Construction sites have some of the tightest LOLER obligations in any sector. Tower cranes, MEWPs, telehandlers, and hundreds of individual lifting accessories, all on one site, operated by different employers under the same principal contractor. Equipment arriving Monday. Leaving Friday. Changing hands in between. LOLER 1998 applies to every UK construction site regardless of how chaotic that picture looks. This guide covers examination intervals, duty holder responsibilities, lift planning, and how to keep records clean when plant moves constantly.
Construction concentrates every LOLER risk in one place. That is why scrutiny here is tighter.
The HSE's fatality statistics consistently show lifting equipment failures as a leading cause of workplace deaths in construction. Rapidly changing site configurations, equipment shared between contractors, and complex multi-lift operations all increase risk. That is why LOLER inspections on construction sites receive closer scrutiny than in most other sectors.
One site. Multiple crane types. MEWPs, telehandlers, and excavators pressed into lifting use. Hundreds of accessories, each with its own interval. Different duty holders for each. Without a structured system, gaps appear. The HSE knows exactly where to look.
The full compliance framework is set out in our LOLER compliance guide.
Different equipment. Different intervals. Every item on your site needs tracking separately.
Under LOLER 1998, equipment used to carry persons is examined every 6 months. Other lifting equipment: 12 months as a minimum. Lifting accessories, including slings, chains, and shackles, always fall in the 6-month category. That rule applies regardless of what they are used with.
| Equipment | Interval | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Tower crane | 12 months + post-erection | Re-examination required after each erection on a new site |
| Mobile crane | 12 months + post-erection | Also re-examined after exceptional circumstances such as overload or collision |
| Construction hoist (persons) | 6 months | Person-carrying hoists use the 6-month rule. Goods-only hoists: 12 months |
| MEWP (scissor lift, boom lift) | 6 months | Carries persons, 6-month interval regardless of frequency of use |
| Telehandler (used for lifting) | 12 months | Attachments classified as lifting accessories are examined separately at 6 months |
| Lifting slings, chains, shackles | 6 months | All lifting accessories: 6 months regardless of the equipment they are used with |
| Gin wheel / rope block | 6 months | Lifting accessory, 6-month rule applies |
| Excavator (used for lifting) | 12 months | When used as a crane under a lifting plan, LOLER applies to the lifting operation |
Multi-contractor site. Every employer is a duty holder. The principal contractor cannot delegate that away.
On a multi-contractor site, LOLER duties fall on every employer who controls lifting equipment. The principal contractor cannot discharge liability by requiring subcontractors to self-certify. Every employer is a duty holder for the equipment under their control. Full stop.
Your excavator is being used to lift loads. That makes it LOLER equipment for that operation.
When an excavator is used to lift and position a load, it becomes lifting equipment under LOLER for that operation. The machine classification does not matter. The activity does.
That means a lifting plan must be in place. A competent person must supervise. If the machine is regularly used for lifting, it requires thorough examination under LOLER. Many construction businesses miss this entirely. HSE enforcement visits regularly identify unexamined excavators used in a lifting capacity. It is one of the most common construction site findings.
Regulation 8 requires a lift plan. A verbal briefing is not a lift plan.
LOLER Regulation 8 requires every lifting operation to be properly planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised, and carried out safely. On construction sites, that means a written lift plan for all non-routine and complex lifts. Verbal briefings do not satisfy this requirement.
The plan covers the load, the equipment, the rigging method, the sequence, ground conditions, the exclusion zone, and the responsibilities of each person involved. Appointed person. Crane operator. Slinger-signaller. Each role carries separate competency requirements. Each must be defined in writing before the lift begins.
A verbal briefing does not satisfy the requirement for complex or near-structure lifts. The Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA) provides detailed guidance on lift planning competency standards.
Hired plant arrives on site. Verify the LOLER records before it works, not after.
Each duty holder is responsible for the examination records of the equipment under their control. Principal contractors are responsible for lifting equipment they control directly. Subcontractors who bring their own equipment onto site remain duty holders for that equipment and must maintain their own records.
A sling used beyond its rated capacity is not a risk. It is an incident waiting to be reported.
Every item of lifting equipment must be marked with its safe working load. On construction sites, this matters most for slings and shackles. They are frequently mismatched with equipment or used beyond their rated capacity. Marking alone does not prevent misuse, but the absence of marking removes the last line of defence.
When a thorough examination finds a defect, the competent person produces a written report. Category 1 defects (a risk of serious personal injury) must be sent immediately to the duty holder and the enforcing authority. Category 2 defects must specify the timescale for repair. Both categories require documented action, not just acknowledgement.
Construction sites with multiple inspection companies operating simultaneously must capture defect reports from all sources in a single, searchable audit trail. Gaps in defect reporting are a consistent finding in HSE enforcement action on construction sites.
Several hundred LOLER assets across multiple live sites. A spreadsheet will not hold this.
A contractor running multiple active sites can have several hundred LOLER assets in operation at any point. Different site mix. Different due dates. Different inspection company relationships. Hired plant arriving and leaving throughout the project lifecycle.
Spreadsheet-based tracking at that scale breaks down without significant dedicated resource. Purpose-built LOLER inspection software gives you a centralised asset register with per-site filtering, so you can see which assets are due across all sites from one view. When an asset moves between sites, its examination history follows it.
For further reading, see our dedicated guides on lifting accessories inspection, crane inspection requirements, and MEWP inspection requirements.
Different site. Different equipment. Same LOLER obligations. A clear lifting plan, current examination records for every asset on site, and a defect reporting process that is followed every time without exception: that is what a compliant construction operation looks like when the HSE arrives.