What Do You Need To Become An Equipment Safety Inspector?

Safe and successful lifting operations depend, in large part, on the continued safety of the lifting equipment and accessories that are used. Failures in this kind of equipment can result in significant or even fatal injuries, which is why an Equipment Safety Inspector’s job is so important. Health and safety law therefore places a number of specific obligations on those providing, controlling and using lifting equipment to properly manage these risks.

In addition to the requirements for safe design and construction, all lifting equipment should also be checked and maintained as necessary to keep it safe for use, for this reason:

• users may need to undertake simple pre-use checks (eg on lifting chains and slings), or make checks on a daily basis (eg for lift trucks)
• in some cases, inspections and checks should be made on a regular basis, often weekly, but this may be on a monthly or quarterly basis (eg the checks undertaken by an operator on their crane)
• employers should ensure that lifting equipment is thoroughly examined (normally once or twice a year but, this may be more or less frequent)

These checks are necessary to verify that the lifting equipment can continue to be safely used.  We have a Kentra Blog called ‘Lifting Equipment Inspector’ which details what is required under the LOLER regulations.

What Do You Need To Do To Become An Equipment Safety Inspector?

Kentra Training deliver a two day course called NPORS N019 Report of Thorough Examination, this course will give persons attending the knowledge and the skills to be proficient in the assessment and inspection of small lifting equipment. Upon successful completion of the course candidates will be registered with our awarding body NPORS and will be able to complete a Thorough Examination Inspection report. We run these Small Lifting Equipment Inspector courses throughout the year either on-site or at our NPORS approved training centre.

What is a Thorough Examination?

A thorough examination is a systematic and detailed examination of the lifting equipment by a competent person to detect any defects that are, or might become, dangerous.

The competent person or Lifting Equipment Inspector will determine the scope of the thorough examination and they may use a number of sources to help them do this, such as industry guidance.

Delegate Eligibility & Entry Requirements for the course

This Report of Thorough Examination training course is designed for candidates of all abilities, however Lifting Operation experience would be beneficial as candidates will be required to recognise and inspect various lifting equipment.

Course Content

• Responsibilities under relevant legislation including the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, PUWER, LOLER, COSHH, Management of Health and Safety Regulations, Working at Heights Regulations, PPE and Manual Handling Regulations, BS7121, ACOP L113, INDG 422. Risk Assessments, Method Statements, Codes of Practice and other relevant legislation.
• The importance of the manufacturers instructions, these will be used throughout the course and how they relate.
• The different types of lifting equipment, accessories and attachments. Explaining the function of the components and how they contribute to the safety and operational integrity of the lifting accessories. Examine their basic construction, explain their uses and applications.
• Explain the importance of the ability to extract information from previous documented thorough examination inspection reports, manufacturer instructions, and other relevant paperwork.
• The importance of thorough examination inspections for lifting equipment, accessories and attachments. Explain and demonstrate how to correctly complete an inspection. Explaining in detail the limitations that are acceptable and unacceptable. This will include lifting and non-lifting part of the machine.
• Explaining and demonstrating the procedure and complete a thorough examination inspection report, explain the contents of the report and the importance of keeping a record of the report produced.
• Environmental considerations will be covered including ground contamination, debris and cross contamination.
• Safe manual handling techniques, security and storage procedures.

There are various types of equipment and accessories covered as part of the course, detailed below are some of the equipment and accessories covered but this list not comprehensive.

Variations of Lifting Accessories

5 lifting accessories will be covered as part of the course, items such as slings, Shackles, Hooks, Wire rope, Clamps, Trolleys, Grabs, Beams.

Variations of Small Lifting Equipment

5 pieces of lifting equipment will be inspected and these can include Snatch block/ Gin wheels, Pulllifts / lever hoists, Hoists /runways, Tirfor type pull / lift machine, Manual chain blocks, Tripod & winch, Fall protection equipment, Safety harness / lanyards / fall arrest blocks.

Learning Outcomes

Candidates completing the course will

• Have a basic understanding of the dangers and their responsibilities as a competent person carrying out inspections of lifting equipment, accessories and attachments.
• Be able to conform to manufacturers requirements as per technical data and conform to relevant regulations and legislation.
• Be able to locate, identify and explain different types of lifting equipment, accessories and attachments. Examine their basis construction, explain their uses, applications and functions.
• Be able to interpret and extract information from all relevant documentation
• Explain and demonstrate how to complete a through examination inspection report
• Have knowledge of environmental considerations
• Know how to carry out all storage and securing procedures

Certification & Validation

Upon successful completion of the course candidates will receive NPORS registration, a 5 year registration with National Plant Operators Registration scheme and a plastic ID card detailing

N019 Report of Thorough Examination. 

Our instructor will take the candidates picture on the day of training which will appear on their ID card.

The technical bit

What are the legal requirements?   According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) “What is a ‘thorough examination’ under LOLER?
This is a systematic and detailed examination of the equipment and safety-critical parts, carried out at specified intervals by a competent person who must then complete a written report.

Where serious defects are identified, the competent person carrying out the examination must immediately report this verbally to the duty holder. This should then be followed by the written report, a copy of which must also be sent to the relevant enforcing authority.

What is a ‘competent person’? The term ‘competent person’ is not defined in law but the LOLER Approved Code of Practice and guidance (paragraph 294 on competent persons) states that:

‘You should ensure that the person carrying out a thorough examination has such appropriate practical and theoretical knowledge and experience of the lifting equipment to be thoroughly examined as will enable them to detect defects or weaknesses and to assess their importance in relation to the safety and continued use of the lifting equipment.’

Although the competent person may often be employed by another organisation, this is not necessary, provided they are sufficiently independent and impartial to ensure that in-house examinations are made without fear or favour. However, this should not be the same person who undertakes routine maintenance of the equipment – as they would then be responsible for assessing their own maintenance work.

Training Centre Course Requirements

We regularly have these course running at our training centre, in Middlewich. We provide all the equipment, tools and supplies required to conduct the course. If you have an accessory that was not listed above that you would like to be tested on please let us know and you can bring it along, and where possible we can accommodate this as part of the course. We will however need the manufacturers guide and any previous lifting reports.

During the course delegates will need to be suitably dressed to inspect the equipment as part of the practical element of the course and may wish to bring their own PPE to use (i.e. gloves, safety boots or steel toe-capped boots).

Candidates will need to know their own dates of birth and National Insurance number.

Its quite simple, so if you think that you would like to become a Lifting Equipment Inspector, please do not hesitate to give us a call on 01606 832 556 or get in touch via our website Contact us.  We look forward to helping you become a Competent Person for the issuing of Reports of Thorough Examination.

Other Blogs which maybe of interest:

NPORS Report of Thorough Examination

Lifting Equipment Inspector

How to become a Lifting Equipment Inspector

5 Benefits of converting to In-House LOLER Inspections

N019 Report of Thorough Examination Course Details

Report of Thorough Examination – our A 2 Z of Safety Training