LOLER inspection records: close the defect, keep the proof

This post in 30 seconds.

• The report is not the finish line. A report of thorough examination lists defects and dates. The duty that follows, keeping the equipment out of use until the defect is rectified, sits with the employer under Regulation 10(3).
• Intervals: at least every 6 months for equipment that lifts people and for every lifting accessory, at least every 12 months for other lifting equipment, or in line with an examination scheme, plus after exceptional circumstances (Regulation 9).
• Retention: in-service reports until the next report or two years, whichever is later. Inspection records until the next one is made (Regulation 11).
• Between examinations: the user's pre-use check, at the start of each working day or shift, is where most faults get caught.
• Who this is for: estates, facilities, maintenance and health and safety managers in the UK who hold lifting equipment across several sites.

The report arrives as a PDF from the examining engineer. On page three, under defects, it says the load chain on the goods hoist in plant room 2 is worn and must be replaced within three months. Someone saves it to the compliance folder, and the tracker goes green because the examination happened.

Four months later the same chain is still on the hoist. Nobody chose to ignore it. The report was filed as though filing were the action.

That gap is what this post is about. If you look after passenger lifts, patient hoists, vehicle lifts, MEWPs, overhead cranes, or the slings and shackles in a stores cage, the LOLER inspection is usually bought in from an examiner. The records, and the defects written inside them, stay with you.

We build Venta Capture, VentaVid's guided capture product. It does not examine lifting equipment and it never replaces the competent person. It lets the person standing next to the hoist photograph the defect, the data plate and the finished repair on their own phone, step by step, so the record of the fix is as solid as the record of the fault. The regulation comes first below; the product only shows up near the end.

In this post:

• What LOLER asks you to keep
• The intervals under Regulation 9
• The report: Schedule 1 in plain terms
• Defects: who is told, and when use must stop
• How long to keep each record
• Between examinations: the pre-use check
• The multi-site register as a defect ledger
• Where guided capture fits, and where it does not

What LOLER asks you to keep

LOLER produces two different records, with different authors, deadlines and retention periods, and mixing them up is how a register looks complete when it isn't. Like any statutory inspection regime, the paperwork is the part an inspector can check after the fact.

The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 give you three documents to hold:

• The report of thorough examination. Made by the competent person after a thorough examination. Regulation 10(1)(b) says it must be made "as soon as is practicable", in writing, authenticated "by signature or equally secure means", and must contain the information in Schedule 1. HSE's Approved Code of Practice, L113, adds at paragraph 359 that "in normal circumstances" the report should be completed and forwarded "within 28 days of the thorough examination."
• The record of inspection. Where equipment is also inspected between examinations, the person inspecting must "as soon as is practicable make a record of the inspection in writing" under Regulation 10(2)(b). Schedule 1 does not apply to it.
• The declaration of conformity that came with new equipment, kept "for so long as he operates the lifting equipment" under Regulation 11(1).

There is no document called a LOLER certificate in the regulations. Plenty of examining firms title their report that way, which is fine as long as the Schedule 1 content is inside it. That content is what an enforcing authority inspector reads.

Paper or digital is your choice. HSE's page on thorough examinations says records "do not need to be kept in hard copy form but you should be able to provide a written copy when necessary." L113 paragraph 373 goes one step further: a computer system holding them "should be protected from unauthorised alteration." Keep that phrase in mind for later, when we get to spreadsheets.

The intervals under Regulation 9

Regulation 9 sets maximum gaps, and one of its triggers has no date at all. Here is what Regulation 9 requires, in the order equipment meets it.

What that means on a real estate:

• The 6 month group is bigger than most trackers assume. It covers passenger lifts, stairlifts, bath and patient hoists, and MEWPs, and it covers every accessory: slings, shackles, hooks and eyebolts. HSE's INDG422 leaflet lists all of these as covered equipment.
• A scheme moves the interval in either direction. INDG422 says an examination scheme "may often specify periods that are different (longer or shorter)", but "a longer period must be based on a rigorous assessment of the risks." If a site runs on a scheme, hold the scheme in the register as a controlled document, not as an attachment to an old email.
• Exceptional circumstances are events, not dates. INDG422's examples are equipment that is damaged or fails, is out of use for long periods, or has a major change in how it is used. A vehicle lift clipped by a reversing van needs examining before its next date, and your tracker will never know unless someone reports the strike.
• Equipment arriving from elsewhere. Under Regulation 9(4), equipment obtained from another undertaking must not be used unless it is "accompanied by physical evidence that the last thorough examination required to be carried out under this regulation has been carried out." That covers a contractor's MEWP and a hired chain hoist.

