Lifting Operations Toolbox Talk

LOLER is not just about the crane

Ask most people on site what LOLER covers and they will point at the crane. The regulations are wider than that. HSE defines lifting equipment as work equipment for lifting and lowering loads, including attachments used for anchoring, fixing or supporting it. That brings the sling, the shackle, the eyebolt, the chain and the lifting beam inside the same set of duties as the machine they hang from.

It matters because the accessory is usually the part that fails, and it is the part nobody logs. A crane arrives with paperwork and a trained operator. A sling gets pulled off a rack by whoever needs it.

And it applies to every lift

Regulation 8 has no size threshold. Every lifting operation must be planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out safely. HSE is clear that the effort scales with the job: a simple, repetitive lift may need only a trained operator planning it on the job, while a complex one needs detailed planning, records and high levels of expert input. What is not optional is that somebody competent plans it.

What the law requires

LOLER 1998 sits on top of PUWER. PUWER covers work equipment generally; LOLER adds the duties that apply because something lifts. The duties follow the equipment rather than the job title, so they land on whoever owns, operates or controls it.

• Strength and stability. Lifting equipment must be of adequate strength and stability for each load, and every part of the load must have adequate strength for the lift. LOLER 1998, reg. 4.
• Lifting people is different. Equipment for lifting persons must prevent the person being crushed, trapped or struck, or falling from the carrier, and must have devices to stop the carrier falling. LOLER 1998, reg. 5.
• Position it to reduce the risk. Equipment must be positioned or installed to reduce, as low as reasonably practicable, the risk of the equipment or its load striking a person, and to prevent a load unintentionally being released or drifting or falling free. LOLER 1998, reg. 6.
• Mark the safe working load. Machinery must be clearly marked with its safe working load, and accessories marked so their safe characteristics can be identified. LOLER 1998, reg. 7.
• Plan, supervise, carry out safely. Every lifting operation involving lifting equipment must be properly planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised, and carried out in a safe manner. LOLER 1998, reg. 8.
• Thorough examination. Lifting equipment must be thoroughly examined by a competent person at set intervals, with reports made and defects acted on. LOLER 1998, reg. 9.

The intervals people get wrong

HSE sets them out plainly. Thorough examination is needed:

• At least every 6 months for lifting equipment and any associated accessories used to lift people, and for all lifting accessories.
• At least every 12 months for all other lifting equipment.
• Or in accordance with an examination scheme drawn up by a competent person, which can set different intervals and methods.

Equipment also needs examining before first use unless it has a Declaration of Conformity less than a year old and was not assembled on site. Anything assembled or installed on site, a tower crane being the obvious case, must be thoroughly examined after assembly and before use at each location. The common mistake is assuming the annual crane inspection covers the slings. It does not: accessories are on the six-month clock.

Source: The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998; HSE, LOLER overview; HSE, Thorough examinations and inspections of lifting equipment; HSE, Safe use of lifting equipment (L113).

Where the danger actually comes from

• Nobody knows the weight. A guessed load is where most overload failures start, and the guess is usually low.
• The accessory, not the crane. Slings, shackles, eyebolts and chains fail more often than the machine, and they are the bit nobody logs.
• Damaged or out of date gear. A sling with a cut, a hook with a stretched throat, a chain with no tag, or kit whose examination expired months ago.
• Working under the load. The one rule everybody knows, and the one that goes when a lift takes longer than expected.
• Ground conditions. Outriggers on soft ground, over a buried chamber, or too near an excavation. Often the machine does not fail, the ground does.
• Wind. Large light loads behave like sails. Manufacturers set wind limits and they get ignored on the last lift of the day.
• Centre of gravity. An unbalanced load swings the moment it leaves the ground, and everything near it moves with it.
• Improvised lifting points. Lifting from something never designed as a lifting point, or a sling arrangement invented on the spot.
• Two machines, one load. Tandem lifts need their own plan and are not something to improvise because one crane will not quite reach.
• Signals. More than one person signalling, or nobody clear who the slinger is, so the operator takes instructions from whoever shouts loudest.
• Lifting people with the wrong kit. A bucket, forks or a pallet is not a carrier, and equipment for lifting people has stricter rules of its own.

Controls to brief your crew on

• Know the weight before anything is rigged. From the drawing, the data plate or the delivery note, not from the look of it.
• Plan every lift. Regulation 8 has no size threshold. A simple lift may need only a trained person planning it on the job, but somebody competent still plans it.
• Check the gear before it goes on. Marked with its SWL, in date for thorough examination, and given a visual check for cuts, wear, distortion and missing tags.
• Use the right accessory for the shape. Correct sling type, correct angle, protection on sharp edges, and capacity derated for the sling angle.
• Set up on ground that will take it. Outrigger mats, checked ground bearing, clear of excavations, chambers and buried services.
• Respect the wind limits. They come from the manufacturer for that machine and that load, and the last lift of the day is not an exception.
• Nobody under the load, ever. Exclusion zone marked and enforced, including everywhere a swinging load could reach.
• One slinger, one set of signals. Agreed before the lift, with an emergency stop that anyone present can give.
• Trial lift and settle. Lift just clear of the ground, check the balance and the rigging, then continue. It is the cheapest test available.
• Stop if anything changes. Wind beyond the manufacturer’s limit, soft ground, an unexpected obstruction, or a load that does not behave. Put it down and re-plan.
• Lifting people needs the right equipment and the right plan. A proper carrier with fall prevention and rescue arrangements, never a bucket or a set of forks.

