On site
What is a lifting operation?
A lifting operation is any operation using lifting equipment to raise or lower a load. Each must be planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out safely.
Planning is a regulatory requirement rather than good practice, and for anything beyond routine it produces a written lift plan naming the equipment, the load, the method and the people.
Equipment and accessories are subject to thorough examination on a defined regime, which is separate from the maintenance a contractor arranges.
The exclusion zone under and around a lift is the control that protects everyone not involved, and it is the one most often compromised by a site that is busy.
What goes wrong in practice
- Lifts carried out without a plan because they felt routine.
- Accessories — slings, shackles, chains — outside their examination regime.
- Exclusion zone reduced because a route was needed.