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BASE Lift Services
LOLER 1998 thorough examinations · Platform & passenger lifts · UK-wide

Independent LOLER inspections, defects classified, Form 80 in your hands.

BASE provides independent LOLER 1998 thorough examinations for platform and passenger lifts across the UK — 6-monthly for any lift carrying people, 12-monthly for goods-only lifts and accessories. Every examination is performed by an independent competent person to the Schedule 1 particulars, with defects classified A / B / C and a Form 80 written report issued the same week.

Book a LOLER inspection 020 3435 6838 (24/7)
6-month
Passenger / platform — any lift carrying people
12-month
Goods-only lifts · lifting accessories
Form 80
Written report to Schedule 1, every visit
The statutory framework

What does LOLER 1998 require, line by line?

The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 sit at the centre. Regulation 9 sets the thorough-examination cadence, Schedule 1 sets the report fields, ACOP L113 sets the competent-person bar, and PUWER 1998 sits in parallel as the general work-equipment regime. BS EN 81-20 and BS EN 81-41 give the examiner the technical baseline for passenger and platform lifts respectively.

  • LOLER 1998 Compliant

    Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 — Statutory Instrument 1998/2307

    Coverage
    Cycle
    Platform · Passenger
    6 or 12 months
  • Reg. 9 Compliant

    Thorough examination and inspection — frequency, scope and report obligations

    Coverage
    Cycle
    All lifts
    Mandatory
  • Schedule 1 Aligned

    Particulars to be included in a written report — 14 required fields (Form 80 satisfies)

    Coverage
    Cycle
    Reporting
    Every examination
  • HSE F2530 Supported

    Defect notification to the enforcing authority — required for serious / imminent risk

    Coverage
    Cycle
    Defect class A
    As required
  • ACOP L113 Followed

    HSE Approved Code of Practice for LOLER 1998 — competent-person guidance

    Coverage
    Cycle
    Method
    Continuous
  • PUWER 1998 Compliant

    Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 — parallel inspection regime

    Coverage
    Cycle
    Platform · Passenger
    On survey
  • SaFed Aligned

    Safety Assessment Federation — thorough-examination reporting standard

    Coverage
    Cycle
    Reporting
    Every examination
  • BS EN 81-20 Compliant

    Passenger lifts — design, construction and continued compliance baseline

    Coverage
    Cycle
    Passenger
    Continuous
  • BS EN 81-41 Compliant

    Platform lifts — vertical accessibility baseline for examination scope

    Coverage
    Cycle
    Platform
    Continuous
Competent person
Independent

Examiner is not the day-to-day maintainer of the lift — ACOP L113 §51 alignment

Examiner training
NVQ Level 3+

CSCS-carded, continuous brand training across 40+ makes

Indemnity cover
£10m

Public and employers liability, per claim, no aggregate cap

SafeContractor
CN8516

H&S accreditation audited annually

Inspections overview PUWER inspections Maintenance overview Maintenance contracts Compliance modernisation LOLER explained
The examination, beat by beat

What a LOLER thorough examination actually looks like.

Five beats from booking to Form 80. Every one of them happens whether the lift is a Cibes platform lift in a domestic care setting or a Schindler 7000 passenger lift in a commercial tower — the regulation is the same, the engineering rigor is the same, only the technical baseline (BS EN 81-41 vs BS EN 81-20) shifts.

Top-down view of a clipboard holding a printed LOLER inspection report and a fountain pen, beside red-tagged tools and a steel calibration weight on a workshop surface.
01

Schedule the examination

You phone or email with the lift type (platform or passenger), make, capacity and the last examination date — or we collect that from the existing service log. We book the visit to fit the building, not the diary: out-of-hours and weekend slots are routine because lift downtime in a residential block or a care home is a real cost.

  • No paperwork up front
  • Out-of-hours OK
  • Slots inside 2 weeks
02

On-site preparation

The competent person arrives with the lift's service history (where supplied), the manufacturer's data plate readings, the previous LOLER report and any outstanding defect log. The lift is taken out of service for the duration of the examination; building staff are briefed; the motor room, pit, car top and landings are walked before the examination begins.

  • History reviewed
  • Building briefed
  • Disruption minimised
03

Thorough examination — three stages

Stage one: visual examination and full functional checks against BS EN 81-20 (passenger) or BS EN 81-41 (platform). Stage two: measurement of wear on suspension means, brake travel, door interlocks, ropes or belts where applicable, drive nuts and contactors. Stage three: non-destructive testing or load testing where the previous report, the lift's age, or a Written Scheme of Examination requires it.

  • Visual + functional
  • Wear measurement
  • NDT / load test as required
04

Defect triage

Every defect is assigned a class. Class A — serious and imminent risk of injury: lift is locked out, the duty-holder is notified verbally on site, the HSE F2530 notification is supported within the statutory window. Class B — defect to be remedied within a specified period, lift can stay in service under stated conditions. Class C — observation for the next examination. The triage is the report — no asterisks, no "subject to engineer's discretion".

  • Class A · imminent risk
  • Class B · time-bound
  • Class C · observed
05

Form 80 written report

You receive a Form-80-aligned written report containing every Schedule 1 particular: examiner identity, employer, date of examination, date of next due, date of any defect-driven re-examination, particulars of defects, any limits on safe working load, and the examiner's signed declaration. Copy goes to the duty-holder; copy filed on our side; copy issued to your insurer on request. Plain English summary on page 1, full technical body behind it.

  • Schedule 1 complete
  • Next-due dated
  • Insurer copy on request
Book a LOLER inspection
LOLER — common questions

What owners and managing agents ask before booking.