Who may examine? A competent person, which can be your own staff. INDG422 says they should be "sufficiently independent and impartial" and "should not be the same person who performs routine maintenance as they would be responsible for assessing their own work." Our glossary entry on inspector competence covers the wider idea.

One piece of context. HSE opened a call for evidence on LOLER on 1 October 2025, aiming at "targeted amendments rather than comprehensive regulatory reform", and it closed on 11 November 2025. The wording quoted in this post is from legislation.gov.uk. Check the current revised version before you rewrite a procedure around it.

The report: Schedule 1 in plain terms

Schedule 1 lists 11 items a report must contain, and item 8 is the one that creates work for you. The rest describe the equipment and the examination.

Items 1 to 7 and 9 to 11 cover who, where, what and when: the employer and premises, the equipment and its date of manufacture where known, the date of the last examination, the safe working load, whether this was a first examination after installation or an in-service one (6 months, 12 months, scheme or exceptional circumstances) with a statement that it would be safe to operate, and the author's name, qualifications and employer, who authenticated it, and the report date.

Item 8 in the regulation's own words requires:

• "(a) identification of any part found to have a defect which is or could become a danger to persons, and a description of the defect"
• "(b) particulars of any repair, renewal or alteration required to remedy a defect found to be a danger to persons"
• "(c) in the case of a defect which is not yet but could become a danger to persons", the time by which it could become such a danger, and the particulars of the remedy
• "(d) the latest date by which the next thorough examination must be carried out"
• (e) particulars of any test, and (f) the date of the examination

Reports from different examiners

Few estates have one examiner. Lift examinations may come through the insurer's engineering surveyors, patient hoists through the hoist supplier, vehicle lifts through a garage equipment firm, and accessories through a lifting gear company. That's four formats, four inboxes and four ways of describing the same worn chain.

Normalise at intake. Before a report is filed, someone copies the same fields into the register:

1. Asset and location (items 2 and 3), matched to an existing asset row. No match means you have found an unregistered asset.
2. Examination type and date (item 6 or 7, and 8(f)).
3. Next examination date (item 8(d)). This replaces the due date on the asset. It never sits beside it.
4. Each defect in 8(a) as its own row, with the remedy from 8(b) or 8(c).
5. For 8(c) defects, the time by which it could become dangerous. That becomes the stop-use date.
6. Author, authentication and report date (items 9 to 11). Note any report that arrived more than 28 days after the examination.

Our inspection report entry covers report structure more generally.

Defects: who is told, and when use must stop

The competent person reports the defect, and everything after that, including taking the equipment out of use, belongs to the employer. Regulation 10 splits the duties this way:

• Tell the employer forthwith. Under 10(1)(a), the examiner notifies you of any defect "which in his opinion is or could become a danger to persons." Forthwith means on the day, not when the PDF lands.
• Copy the enforcing authority. Under 10(1)(c), where there is "an existing or imminent risk of serious personal injury", a copy of the report goes "as soon as is practicable to the relevant enforcing authority". INDG422 names that as HSE or the local authority.
• Even when it is fixed on the spot. INDG422 is blunt: the report still goes to the authority "even if the defects are remedied immediately", and a competent person who skips it because the fault was fixed "is disguising a potentially dangerous situation."
• Stop using it. Under 10(3), the employer ensures the equipment is not used "before the defect is rectified" or, for an item 8(c) defect, "after a time specified under that sub-paragraph and before the defect is rectified."

Many examining bodies grade defects, often as A, B or C. That grading is a useful triage convention, but the letters are not in the regulations. What binds you is the wording above: a present danger means out of use now, and a dated defect means out of use on that date unless it has been rectified. Our entry on defect classification explains how grading schemes usually work.

Reading L113 for this piece, the sentence I would pin above the compliance desk is in paragraph 362: "If defects are habitually not detected or rectified until the competent person's thorough examination this indicates inadequacies in management systems." Put plainly, the examiner is a check on your system. They are not the system.

What counts as closed

The regulations say "rectified" and don't prescribe evidence. For a closed defect to hold up in front of an inspector or an insurer, the row should carry:

• The remedial job reference and the date the work was done.
• Who did it: the company and the engineer.
• What was done, matching the 8(b) particulars. "Load chain replaced", not "hoist serviced".
• A photo of the repaired part in place, plus a second frame showing the asset tag or data plate, so the photo is tied to that asset and not the one next to it.
• Who authorised return to use, and whether the competent person advised a re-inspection or further examination, with the new report if so. That call belongs to the competent person, not the register.

