Forklift LOLER Thorough Examinations: A Practical Employer Checklist
Forklifts are work equipment and lifting equipment. That means businesses using them need to manage both ongoing maintenance and the separate requirements for thorough examination. Confusing the two is a common and avoidable compliance gap.
This checklist summarises the practical questions an employer or fleet manager should be able to answer. It is based on current HSE guidance; the competent person and official guidance should be used for decisions about specific equipment or unusual applications.
1. Do you know which equipment is covered?
Your register should include every forklift and relevant lifting attachment, with make, model, serial number, location, owner or hirer, date first used, last examination and next due date. Shared, hired and rarely used equipment can be missed if there is no single fleet record.
2. Is the examination interval correct?
The HSE guidance on thorough examinations states that, unless a competent person's examination scheme specifies other intervals, thorough examinations are generally required every 12 months for other lifting equipment, every 6 months for equipment used to lift people and every 6 months for lifting accessories.
Examination may also be required before first use in some circumstances, after assembly or installation, and after exceptional events that could affect safety, such as damage, failure, long periods out of use or major changes to safety-critical parts.
3. Is the person carrying it out competent and sufficiently impartial?
A thorough examination must be systematic and detailed, carried out by someone with the practical and theoretical knowledge and experience needed to detect defects and judge their significance. HSE guidance also stresses sufficient independence and impartiality; the person should not simply be assessing their own routine maintenance work.
4. Are service and thorough examination being treated separately?
PUWER requires work equipment to be maintained in a safe condition and inspected where necessary. HSE's PUWER overview explains the duty to keep equipment in efficient working order and good repair. Routine service supports that duty. A LOLER thorough examination is a separate legal examination and report.
Visits may be coordinated to reduce disruption, but the scope and documentation should remain clear. A service sheet is not automatically a thorough examination report.
5. Does the report contain what you need?
The equipment and employer or dutyholder details.
The examination date and the date the next examination is due.
The parts examined and the examination or testing carried out.
Any defect that is or could become a danger to people.
The action or time period required where use can continue temporarily.
The competent person's identity, qualifications and authentication.
The report should be available in writing and protected from unauthorised alteration. Where a serious defect presents immediate danger, the dutyholder should be told immediately, the written report should follow and the relevant enforcing authority may also need to receive a copy.
6. Is there a controlled response to defects?
A certificate is not the end of the process. The business needs ownership for removing unsafe equipment from use, authorising repairs, recording completion and deciding when the truck can return to service. Defects with a future deadline must also be tracked so they do not become overdue.
7. Are records easy to retrieve?
Keep examination reports, inspection records and relevant declarations in a form that can be produced when required. Link each report to the correct asset and retain repair evidence against the defect. Digital records are useful only if serial numbers, dates and document ownership are controlled.
A simple pre-examination preparation list
Confirm the truck identity and serial number.
Make the truck, keys, attachment and charger available.
Provide previous reports and details of outstanding defects.
Clean areas that need to be examined and report known damage.
Arrange a safe examination area and an operator where functional checks require one.
Agree who can authorise urgent repairs and who receives the final report.
Is a forklift service the same as a LOLER thorough examination?
No. Routine maintenance and thorough examination are distinct activities with different purposes and records, even when visits are coordinated.
How often does a forklift need a thorough examination?
Unless a competent person's examination scheme sets another interval, HSE guidance generally gives 12 months for other lifting equipment and 6 months for equipment used to lift people or for lifting accessories.
What happens if a dangerous defect is found?
The dutyholder should be notified immediately and must control the risk, including stopping use where necessary until the defect is remedied. The written report and any required notification must then be handled correctly.
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