Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
Builders merchants might be unwittingly breaking the law when it comes to the use of fork lift trucks warns Consolidated Fork Truck Services (CFTS).
The confusion is likely to arise around mistaking an inspection with a ‘Thorough Examination’, which operators are legally required to carry out.
“A variety of ‘inspections’ can be carried out on your fork lift trucks by different people but not all of them fulfil the law’s requirement for Thorough Examination,” warned CFTS chairman Brain Tyrer.
“Service engineers, insurance inspectors and specialist inspection companies might all inspect your equipment and give you an inspection report,” he said. However, “an inspection as part of a preventative maintenance scheme or scheduled service is not a Thorough Examination.
“Other inspections carried out by a variety of specialists may, or may not, be Thorough Examinations.”
CFTS advice is:
To check with inspectors that the inspection constitutes a Thorough Examination in accordance with LOLER 98 legislation
To ask to see a copy of the report form and check for the words ‘Report of Thorough Examination’ at the top of it. If this is not clearly specified then the user should be suspicious of its validity.
