Independent statutory lift inspection, across the UK.
The thorough examination is the single most important inspection in a lift's calendar. We deliver it as an independent competent-person service — six-monthly on passenger and platform lifts that carry people, twelve-monthly on goods, with a written report under LOLER Regulation 10 in your inbox inside five working days. Pair it with a PUWER inspection on the wider equipment and a BS EN 81-80 audit on older installations, and the entire compliance envelope for the lift sits in one folder.
What's the difference between a thorough examination and a service inspection?
A thorough examination is a statutory LOLER 1998 inspection by an independent competent person every six months on passenger lifts — issuing a Form 80 report against defect classes. A service inspection is preventive maintenance by your contracted engineer, scheduled by the frequency you agree, with no statutory report. One verifies legal compliance; the other prevents wear.
Aspect
Thorough examination (LOLER 1998)
Service inspection (routine maintenance)
Legal status
Statutory — mandatory under LOLER 1998 Regulation 9
Contractual — voluntary, set by the maintenance agreement
Frequency
Every 6 months on passenger lifts; 12 months on goods-only lifts
Typically 4–12 visits per year, set by manufacturer guidance and usage
Conducted by
A competent person, independent of the maintenance team on the same lift
A maintenance engineer — usually the contracted service provider
Report
Form 80 / Schedule 1 written report under Regulation 10, defects graded Immediate · Within timeframe · Observation
Service docket or maintenance log — no statutory format, no defect-class grading
Purpose
Compliance verification — proves the lift is safe to keep in service
Wear prevention — lubricates, adjusts, replaces consumables before they fail
Accelerated wear, more breakdowns, shorter equipment life
Thorough examination
LOLER 1998 — statutory
Frequency
6 months passenger · 12 months goods
Conducted by
Independent competent person
Report
Form 80 / Schedule 1, defect class per item
Purpose
Compliance verification
If skipped
HSE prosecution, insurance void
Service inspection
Routine maintenance — contractual
Frequency
4–12 visits / year, contract-defined
Conducted by
Contracted maintenance engineer
Report
Service docket / maintenance log
Purpose
Wear prevention
If skipped
More breakdowns, shorter lifespan
The two are different jobs, but most BASE clients bundle them on a single visit cycle. The maintenance engineer arrives, runs the service inspection, then a separate competent person — independent of the maintenance team — carries out the LOLER thorough examination on the same day. One trip to site, two reports, no statutory gap. Independence on the competent-person side is non-negotiable: HSE INDG422 makes the point explicit, and it's the reason a thorough examination signed by the same engineer who maintains the lift is not worth the paper.
What does an independent thorough examination actually look like?
The competent person is on top of the car, in the pit, or in the controller cabinet — not at the landing reading a docket. Every guide rail, suspension component, brake assembly and overspeed governor is inspected against the engineering standard the lift was built to, with the findings keyed to LOLER Regulation 10 reporting language so the building owner can act on it without a translation.
BASE has been delivering independent statutory inspections to this standard since 2019, with a Technical Director carrying approaching four decades of platform and passenger lift experience. SafeContractor approved, accreditation CN8516.
The statutory framework
Every reference a UK lift inspection lands against.
LOLER 1998 is the statute. PUWER 1998 is the wider envelope. BS EN 81-80 is the audit framework for older lifts. BS 7255 covers the engineer carrying out the inspection. HSE INDG422 is the duty-holder guidance every property manager should keep on file. The table below is the full reference list a competent person cites on the day.
A LOLER thorough examination on a passenger lift normally takes a full half-day; on a platform lift, two to three hours. The visit follows the same five-beat structure every time so the building owner gets a comparable report cycle on cycle — not a free-text essay one quarter and a checklist the next.
01
Pre-examination
We review the lift's maintenance log, the previous LOLER report, any recent fault history, and the building's risk assessment. The pre-examination pack tells the competent person what's been replaced, where the lift sits in its 6 / 12-month cycle, and which clauses of BS EN 81-80 the lift has historically failed against. Platform and passenger lifts get the same paperwork rigour — no shortcut on a smaller travel.
Maintenance log read
Prior LOLER report
Risk assessment paired
02
Visual & static checks
The lift is taken out of service for the duration of the visit. The competent person inspects the cabin, doors, landing equipment, machine room or controller cabinet, pit and headroom — checking for wear, corrosion, fastener integrity, guide-rail alignment, suspension condition, and overspeed-governor setting. The static phase covers everything the lift does before it moves.
Cabin · doors · landings
Pit · headroom · machine room
Static fastener torque
03
Dynamic testing
The lift is run through a controlled cycle — full travel, intermediate stops, overload trip, light-curtain interrupt, emergency stop, alarm, two-way communication. On passenger lifts that includes a dead-weight or equivalent test at rated load every 5 years. On platform lifts under BS EN 81-41, the dynamic phase verifies the obstruction sensing and the controlled descent on power loss. Brake performance, levelling accuracy, and door re-opening are timed.
Full-travel run
Overload trip verified
5-yearly rated-load test
04
Defect-class grading
Every finding is graded against the three-tier defect-class hierarchy: Immediate (lift must not be used until rectified), Within Timeframe (must be rectified within a stated period — typically 14, 28, or 60 days), and Observation (best-practice or condition-monitoring note, no statutory deadline). The grading is keyed to the actual LOLER Regulation 10 reporting requirement, not a vendor-specific scoring scheme, so the building owner can act on it directly.