L113 points the same way. Its guidance on the evidence that travels with equipment moving between organisations lists "evidence that the defects identified in that thorough examination have either been rectified or remain outstanding." If HSE expects defect status to travel with the kit, your register should be able to show it too.

How long to keep each record

Regulation 11 sets six different retention periods, and the one most often misquoted ends in "whichever is later". Here they are side by side.

Two things to add. These are minimums, and a claim or an inquest can arrive long after two years, so most organisations set a longer data retention policy on purpose. Keep the closure evidence for a defect with the report that raised it, for at least as long as that report.

Location matters too. L113 paragraph 374 says records "should normally be stored at the premises where the lifting equipment is being used", or elsewhere if "readily accessible" and their location is known to the person in control of the equipment.

Between examinations: the pre-use check

A thorough examination happens once or twice a year, while the user sees the equipment every shift, which is why L113 calls the operator "the first line of defence." Paragraphs 287 to 290 set out what that means:

• Training first. Users should have "appropriate training, information and instruction so that they can carry out pre-use checks" (paragraph 288).
• Timing. Checks happen "before the lifting equipment is used during each working day or at the beginning of each shift" (paragraph 289).
• What they catch. A trained person should be able to spot "damage to lifting ropes and accessories, distortions to shackles, and other obvious faults" (paragraph 290).
• When something is wrong. "The operator should report and record the defect and not use the equipment unless authorised to do so" (paragraph 289).
• Where it goes. Defects are reported to the maintenance team "so they can maintain a full record of identified faults for each piece of equipment" (paragraph 288).

INDG422 adds that lifting accessories such as chains and slings "will not normally require an inspection" if they get a thorough examination at the right interval "and a proper pre-use check." For accessories, the pre-use check is the whole in-between regime.

Care settings get a specific twist. HSE's guidance on moving and handling equipment in health and social care says "anyone using lifting equipment should be able to check that it has been thoroughly examined and is safe to use", which means slings must be uniquely identifiable. Printed serial labels fade in the laundry, so reading the sling's ID belongs in the check.

The law doesn't prescribe a pre-use check format. In practice, a check worth keeping shows the asset ID, who did it, when, a pass or fail per item, and for any fail, a photo and confirmation the equipment was taken out of use. Our entries on the pre-use inspection and the MEWP pre-use inspection go through typical items.

The multi-site register as a defect ledger

A LOLER register across many sites works as two linked tables, assets and defects, and a folder of PDFs is neither of them. Build it this way whether it lives in a CAFM system, a compliance platform or, for now, a spreadsheet.

• The asset table, one row per item: asset ID matching the tag, site and location, regime (6 months, 12 months or scheme reference), safe working load, examiner, last examination date, next due date from item 8(d), open defect count, and status (in use or out of use).
• The defect table, one row per defect, whatever its source: defect ID, asset ID, source (examination report, inspection record, pre-use check or incident), description as raised, examiner's grade if any, stop-use date (immediate or the 8(c) date), whether the report went to the enforcing authority, remedial job reference, closed date, closure evidence, and who authorised return to use.

Four rules make the ledger work:

1. A defect closes only with evidence attached. No photo, no job reference, no close.
2. An open defect past its stop-use date flips the asset to out of use. Overriding that takes a named person, and the override is logged.
3. A new report never silently closes old defects. It either confirms they were rectified or raises them again.
4. Pre-use failures go in the same defect table as examiner defects, because the equipment doesn't care who noticed.

Then test it. Once a quarter, pick a random asset at a random site. Within one hour, produce the current report, the previous report, every defect raised in either, and the evidence that each closed defect was fixed. A site that can't do that has shown you the gap before an inspector does. Our asset register entry covers the asset side in more depth.

About spreadsheets: remember L113's "protected from unauthorised alteration." A shared sheet where anyone can type over a closed date is weak evidence of anything. At the very least, lock closed rows, keep version history, and keep an audit trail of who changed what.

Where guided capture fits, and where it does not

Venta Capture does not examine equipment, does not decide whether anything is safe to use, and does not replace the competent person or the report of thorough examination. The thorough examination under Regulation 9 is a judgment made by a competent person at the equipment. Capture's honest role is the evidence around that judgment: making it consistent, dated and hard to lose.

