Thorough Examination FAQ
Below is a list of frequently asked questions on PUWER 98, LOLER 98 and Thorough Examination. If you can't find what you are looking for then please contact us.Safety Inspection is a term sometimes used to describe Thorough Examination under LOLER 98 and other inspection requirements under PUWER 98. To avoid confusion the FLTA embraces both requirements within the term Thorough Examination.
A Thorough Examination is the inspection of lifting equipment, as required by LOLER 98, and other safety related components or equipment, as required by PUWER 98. A Competent Person is required to examine these items, check them for serviceability
and report accordingly. It is not a full maintenance inspection of the truck. A Thorough Examination is substantially different from a maintenance inspection and the Competent Person has different duties to fulfil under the law.
Although a Thorough Examination covers both regulations, it is a single examination. The relationship to the regulations is shown below. (This is an explanation, not an exhaustive list.)
| LOLER 98 | PUWER 98 | |
| examine | examine | |
| Chains | Brakes | |
| Forks | Steering | |
| Mast | Seat Restraints | |
| Carriage | Overhead Guard | |
| Tilt Mechanism | Tyres | |
|
|
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Where the employer is the owner of the fork lift truck this duty is clear. The employer must make arrangements for every fork lift truck to be Thoroughly Examined on a regular basis, at least once per year. (The actual frequency will be determined by the Competent Person.)
If the employer is not the owner of the truck but leases the truck, or rents it on a long term basis, usually 12 months or more, the responsibility is the same as though the trucks were owned by the employer.
If a fork lift truck is provided on a short term contract, a contract of less than 12 months, then the owner of the truck, the rental company, is responsible for arranging the Thorough Examination. However, the employer must still satisfy himself that such an examination has been conducted at an appropriate time. This can be achieved by insisting that a copy of the current Report of Thorough Examination is provided with other rental documentation.
For all practical purposes there are 3 types of person who may carry out a Thorough Examination. (Their titles may vary.)
• An authorised fork lift truck service engineer.
• An insurance company lifting equipment examiner.
• An examiner from a specialist inspection company.
The FLTA firmly believes that an experienced fork lift truck service engineer is best placed to conduct Thorough Examinations provided his/her company has a management system that ensures adequate training, instruction, supervision, quality control, independence, impartiality and integrity.
(This is a question asked by a variety of companies that own their own fork lift trucks and use their own engineers to service them, along with other plant, lorries, vans etc. The answer below is not directed at fork lift truck companies.)
The safest answer is probably not, in the same way that you probably cannot carry out your own MOT inspections. There are a number of important issues here.
• Someone, who is competent to do so, must authorise the engineer as a Competent Person for the purpose of conducting Thorough Examinations.
• The engineer must have an appropriate level of experience and training. In the FLTA we recommend a minimum of 5 years’ experience as a fork lift truck service engineer and successful completion of a Thorough Examination course. Further, we recommend revalidation every 5 years.
• The Competent Person needs to be independent from the routine maintenance of the fork lift truck. This means that there needs to be a number of suitably qualified engineers, and a management system to properly control them.
Minimum Interval Between Examinations 6 months
Operating Circumstances
12 months
Any truck working up to 40 hours per week, without attachments other than a sideshift. (Mandatory)
Any truck used for elevating persons, no matter how infrequent. (Mandatory)
6 months
Any truck working between 40 and 80 hours per week
6 months
Any truck not permanently fitted to a truck
4 months
Any truck working in excess of 80 hours per week.
4 months
Any truck working in arduous conditions such as:
Marine environments
Corrosive chemical environments
Metal manufacturing or processing
Cement/aggregate processing, or
where abrasive particles are present
Brine processes
Note: When an attachment is permanently fitted to a truck the attachment will be Thoroughly Examined as though it were part of that truck, at the same time interval as that truck.
