Who can carry out a LOLER thorough examination?
A competent person must have enough practical and theoretical knowledge and experience of the particular lifting equipment to detect defects or weaknesses and assess their importance for continued safe use.
Check my situationCompetence is equipment-specific
Experience examining loose lifting accessories does not automatically establish competence for a passenger lift, crane, MEWP or patient hoist. Ask the provider to connect the named examiner’s knowledge and experience to each equipment category in your schedule.
- Request the proposed examiner’s equipment-specific qualifications, experience and technical support.
- Confirm sufficient independence from maintenance work and commercial pressure.
- Review a redacted Schedule 1 report and the process for immediate and enforcing-authority defect reporting.
What to do next: Appoint only after the provider has accepted the complete asset scope and shown a method for each category. Verify insurance and any claimed accreditation or membership from current evidence rather than relying on a directory badge.
Practical and theoretical knowledge
The examiner needs to understand design, use, deterioration, discard criteria and safety-critical components well enough to judge defects. Competence can come from different qualifications and experience routes.
The dutyholder should ask how competence is selected, authorised and maintained for each equipment family, especially within national inspection organisations.
Independence
HSE says the competent person should be sufficiently independent and impartial to make objective decisions. The same organisation can sometimes service and examine equipment, but the individual examiner should not simply assess their own maintenance work.
Ask how conflicts are managed, who can stop equipment and how repair recommendations are separated from the statutory conclusion.
Reporting capability
The examination is incomplete without the required report. Test whether the provider records item identity, examination date, next due date, defects, danger classification and necessary action and can transmit serious findings promptly.
- Immediate verbal escalation
- Schedule 1 written report
- Enforcing-authority copies where required
- Traceable next date and defect closure