Lift Safety Policy

Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER)

5.1 Passenger lifts in workplaces (for example, offices) which are used by people during their course of work, fall within the scope of The Lifting Operation and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER) (opens new window).

5.2 LOLER requires landlords to maintain lifts and ensure that they have thorough examinations:

• Before use for the first time (unless the equipment has a Declaration of Conformity less than one year old and the equipment was not assembled on site. If it was assembled on site, it must be examined by a competent person to ensure that the assembly (for example, a platform lift installed in a building) was completed correctly and safely.
• Landlords are required to ensure that all lifts, when in use, are thoroughly examined after substantial and significant changes have been made, at least every 12 months if the lift is used at any time to carry people, other than domestic stairlifts which will be checked each year or decreased following risk assessment, every 12 months if the lift is only carrying loads (or in accordance with an examination scheme); and
• At least annually if the lift is used at any time to carry people, other than a domestic stairlift
• Following exceptional circumstances such as damage to, or failure of, the lift, long periods out of use, or a major change in operating conditions which is likely to affect the integrity of the equipment.
• Thorough examination reports must be kept for at least two years.

Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER)

5.3 There is some overlap between The Lifting Operation and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER) (opens new window) and Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (opens new window), which applies to all work equipment, including lifting equipment (such as hoists, lift trucks, elevating work platforms and lifting slings). The scope of this policy includes for lifts which are fixed within properties owned and managed by Gateshead Council (for example,passenger lifts/stairlifts/through floor lifts) and not mobile lifting equipment.

Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974

5.4 Section 3 of the The Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 (opens new window) makes employers, such as landlords, responsible for the health and safety of employees and people using or visiting their premises, so far as reasonably practicable (including tenants).

5.5 For passenger lifts in communal blocks and for tenanted properties with domestic lifts, duties may be adequately discharged by adopting the same provisions as applies to all other lifting equipment covered by The Lifting Operation and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER) (opens new window) (carrying out regular maintenance and a six-monthly thorough examination).

Insurance

5.6 Insurers may impose demands for stringent levels of risk management to cover public liability.