How often does a LOLER thorough examination have to be carried out?
Every six months for any lift that carries people — that includes every passenger lift in commercial use and every platform lift used by people (wheelchair platform lifts, accessibility lifts, Aritco / Cibes / Gartec / Stannah platform lifts and the rest of the platform set). Every twelve months for lifts that only carry goods and for lifting accessories (chains, slings, anchors). The cadence can be modified upward or downward only under a written Scheme of Examination drawn up by a competent person — never by the day-to-day maintainer.
Who counts as a "competent person" under LOLER 1998?
The HSE Approved Code of Practice L113 defines a competent person as someone with the practical and theoretical knowledge, and the actual experience, of the lifting equipment to detect defects and assess their importance — and crucially, someone independent of the day-to-day maintenance of that lift. The independence requirement is why insurance-led inspections exist: an examiner cannot also be the engineer who would benefit financially from finding defects to remedy. Every BASE examination is carried out by an NVQ Level 3+ engineer whose day job is not the maintenance of that specific lift.
What is Form 80 and what has to be in the report?
Form 80 is the industry-standard written report template that satisfies Schedule 1 of LOLER 1998. Schedule 1 requires 14 particulars: examiner's name and address, name of duty-holder, address of premises where lift examined, identification of the lift (make, serial, year), date of last examination, the parts examined, any defect found and its class, the safe working load, any test carried out, the date by which any defect must be remedied, the date of next thorough examination, the name and signature of the competent person, the date the report was made, and the name of the person on whose behalf the examination was carried out. All 14 appear on every BASE Form-80-aligned report.
How does LOLER differ from a maintenance contract?
A maintenance contract is preventive work paid for by the lift owner — the engineer cleans, lubricates, adjusts, replaces wear parts and keeps the lift running. LOLER is a statutory inspection regime under SI 1998/2307: a competent person examines the lift, classifies defects against the regulations, and issues a Schedule 1 written report. The two are complementary, not interchangeable. The competent person must be independent of the maintenance, which is why even buildings under a BASE maintenance contract have the LOLER examiner scheduled as a separate engineer — and why we offer the LOLER bundle at a fixed reduced rate inside a maintenance contract: the visit is co-ordinated, but the examination is independent.
How does LOLER differ from PUWER?
LOLER 1998 (SI 1998/2307) and PUWER 1998 (SI 1998/2306) were laid down together and overlap. PUWER covers every piece of work equipment a business uses — including lifts — and obliges the employer to ensure it is suitable, maintained, inspected, and used by trained people. LOLER applies on top, specifically to lifting equipment, and adds the thorough-examination duty, the competent-person requirement, the cadence, and the Schedule 1 report. In practice: PUWER asks "is this lift suitable and maintained?", LOLER asks "and prove it with an independent thorough examination on a six- or twelve-month cycle".
What happens if a serious defect is found?
Class A defects — serious and imminent risk of injury — trigger three obligations. First, the duty-holder (the building owner or managing agent) is notified verbally on site, immediately, and the lift is locked out. Second, the competent person notifies the enforcing authority (HSE or local authority for low-risk premises) on a Form F2530 within the statutory window. Third, the written Schedule 1 report is issued. The lift cannot lawfully return to service until the defect is remedied and the competent person confirms it in writing. We carry parts for the most common Class A defect causes (door interlocks, brake failures, overspeed governors) on the inspection van so remediation can begin the same day in the majority of cases.
What are the consequences of not having LOLER inspections done?
Three real-world consequences. (1) HSE enforcement: improvement and prohibition notices are routinely served on buildings whose lifts are out-of-date on LOLER, and prosecution under section 33 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is on the table — uncapped fines in the Crown Court, custodial sentences for company directors in serious cases. (2) Invalidated insurance: most commercial buildings policies require LOLER compliance as a condition of cover; a non-compliant lift is uninsured and any injury claim is the duty-holder's alone. (3) Tort liability: in any personal-injury claim arising from a lift that was out of LOLER cycle, the absence of a current thorough examination is treated as evidence of breach of duty by default. None of these are theoretical — HSE's own Incident Review (1998–2003) recorded 861 lifting-operation incidents from the 4,624 in the study window, and the regulatory regime has tightened, not loosened, since.
Can BASE do the LOLER on a lift we don't have a maintenance contract on?
Yes. The LOLER examination is a stand-alone service — we examine lifts on no-contract sites every week for managing agents, building owners and insurance companies who want an independent competent-person assessment. A no-contract LOLER is priced from the lift type, age, location and access; a written quote is issued before any visit. Customers under a BASE maintenance contract get LOLER at a fixed reduced rate because the visit is co-ordinated with their normal service slot — but the examiner is a separate engineer from the maintainer, preserving independence.
Which lift makes can you LOLER?
Platform: Aritco, Cibes, Dalby, Gartec, Kalea, Motala, Nami, NTD, Phoenix, Pollock, Stannah and Vimec — plus the longer list of UK-installed platform brands. Passenger: Otis, Kone, Schindler, ThyssenKrupp, Orona, Mitsubishi, Stannah and most major UK passenger manufacturers. Goods, service, dumb-waiter and scissor lifts are also covered. If your make is not listed, phone — we have likely examined it at some point, and where we have not, a competent person from outside our team can be sub-contracted under a Written Scheme of Examination.
Book a LOLER examination

Tell us about your lift. We'll schedule the competent person.

One platform lift overdue in a care home, a residential block of passenger lifts where the insurance renewal is up, or a portfolio of mixed-use buildings that need a single LOLER schedule — we examine independently, classify defects, issue Form 80, and where possible remedy the same week. No tie to your existing maintainer required.

Book a LOLER inspection Call 020 3435 6838 (24/7)

Or email enquiries@baselifts.co.uk