CFTS Knowledge Hub

Forklift Safety: Key Terms Explained

For anyone responsible for forklift safety at work — warehouse managers, fleet administrators, safety officers, HR leads, and business owners alike.

Thorough Examination

A thorough examination is a systematic, detailed inspection of a forklift or other piece of lifting equipment, carried out by a competent person — someone with the knowledge, skill, and experience to identify whether the equipment is safe to use. It goes significantly further than a routine maintenance check or service.

Under LOLER (the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998), most lifting equipment used in the workplace must undergo thorough examination at prescribed intervals. For lift trucks used to carry people — such as order pickers where the operator is elevated — that's every six months. For other forklifts, it's typically every 12 months, though this can vary depending on an examination scheme drawn up by a competent person.

The purpose is straightforward: to establish whether the equipment can continue to be used safely. The outcome is a written report. If defects are found, the report will specify whether they must be remedied immediately, or within a defined timeframe.

CFTS operates the UK's leading thorough examination schemes for industrial trucks. CFTS-accredited examinations are carried out by trained, assessed examiners working to a defined national standard — giving fleet operators independent assurance that their examination is technically sound and consistently applied.

Important: A thorough examination is not the same as a service or a pre-use check. These are separate legal obligations. All three are required — they are not interchangeable.

 

LOLER: Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998

LOLER is the primary piece of legislation governing the use of lifting equipment at work in the UK. It applies to any equipment used to lift or lower loads, including people — and that includes forklift trucks.

The regulations place duties on employers, the self-employed, and others who have control of lifting equipment. Key requirements include:

  • Ensuring equipment is of adequate strength and stability for its intended use
  • Positioning and installing equipment to minimise risk
  • Ensuring lifting operations are properly planned, supervised, and carried out safely
  • Having equipment thoroughly examined by a competent person at appropriate intervals
  • Keeping records of all examinations and acting on any defects identified

In Great Britain, LOLER is enforced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). In Northern Ireland, equivalent regulations apply under the same name, enforced by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI).

In the Republic of Ireland, the equivalent legislation is the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007, which include comparable requirements for lifting equipment. These are enforced by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA). The practical obligations — thorough examination, written reports, competent persons — are substantially the same.

LOLER doesn't operate in isolation. It works alongside PUWER and other health and safety legislation to form the broader framework of workplace safety obligations.

 

PUWER: Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998

PUWER applies to virtually all equipment used at work — far broader than LOLER. It places duties on employers to ensure work equipment is suitable for its intended use, properly maintained, inspected, and used only by people who have received adequate training and instruction.

For forklift trucks, PUWER and LOLER both apply, and understanding the difference matters. PUWER governs general suitability, maintenance, and safe use. LOLER governs the specific lifting function and the thorough examination requirements that come with it.

PUWER also requires that equipment is inspected at suitable intervals where its safety depends on installation conditions or where deterioration could cause dangerous situations. These inspections must be recorded. Like LOLER, equivalent regulations apply in Northern Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland, the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007 cover equivalent obligations for work equipment.

 

Competent Person

One of the most important — and most misunderstood — terms in lifting equipment regulation. A competent person, in the context of LOLER thorough examinations, is not simply someone with a qualification or a job title. They must have sufficient practical and theoretical knowledge, and genuine experience of the specific equipment they're examining, to detect defects, assess their significance, and make sound professional judgements.

There is no single prescribed qualification that automatically confers competent person status. It is assessed in context. An examiner who is competent to carry out thorough examinations on counterbalance forklifts may not be competent to examine a specialist reach truck or a VNA machine.

CFTS accreditation provides a recognised framework for demonstrating competence. CFTS-accredited examiners are trained, assessed, and registered against a defined standard — giving employers a defensible basis for their choice of examiner, and greater confidence that examinations meet the intent of the law.

 

Examination Scheme

An examination scheme is a written document, prepared by a competent person, that sets out the scope, nature, and frequency of thorough examinations for a specific piece of lifting equipment. LOLER allows examination intervals to be varied from the default periods — but only on the basis of an appropriate scheme that takes into account equipment type, usage, and operating environment.

In practice, examination schemes are most relevant for fleets with unusual operating conditions, intensive use, or specialist equipment. For most forklift fleets operating under standard conditions, the default LOLER intervals — 6 or 12 months — apply without the need for a bespoke scheme.

 

Written Report of Thorough Examination (LOLER Report)

After every thorough examination, the competent person must produce a written report. This is a legal document. Under Schedule 1 of LOLER, it must include:

  • Details of the equipment examined
  • The date of the examination
  • The safe working load
  • Whether the equipment is safe to use, and any conditions attached to that
  • Any defects found, and the timeframe within which they must be remedied
  • Whether any defect poses an imminent danger — in which case the examiner must notify the relevant enforcing authority directly

Reports must be retained. For most lifting equipment, the retention period is two years. For equipment that lifts people, records must be kept until the equipment ceases to be used.

The CFTS App digitises this process — generating compliant examination reports, storing them securely, and giving fleet operators instant access to their complete examination history.

 

Safe Working Load (SWL)

The maximum load that a piece of lifting equipment is designed and rated to lift safely under specified conditions. For forklift trucks, the SWL varies with load centre — the further a load is positioned from the front axle, the less the truck can safely lift.

The safe working load must be clearly marked on the equipment. Exceeding it is both illegal and dangerous. If you're unsure what load centre applies to a particular task, refer to the truck's load capacity plate or consult your supplier.

 

Pre-Use Check (Pre-Shift Inspection)

A check carried out by the operator before using a forklift at the start of each shift. It is not a thorough examination and does not fulfil LOLER obligations. It is, however, a requirement under PUWER and forms an important first line of defence — a chance to spot obvious defects before they become incidents.

Pre-use checks are typically recorded on a checklist. Any defect identified should be reported immediately and the truck taken out of service until the issue is resolved. Operators should be trained on what to look for and what to do if they find something wrong.

 

CFTS Accreditation

CFTS accreditation is formal recognition that an examiner meets a defined standard of competence, training, and practice for carrying out thorough examinations on industrial trucks. It is issued to individuals who have completed the required training and passed the required assessments — and it's not a one-time award. Accredited examiners are subject to ongoing quality monitoring to ensure standards are maintained.

For fleet operators, using a CFTS-accredited examiner provides an auditable, independently validated basis for demonstrating LOLER compliance. That matters in the event of an HSE or HSA inspection, a workplace accident, or an insurance review. It's also a straightforward way to answer the question: how do I know my examiner is actually competent?

 

The CFTS Thorough Examination App

The CFTS App enables CFTS-accredited examiners to complete, submit, and store thorough examination reports electronically. Reports are generated in a standardised format that meets LOLER requirements, and data is held centrally — giving fleet managers instant access to their full examination history without relying on paper files or chasing individual examiners.

The App also supports audit readiness. Whether it's an internal review, an HSE inspection, or an insurance query, operators can demonstrate their examination history quickly and clearly — a significant practical advantage for any multi-site or multi-truck fleet.