LOLER Testing

[Jenegade]

Hi, I do tree bat surveys for my work and myself and my line manager got our NPTC tree climbing and aerial rescue course in February 2008.

We were told that our kit needs to have a LOLER inspection every 6 months, and that it has to be done by a competent person, my line manager thought that meant we can do it ourselves. But after speaking to other arborists (my husband is a forester and works with an arb team sometimes) they all seem to get someone else who has the loler certificate of competence to check the equipment.

 

So my question is, do you have to have this certificate to Loler test your equipment or is a competent person include yourself??

 

This is the text I found on the HSE website:

 

Thorough examination means a detailed examination

by a competent person, who has the appropriate

practical and theoretical knowledge and experience

to enable them to detect defects or weaknesses and

assess their importance in relation to the safety and

continued use of the lifting equipment [294].

 

There's no mention of examination or tests or certifcates....confused

[Paul Smith]

You need to have it inspected by somone who has done the Loler inspectors ticket!

[Jenegade]

Ok, but do you know where I can find information saying this, my manager won't believe me so I need some proof in writing!

 

Thanks!

[Ben Saxton]

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg290.pdf

[Jenegade]

:sad:Thank you benstihl, but that's what I was looking at before. It says that it has to be carried out by a competent person, but nowhere does it say who the competent person is. This is why my line manager believes that we can do it ourselves as we are competent climbers and can check our own kit.

I want to get it done propoerly by a loler inspector, but can't find anything that says a loler inspector needs to do it and nothing that defines who the competent person is....

[Paul Smith]

This might help? Competent person etc. http://www.nptc.org.uk/download.asp?file=Schedules/thorough_exam_of_arb_equip_assessment_schedule_jan06.pdf

[Peter]

The answer is in your first post.

 

Thorough examination means a detailed examination

by a competent person, who has the appropriate

practical and theoretical knowledge and experience

to enable them to detect defects or weaknesses and

assess their importance in relation to the safety and

continued use of the lifting equipment [294].

 

 

Do you currently have the training, skills and experience to perform a thorough examination of climbing equipment?

 

As a climber, you know enough to do the weekly checks, but have not been trained to carry out a thorough examination.

 

There is no definition written down anywhere that will tell you what qualification you need, however NPTC do offer an assessment.

 

Perhaps you could ask your training provider to confirm whether or not your NPTCs enable you to do a thorough examination or not?

[Paul Jenks]

It also has to be someone empowered to condemn and if necessary destroy faulty equipment to take it out of service. HSE frown on the directors or owners of businesses carrying out this task as they have an overt financial incentive to retain potentially faulty equipment.

There is also a compliance issue. The equipment has to have a certificate of thorough examination available for inspection and this has to be renewed every 6 months even if the kit hasn't been used. The certificater will have a unique reference number that has to be put on the certificate of thorough examination thereby giving traceability. In the event of an equipment failure or climber error resulting in injury or RIDDOR report or insurance claim, if there are no certificated records the owner of the company will have a hard time getting any money from the insurer.

We supply most of our commercial and public sector clients with copies of our LOLER certificates as they are renewed.

[treequip]

It also has to be someone empowered to condemn and if necessary destroy faulty equipment to take it out of service. HSE frown on the directors or owners of businesses carrying out this task as they have an overt financial incentive to retain potentially faulty equipment.

There is also a compliance issue. The equipment has to have a certificate of thorough examination available for inspection and this has to be renewed every 6 months even if the kit hasn't been used. The certificater will have a unique reference number that has to be put on the certificate of thorough examination thereby giving traceability. In the event of an equipment failure or climber error resulting in injury or RIDDOR report or insurance claim, if there are no certificated records the owner of the company will have a hard time getting any money from the insurer.

We supply most of our commercial and public sector clients with copies of our LOLER certificates as they are renewed.

 

Naah, if your car fails its MOT they don’t take it off you and frag it. I recommend failed equipment is rendered beyond use but I or any other inspector has no way of enforcing that. One client had several items fail that appeared on "the bay" just a day later.

 

Employers liability is compulsory and in the event of an incident the insurer would pay out to the injured party. The insurer can always try to recover any costs from their insured through the courts, this will be simplified if the insurer has made a valid inspection a condition of the policy

 

Andy

[Arbgirl]

LOLER

 

"A competent person is someone who has attended a recognised course and achieved certification for LOLER inspection. Whilst it is possible to get yourself certificated to inspect your own equipment, the time and expense of the course often means that it is preferable to have an outside organisation do the job for you. "

 

Your boss cant inspect his own equipment as he has not passed the LOLER inspectors course - so is not a competent person

 

He may be competent to climb, but he is not competent to inspect climbing equipment unless he passes an inspection qualification!

 

LOLER requires lifting equipment to be thoroughly examined. This means a detailed examination by a competent person who has appropriate practical and theoretical knowledge and experience to enable them to detect defects or weaknesses in the equipment being examined and assess their importance in relation to the safety and continued use of the lifting equipment.

The risks in arboriculture which arise through failure in lifting equipment for lifting people justify independent and impartial thorough examination. In practice this probably means somebody external to your business. Your insurance company may require you to use an independent examining engineer. Your supplier or the manufacturer may also be able to suggest suitable people or organisations.

Edited July 6, 2010 by Arbgirl