Safe and successful lifting operations depend, in large part, on the continued safety of the lifting equipment and accessories that are used.

Failures in this kind of equipment can result in significant or even fatal injuries. Health and safety law therefore places a number of specific obligations on those providing, controlling and using lifting equipment to properly manage these risks. In addition to the requirements for safe design and construction, all lifting equipment should also be checked and maintained as necessary to keep it safe for use, so:

• users may need to undertake simple pre-use checks (e.g. on lifting chains and slings), or make checks on a daily basis (eg for lift trucks)
• in some cases, inspections and checks should be made on a regular basis, often weekly, but this may be on a monthly or quarterly basis (e.g. the checks undertaken by an operator on their crane)
• employers should ensure that lifting equipment is thoroughly examined (normally once or twice a year but, in some cases, this may be more or less frequent)

These checks are necessary to verify that the lifting equipment can continue to be safely used. Membership of LEEA gives us a competitive edge and benefit from unrivaled access to all the latest technical, legal and safety information necessary to operate successfully in today’s lifting equipment industry. All inspections / tests should conform to the Code of Practice and only members can certify validity of tests and reports.