Source: HSE, Safe use of lifting equipment (L113); HSE, Thorough examinations and inspections of lifting equipment; LOLER 1998, regs. 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9.

Who is competent to do this work

• The competent person who plans the lift needs knowledge and experience matched to that lift’s complexity. HSE expects the planning effort to scale with the job, so a simple repetitive lift and a tandem crane lift are not the same task.
• The competent person who carries out the thorough examination is a different role again. They need enough independence and authority to report honestly, and it is not the operator signing off their own machine.
• Crane and plant operators must be trained and certificated for the machine and authorised on this site.
• Slingers and signallers need training in slinging, sling angles, load estimation and the signal set, because they are making load-bearing decisions even though they never touch the controls.

Paperwork that should be in place

• The lift plan, proportionate to the lift, naming who planned it and who supervises it.
• Thorough examination reports for every piece of lifting equipment and every accessory on site, all in date, containing the items required by LOLER Schedule 1.
• Pre-use inspection records for the gear actually being used today.
• Certificates and data plates showing safe working loads, including derated capacities in different configurations.
• Training and authorisation records for operators, slingers and signallers.
• Ground bearing information and any temporary works design for crane pads or outrigger positions.

Five questions to get the crew talking

1. What does the load we are lifting today actually weigh, and how do we know that?
2. Who planned this lift, and has everyone here seen the plan?
3. When was that sling last thoroughly examined, and where is its tag?
4. Where is the exclusion zone, and who is keeping people out of it?
5. If the load starts swinging, who calls the stop and what do they say?

How to run this toolbox talk

1. Bring the actual gear to the huddle. A sling, a shackle and a tag. Pass them round and find the markings together.
2. Check one examination date in front of everyone. If it is out of date, you have just proved the point better than any slide could.
3. Ask the weight question cold. Do not supply the answer. The silence is the lesson.
4. Walk the exclusion zone and agree where it starts, including where a swinging load would reach.
5. Agree the stop signal and confirm that anybody present can give it, not just the slinger.
6. Pair it with the mobile plant and pedestrians toolbox talk, since the same crews work around both.
7. Record who attended on the free toolbox talk sign-in sheet.

Frequently asked questions

What does LOLER actually cover?

LOLER covers work equipment used at work for lifting and lowering loads, including attachments used for anchoring, fixing or supporting it. That means the crane, the hoist, the telehandler in a lifting duty and the passenger lift, but also the slings, shackles, eyebolts, chains and lifting beams. It applies to businesses whose employees use lifting equipment, whether the equipment is owned or hired in.

How often does lifting equipment need thorough examination?

At least every 6 months for lifting equipment and associated accessories used to lift people, and for all lifting accessories. At least every 12 months for all other lifting equipment. Alternatively, in accordance with an examination scheme drawn up by a competent person. The common error is assuming the 12-month crane examination covers the slings: accessories are on the six-month interval regardless of what the machine is on.

Does every lift need a lift plan?

Yes, in the sense that regulation 8 requires every lifting operation to be properly planned by a competent person, supervised and carried out safely. There is no minimum size. What changes is the depth: HSE describes simple lifts needing little more than on-the-job planning by a trained operator, and complex lifts needing detailed planning, records and expert input. The duty to plan does not disappear because the lift looks routine.

Who counts as a competent person under LOLER?

It depends which duty you mean, because LOLER uses the phrase for two different roles. The person planning the lift needs knowledge and experience proportionate to that lift. The person carrying out the thorough examination needs the practical and theoretical knowledge to detect defects and assess their significance, plus enough independence and authority to report without pressure. They are not normally the same person, and the examiner should not be signing off their own work.

What does SWL mean and where should it be marked?

Safe working load: the maximum load the equipment can safely lift. Regulation 7 requires machinery and accessories for lifting to be clearly marked with their safe working loads, and where the safe working load depends on the configuration, marked for each configuration or with the information kept with the equipment. Accessories must be marked so their safe characteristics can be identified. Unmarked gear should not go on the hook.

Can you lift someone in an excavator bucket or on forks?

No. Regulation 5 sets specific requirements for equipment used to lift people: it must prevent the person being crushed, trapped or struck or falling from the carrier, and must include devices to stop the carrier falling. A bucket, a set of forks or a pallet meets none of that. Lifting people requires equipment designed and examined for it, on the six-month examination interval, with rescue arrangements planned.

What happens if a thorough examination finds a defect?

If the defect is or could become a danger to people, the competent person must tell the responsible person immediately, verbally, and follow it with a written report. The equipment must not be used until the defect is put right, and the enforcing authority must be notified. Defects that are not an immediate danger must be remedied within the timescale the report specifies.