Recurring concern

Unreliable LOLER thorough examinations of lifting equipment

First to latest report 10 May 2016 — 26 Sep 2022

Reports that mention this concern
3
Times this concern has been raised
5
Stated actions linked to this concern
2

What this concern includes

Includes failures in the LOLER thorough-examination process for lifting equipment, including scheduling examinations when due, carrying out sufficiently rigorous examinations, recording relevant findings or tolerance levels, making records available to subsequent examiners, and reading, acting on or escalating examination findings.

What is not included
  • Excludes routine maintenance, servicing or operator-use failures where the LOLER thorough-examination process is not deficient.
  • Excludes generic equipment inspection or clinical-equipment checks that are not part of a lifting-equipment thorough-examination process.
  • Excludes failures involving unrelated machinery or equipment without an explicitly supported lifting-equipment examination connection.
  • Excludes remedial action failures unrelated to findings from a lifting-equipment thorough examination.

Reports and published responses 3 reports

See individual reports that have raised this concern, and the actions taken in response

  1. Norfolk

    AI-generated summary

    Zachariah Nathaniel RICHARDSON · Prevention of Future Deaths report

    This summary was generated using AI from the published report. Please read the original report for the complete account.

    Report summary

    Zachariah Nathaniel Richardson, aged 18, suffered fatal injuries after being found trapped between a forklift truck and a wall while working alone at a site. Concerns included his limited experience and recent forklift training, overdue examinations and defective or defeated safety devices on the forklift trucks, and wider shortcomings in health and safety systems and competence.

    Read the report on judiciary.uk

    Source evidence

    How this individual concern was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Failure to complete FLT thorough examinations when due

    Wider context from the report

    “2. The evidence was that the FLTs at the Elm Farm site were seven months overdue for the annual Thorough Examination and had undergone a service since February 2019. The seat safety switch device on the FLTs had been defeated at some point prior to the incident. The seat safety switch device on one of the FLTs was defective ”

    Source location

    Zachariah Nathaniel RICHARDSON · Prevention of Future Deaths report
    Page 2 · concerns

    Open source report

    Source evidence

    How this respondent action was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Implement scheduled servicing and annual thorough examinations for lifting equipment, supported by service agreements, automated alerts and maintenance tracking.

    Verbatim wording from the response

    “Thorough Examination and Servicing of Plant”

    Source location

    Response from DAC Beachcroft
    Page 2 · response
    Published 7 October 2022

    Open published response

    Source evidence

    How this respondent position was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Lifting-equipment examination and servicing risks are addressed through service agreements, scheduled examinations, servicing, repairs and tracking systems.

    Verbatim wording from the response

    “Thorough Examination and Servicing of Plant”

    Source location

    Response from DAC Beachcroft
    Page 2 · response
    Published 7 October 2022

    Open published response

  2. Manchester South

    AI-generated summary

    Kenneth Roy Bardsley · Prevention of Future Deaths report

    This summary was generated using AI from the published report. Please read the original report for the complete account.

    Report summary

    Kenneth Roy Bardsley died at Salford Royal Hospital on 30 January 2017 from multiple injuries sustained as a passenger in a lift that malfunctioned at Serendipity Care Home. The inquest concluded that his accidental death was contributed to by failure of the lift’s interior door mechanism. Concerns included gaps in lift-engineer qualification requirements, failures to read and act on regulatory examination findings, unclear communication and follow-up processes, and insufficient systems for lift servicing and examination records.

    Read the report on judiciary.uk

    Source evidence

    How this individual concern was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Lack of a care home system for reviewing and passing lift examination details to the servicing company

    Wider context from the report

    “5. That Serendipity Care Home did not have a system in place to ensure details from the lift examinations were read; considered and passed on to the lift servicing company; ”

    Source location

    Kenneth Roy Bardsley · Prevention of Future Deaths report
    Page 1 · concerns

    Open source report

    Source evidence

    How this individual concern was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Lack of clarity about informing engineers of and following up regulatory lift examination requirements

    Wider context from the report

    “3. During the inquest evidence was given that within the specific lift company in this case and more widely, there was a lack of clarity as to how engineers should be made aware and follow up requirements made by engineers carrying out the regulatory lift examinations; ”

    Source location

    Kenneth Roy Bardsley · Prevention of Future Deaths report
    Page 1 · concerns

    Open source report

    Source evidence

    How this individual concern was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Failure to read, act on, and escalate regulatory lift examination findings

    Wider context from the report

    “2. The evidence given to the inquest was that there was a gap in the system which meant that regulatory lift examinations could take place but not be read or acted upon, with no escalation process; ”

    Source location

    Kenneth Roy Bardsley · Prevention of Future Deaths report
    Page 1 · concerns

    Open source report

  3. Surrey

    AI-generated summary

    Peter William RICHARDSON · Prevention of Future Deaths report

    This summary was generated using AI from the published report. Please read the original report for the complete account.

    Report summary

    On 27 September 2015, Peter William Richardson was working beneath a car on a two-post vehicle lift when the car became dislodged and fell onto him, causing fatal head injuries. The substantive concerns included the absence of formal guidance on safe tolerances and torque levels for safety-critical lift components, inadequate recording and training arrangements, and the practice of placing foreign objects between lift pads and vehicles to provide clearance.

    Read the report on judiciary.uk

    Source evidence

    How this individual concern was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Failure to record lift tolerance levels for comparison by subsequent examiners

    Wider context from the report

    “c) Safe tolerance should be considered at a LOLER ‘Thorough Examination’ however there is no guidance to be followed and there is no requirement for such tolerance levels to be recorded and as such the levels are not available to any subsequent examiner. ”

    Source location

    Peter William RICHARDSON · Prevention of Future Deaths report
    Page 3 · concerns

    Open source report

    Source evidence

    How this respondent action was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Issue technical instructions requiring surveyors to record pad-wear tolerance in thorough-examination reports for two-post vehicle lifting tables.

    Verbatim wording from the response

    “Following the recommendations made during the inquest, HSB issued a technical document on the 3rd May 2017 to its engineering surveyors which instructed them to record the pad wear (tolerance) on the report of thorough examination for two post vehicle lifting tables, as suggested in the PFD report.”

    Source location

    Peter-Richardson-Response
    Page 1 · response
    Published 17 August 2017

    Open published response

Actions and positions describe what organisations say in published responses. Implementation is not independently verified.

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Data last updated 7 September 2026