Four captures fit the loop above:

1. The defect. A pre-use check fails. The user opens the flow, scans or types the asset tag, and takes the photos it asks for: the whole equipment, the defect close up, and the tag or data plate. A couple of yes or no questions follow ("Has it been taken out of use?"), then they submit. That is the "report and record" L113 asks for, as a case rather than a tick.
2. The data plate and the report. At intake, a photo of the data plate and SWL marking on site, plus a photo of the report's defect page, lets the desk confirm that items 3 and 5 match the equipment standing there.
3. The remedial work. The engineer who fixed it gets a secure, personal capture link: the new part fitted, the old part, the asset tag, and the job reference. That case can be linked to the defect case, so the fault and the fix sit in one file.
4. The pre-use check itself. For higher-risk equipment, a short flow gives you evidence the check was done and what it saw, not just a signature on a sheet.

What arrives each time is a structured case rather than a folder of photos:

• Your reference format, plus a separate "your reference" field for the defect ID or work order number.
• Answers stored as fields, so "taken out of use: yes" can be filtered and reported on.
• A server-verified receipt timestamp per case, and device context per photo.
• A digital seal: a SHA-256 fingerprint and a downloadable manifest for external verification. That's what makes it a sealed submission, which speaks directly to L113's point about protection from unauthorised alteration.
• Provenance labels. Photos recorded in the session are marked as taken in the flow. A photo picked from the gallery is accepted where you allow it, labelled "Provenance: Not verified". Our upload versus capture entry explains why that distinction matters.

One caveat, because it gets oversold elsewhere: the receipt timestamp proves when the case reached you, not when the chain wore or the repair was done. The rest of the story comes from the job record and the people involved.

From there the case behaves like a ticket: your own statuses, assignment, escalation to a manager, and an SLA in hours on a route so an open defect gets noticed. A view link lets the examiner or contractor see it without a login, a retake request goes out in one click if the tag isn't legible, and webhooks and the API can push cases into your CAFM system. It runs in the phone's browser, with no app and no account, in 15 languages.

Two honest limits. There is no automatic scheduling of recurring capture requests, so pre-use flows are started by the user or by your own process. And conditional routing and integrations into existing systems are set up around your process as a paid setup, scoped on a call.

The same pattern shows up in equipment verification, proof of work in field service and remote inspection software more generally, and the field service page shows the flow from the contractor's side. If the gap on your tracker is closure evidence, see how Venta Capture records a defect and its fix.

Operators' daily checks on the trucks themselves are covered in forklift daily check records, and scaffolds on the same site follow the seven day regime in scaffold inspection records.

Frequently asked questions

Is a LOLER certificate a legal requirement?

No document by that name appears in the regulations. The legal record is the report of thorough examination under Regulation 10, containing the 11 items in Schedule 1. Many examining firms call their report a certificate, which is fine as long as the Schedule 1 content is there.

How long do we have to keep LOLER inspection records?

For in-service examinations, until the next report is made or two years, whichever is later. Records of inspections between examinations are kept until the next record is made, and a first examination report for equipment other than accessories is kept until you stop using it. Those are minimums, so most organisations keep records longer.

How often does a patient hoist need a thorough examination?

At least every 6 months, because it lifts people, and its slings are accessories on the same 6 month interval, unless an examination scheme drawn up by a competent person sets a different period. Pre-use checks still happen between examinations, and each sling should be uniquely identifiable.

Can our maintenance contractor carry out the thorough examination?

HSE's INDG422 says the competent person should not be the same person who performs routine maintenance, because they would be assessing their own work. Your own staff can be competent persons if they have the knowledge and experience and are sufficiently independent and impartial.

What do we have to do when a report lists a defect?

If the defect is a present danger, the equipment is not used until it is rectified. If the report gives a time by which the defect could become dangerous, it is not used after that time unless rectified. Record the closure with evidence of what was done.

Do photos replace the thorough examination or the report?

No. The thorough examination is a competent person's judgment, and the report of thorough examination is the legal record. Photos are supporting evidence of a defect, a repair or a pre-use check, held alongside the report.

Start with the oldest open defect

Pick the oldest open defect on your tracker. Find the report that raised it, its stop-use date, and the evidence it was fixed. If you can produce the first two but not the third, that's the flow to build first: a defect photo set and a remedial photo set, linked to each other.

What it takes to start.

• Free plan, no credit card. Build the flow and send it to yourself first.
• Live in 10 minutes for a first standard flow. Stuck? Book a free setup call and we build your first flow together.
• Everything goes out in your own branding, in the user's language, with no app to install.

The VentaVid team builds Venta Capture and runs the free setup call on your own defect and remedial flows.

See Venta Capture on your lifting equipment defects

Or start for free and build a defect flow this afternoon. If you'd rather walk through it against your own register first, book a demo.