What LOLER covers
LOLER applies to all lifting equipment used at work, including passenger lifts in blocks of flats where staff (cleaners, concierge, contractors) attend the building. The full duty-by-duty walk-through is in the LOLER thorough examinations guide; the summary on this page is enough to know whether you are in scope.
It sits alongside PUWER, which covers the wider use of work equipment. Most lifts need both a LOLER thorough examination and a PUWER inspection regime — including commercial passenger lifts, platform lifts and workplace stairlifts.
Who does what
The duty holder arranges the examination, keeps the reports and acts on defects. The competent person carries out the examination independently of routine maintenance. Where a fault report leaves the lift out of service or flags a defect of imminent risk, the duty holder must act on it before returning the equipment to service.
Reports must be kept for the life of the equipment, or until the next report supersedes them for routine items. If you are unsure whether a landlord or a tenant should be commissioning the examination, see our guide on who pays for lift repairs.
Where to go next
Two shortcuts from this reference: symptom pages for the faults it touches on, and long-form guides for the paperwork and buying decisions behind it.
Jump to symptoms
Fault-first walkthroughs — start here if something isn't working.
Read the guide
Longer editorial covering the duties, costs and buying steps behind this reference.
Frequently asked questions
- How often is a passenger lift examined under LOLER?
- At least every six months, unless the competent person sets a shorter interval in the written scheme of examination.
- Is the maintenance company the competent person?
- Not automatically. The competent person must be sufficiently independent and impartial — many duty holders use a separate LOLER inspector.