Immediate · do not use
Within 14 / 28 / 60 days
Observation only
05
Written report
Within five working days the competent person issues the written report under LOLER Regulation 10 — itemised findings, defect class per item, photo evidence, the date of the next examination, and a copy filed with the building owner's records. If anything Immediate is found, the HSE is notified by the inspector under RIDDOR where the criteria apply. Reports are written in plain English, not boilerplate — a property manager can read it once and act on it.
How often does a passenger lift need a LOLER thorough examination?
Every six months. LOLER 1998 Regulation 9 (3)(a) requires a thorough examination of a lift used to carry people at least every six months, or in line with an examination scheme drawn up by a competent person. Goods-only lifts run on a twelve-month cycle (Regulation 9 (3)(b)). Both platform lifts (under BS EN 81-41) and passenger lifts (under BS EN 81-20) are in scope. See the /services/inspections/loler/ page for the full LOLER engagement detail.
What's the difference between LOLER and PUWER?
LOLER 1998 is specific to lifting equipment — anything used at work to lift people or loads, including lifts, hoists, cranes, slings, eyebolts. PUWER 1998 is broader: it covers the provision and use of all work equipment, with Regulations 5–9 addressing maintenance, inspection, and information for users. Most lifts fall under both regimes — LOLER for the lifting function (cabin, suspension, brake, overspeed governor) and PUWER for the equipment as a whole (controls, doors, signage, isolators). One thorough examination commonly satisfies the LOLER duty; PUWER inspection runs alongside it at a risk-based frequency. See the /services/inspections/puwer/ page for the PUWER scope in detail.
What is BS EN 81-80 and when does it apply?
BS EN 81-80:2019 is the safety norms standard for existing lifts — the audit framework that benchmarks a lift installed under an older standard against the safety expectations of the current installation standards (BS EN 81-20 / 50). It enumerates 74 known hazards, each with a recommended remedial action and a priority rating. The audit is voluntary in the UK, but it's the cleanest way to translate a thorough examination into a modernisation roadmap — particularly on passenger lifts originally installed pre-1999 under BS 5655. We use the BS EN 81-80 audit as the bridge between an inspection report and a modernisation specification.
Who counts as a competent person?
Under LOLER, a competent person is someone with the necessary practical and theoretical knowledge and experience to identify defects or weaknesses in lifting equipment, and to assess their effect on the safety and continued use of the lift. In practice that means an experienced lift engineer who is independent of routine day-to-day maintenance on the same equipment — HSE INDG422 makes the independence point explicit. BASE supplies competent-person examinations across both platform and passenger lifts, separated organisationally from the team that holds the maintenance contract on the same building.
What's in the written report, and who gets a copy?
The written report under LOLER Regulation 10 must record: identification of the lift, the date of the last examination, the date of the report, every defect found and its risk to persons, whether any defect is of immediate or imminent risk, the date by which the lift must be re-examined, the name and qualification of the competent person, and a description of any test carried out. A copy goes to the lift owner. If the report identifies an Immediate-class defect, a copy must also be sent to the relevant enforcing authority (HSE for most workplaces, the local authority for some retail / hospitality premises) without delay.
What happens if a defect is graded Immediate?
The lift must not be used until the defect is rectified. The competent person notes Immediate on the report, the building's responsible person isolates the lift and posts an out-of-service notice, and the enforcing authority is notified by the inspector. The fix is then engineered, tested, and a follow-up examination is carried out before the lift is returned to service. Common Immediate defects: corroded brake torque arm, missing or shorted overspeed governor circuit, broken safety-gear release linkage, badly worn suspension. We carry common Immediate-class spares on every survey visit so a fix doesn't sit waiting for parts where we can avoid it.
Do platform lifts need the same inspection rhythm?
Yes — if the platform lift carries people, it sits on the 6-monthly LOLER cycle, the same as a passenger lift. The engineering standard is different (BS EN 81-41 rather than BS EN 81-20), and the dynamic test profile is different (controlled descent on power-loss verification, obstruction sensing under the platform, ramp / gate interlocks) but the statutory examination interval is identical. Many of our hub clients run one passenger lift on the same 6-month cycle as a platform lift under a single inspection contract.
Are you tied to a manufacturer?
No. BASE is independent of every lift OEM — no manufacturer alliance, no parts-distributor rebate, no incentive to favour one platform over another. The competent-person role is held by senior engineers carrying NVQ Level 4 qualification with combined experience across Aritco, Cibes, Stannah, Gartec, Otis, Kone, Schindler, and ThyssenKrupp on both platform and passenger sides. Independence is the point — if the lift you're inspecting was installed by the same firm doing the inspection, the LOLER report is not worth the paper.
Independent competent-person inspection
Tell us about the lift. We'll inspect it, report it, and file it.
Platform lift, passenger lift, one lift or a stack of twelve — every thorough examination is delivered by a competent person independent of the maintenance team on the same equipment. The report lands in your inbox in five working days, in plain English, with the defect class and the rectification clock per item.