Table 1 - Information Extracted from GN 28
If the sideshift is permanently attached to the lift truck, then it can be treated as though it is part of the machine. This means that the frequency of Thorough Examination should be the same as for the truck to which it is attached.
The frequency of Thorough Examination may be varied if there is an examination scheme which determines otherwise or a Competent Person has set a different period, for example, due to its condition, or a design weakness that has come to light
during use.
A sideshift may be considered permanently attached if the bottom hangers are bolted in position and it would be usual to expect that an engineer would be required to remove and refit the equipment.
Unattached Sideshifts
If the sideshift is not permanently attached to the lift truck, then it should be treated as a lifting accessory and have a Thorough Examination every six months, or in accordance with an examination scheme.
Regardless of who carries out the Thorough Examination you should receive a “Report of Thorough Examination”, signed by the Competent Person. You are required to keep this safe, so it is perhaps best to keep it on the truck file, or somewhere similar. When the next Thorough Examination is due the person who carries it out will ask to see the last report. Safety inspectors and enforcement officers may ask to see it too.
Probably not. Thorough Examination is not part of the maintenance schedule, it is a separate safety inspection. You may have a contract that includes it, but it should be stated separately and agreed as an additional item.
If you look at the answer to question 9 you will see that different types of people can carry out a Thorough Examination. Your company may own cranes and hydraulic jacks and other lifting equipment. You may decide to maintain your fork lift trucks with a fork lift truck company, but have all your lifting equipment Thoroughly Examined by a specialist inspection company.
If the Thorough Examination is arranged with the same fork lift truck company with which you have a maintenance agreement then they will no doubt arrange and invoice the Thorough Examination separately. You should expect it to be carried out by a different engineer to the one who usually services and/or repairs the truck. This other engineer may also be able to carry out the next due service, but he will treat the Thorough Examination and the service as two different events. This is because he is required to carry out, and report on the Thorough Examination as a specific safety inspection, just like an MOT.
No. The Thorough Examination is a specific legal requirement and must be completed as such. It may be that faults are found that the Competent Person can fix, if they are also a service engineer, before they leave your site. That’s fine. That’s one of the benefits of using a Competent Person from a fork lift truck company. However, it should be remembered that the Competent Person is legally obliged to comment on safety related faults in the Report of Thorough Examination. That way a true record of the equipment is being kept. That’s in everyone’s best interests, especially the employer.
You are wrong. The requirements for Thorough Examination apply to all fork lift trucks, no matter how infrequently they are used.
Hand pallet trucks and low lift trucks (i.e. non-stacking powered trucks with forks or a load platform that lifts up to 500mm from the ground, including those with an operator platform that elevates up to 900mm from the ground) do not require Thorough Examination. However, in order to comply with PUWER 98, these types of equipment still require a formal safety inspection at least once per year. The results of such inspections should be recorded and records retained for future reference. There is no set format for such records and the standard inspection sheet used by a fork truck maintenance company should be quite adequate. It would not be wrong to use a Report of Thorough Examination if nothing else suitable was available.
The following publications can be purchased from HSE Books (Tel: 01787 881165) or through the catalogue section of this website.
• Safe Use of Work Equipment
Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998
(PUWER 98)
Approved Code of Practice And Guidance
HSE Code L22
ISBN Code 0-7176-1626-6
• Safe Use of Lifting Equipment
Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998
(LOLER 98)
Approved Code of Practice and Guidance
HSE Code L113
ISBN Code 0-7176-1828-2
The following publication can be purchased from the British Industrial Truck Association (BITA) (Tel: 01344 623800).
• Safety Inspections Of Industrial Lift Trucks
GN 28
CFTS is the abbreviation for Consolidated Fork Truck Services Ltd. CFTS provides a Quality Assurance Procedural Code for the conduct of Thorough Examinations and a distinctive, comprehensive set of Thorough Examination documents.
You can find your nearest FLTA Member Company that is also accredited to CFTS by clicking here.
Further information on CFTS is available here.



