Load testing is carried out to insure that a piece of lifting equipment is ready to operate safely and adequately. Proper testing of your business’s lifting equipment is a legal necessity, defined under LOLER (the Lifting Operation and Lifting Equipment Regulations of 1998).
These Regulations place duties on people and companies who own, operate or have control over lifting equipment. This includes all businesses and organisations whose employees use lifting equipment, whether owned by them or not. In most cases, lifting equipment is also work equipment so the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) will also apply (including inspection and maintenance). All lifting operations involving lifting equipment must be properly planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out in a safe manner.
LOLER also requires that all equipment used for lifting is fit for purpose, appropriate for the task, suitably marked and, in many cases, subject to statutory periodic ‘thorough examination’. Records must be kept of all thorough examinations and any defects found must be reported to both the person responsible for the equipment and the relevant enforcing authority.
Proof load testing helps to keep your employees and premises safe from any misdemeanours or malfunctions associated with lifting equipment. It measures the strength and quality of the lifting equipment’s materials and its performance. The appropriate stress is placed upon the machine to ensure that it can perform to the required standard. The proof load test will not damage your equipment, but establishes where necessary that your lifting equipment is capable of working to its intended design parameters.
Load tests must be carried out following the installation of a piece of lifting equipment, before it is put into operation. Periodic tests follow this initial inspection in order to maintain the effectiveness and safety of the equipment. A proof load test is also required following the repair of a piece of equipment and after a misdemeanour or negative incident has taken place.
At Powerflow Solutions Ltd., we focus on providing customer service that is second to none. As a BS EN ISO 9001 registered firm and a member of the British Fluid Power Distributors Association, Powerflow Solutions Ltd. has an ongoing commitment to continually improve and maintain a quality of service that will exceed customers’ expectations.
As a member of the British Fluid Power Distributors Association, Powerflow Solutions Ltd., we show our commitment to providing quality products that not only meet the customer’s expectations but also those of the British Fluid Power Distributors Association’s code of conduct.
