Keeping safe with lifting equipment

Lifting heavy equipment or objects is made possible with the use of cranes, hoists and winches. This equipment is regulated by the Lifting Operations and Lifting EquipmentRegulations or LOLER. This legislation is in place to make sure that the lifting equipment is safe. However, you must understand that there are still great risks to using such equipment and those involved with operating the equipment must be properly trained and be fully aware of the current LOLER regulations.

There is a wide variety of lifting equipment which is covered by LOLER regulations and these include cranes, forklifts, hoists and platforms. It is vital that each piece of equipment has been designed for the job it is being used for. Never exceed the recommended weight limit as this could lead to instability at best or an accident at worst. The equipment must be in the right position and set up properly so that it remains stable. Always make sure that the equipment has the correct safety information clearly displayed on the equipment so that anyone who is new or not totally familiar is reminded. Ensuring staff are properly trained is a legal requirement for a lot of heavy lifting equipment so do make sure that your employees have had the training and have regular refreshers.

Any new piece of lifting equipment should be thoroughly checked when it arrives to ensure that it is in proper working order and has no obvious defects. All lifting equipment should be regularly serviced and should be visually checked before each use so that any issues can be dealt with swiftly. Accidents can and do happen but you should do everything you can to ensure that they are minimized.