LG1 - Legal Requirements and Implications

A legal commentary is included within Volume 1 of the Guidelines. This commentary provides a more in depth discussion of the legal requirements than is considered suitable for these pages.

The law has several methods of legislating for persons involved in lifts. Some of the current legislation relating to lifts at work includes:

Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA);
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 (MHSWR);
Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 (WPR);
Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER);
Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER);
Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR).

These various acts place responsibilities upon persons working on lifts or who have lifts within their buildings. PUWER and LOLER apply to lifts in non-domestic premises and relate to the safety of equipment and specific risks.

LOLER (Regulation 9) requires that employers have their lifts thoroughly examined. LG1 provides guidelines for suitable tests which should be considered.

However, LOLER is applicable to lifting equipment that is used for, or in the line of, a persons work.

For lifts outside this scope, i.e. lifts in residential buildings or shopping malls, they come within the scope of the HSWA in accordance with Health and Safety Executive guidelines. This guideance recommends, that even in this instance, by following the requirements of LOLER, owners, are considered to be probably satisfying the requirements of the HSWA.

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