schedule 2 to the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008; (b) Article 12.1 of Council Directive 89/686/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to personal protective equipment; or (c) regulation 8(2)(d) of the Lifts Regulations 1997.

“employer” except in regulation 3(2) and (3) includes a person to whom the requirements imposed by these Regulations apply by virtue of regulation 3(3)(a) and (b);

“essential requirements” has the same meaning as in the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998;

“examination scheme” means a suitable scheme drawn up by a competent person for such thorough examinations of lifting equipment at such intervals as may be appropriate for the purpose described in regulation 9(3);

“the Executive” means the Health and Safety Executive;

“lifting equipment” means work equipment for lifting or lowering loads and includes its attachments used for anchoring, fixing or supporting it;

“lifting operation” has the meaning given in regulation 8(2);

LOLER “load” includes a person;

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Regulation 2 “thorough examination” in relation to a thorough examination under paragraph (1), (2) or (3) of regulation 9 —

(a) means a thorough examination by a competent person; (b) where it is appropriate to carry out testing for the purpose described in the paragraph, includes such testing by a competent person as is appropriate for the purpose,

and “thoroughly examined” shall be construed accordingly;

“work equipment” means any machinery, appliance, apparatus, tool or installation for use at work (whether exclusively or not).

(2) Unless the context otherwise requires, any reference in these Regulations to — (a) a numbered regulation or Schedule is a reference to the regulation or Schedule in these Regulations so numbered; and (b) a numbered paragraph is a reference to the paragraph so numbered in LOLER the regulation or Schedule in which the reference appears.

25 Regulation 2(1) defines ‘lifting equipment’ as ‘work equipment for lifting or Guidance 2 lowering loads and includes its attachments used for anchoring, fixing or supporting it’. It includes any lifting accessories that attach the load to the equipment in addition to the equipment which carries out the actual lifting function. The scope of these Regulations is therefore very wide.

26 As stated in regulation 2(1), a ‘load’ includes ‘a person’ as well as the usual material, animals or combination of these that are