This article summarises key requirements relating to forklift trucks and practical steps to help organisations manage the risks arising from their use and comply with the law.
Published: 11 September 2026
Authors: Rubina Zaidi
What is a forklift truck?
For the purposes of this article, “forklift truck” is used to refer principally to rider-operated forklift trucks. These are primarily designed to lift, lower and move materials. The article does not address fixed lifts and hoists or mobile elevating work platforms, such as cherry pickers and scissor lifts, which are intended primarily to lift people. A non-integrated working platform attached to a forklift truck should be used to lift people only in the exceptional circumstances described in Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance.
The wider legal framework
Forklift trucks can create serious risks for operators, pedestrians and others. The relevant framework extends beyond the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER). Depending on the circumstances, duties may also arise under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER), and the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992.
A forklift truck is work equipment under PUWER and, when used to lift or lower loads, is lifting equipment under LOLER. The regimes commonly apply together.
The legislation covers specific risks associated with operations involving lifting equipment. Those responsible for the safe operation of such equipment should review their arrangements to ensure the associated risks are being properly identified and controlled and that applicable legal duties are being met.
Key duties under LOLER
LOLER applies to employers in respect of lifting equipment provided for use or used by employees at work. In specified circumstances, its requirements also apply to relevant self-employed persons and to persons who, in connection with a trade, business or other undertaking, control lifting equipment, those who use, supervise or manage its use, or the way it is used, but only to the extent of their control (regulation 3).
Principal duties include:
- strength and stability: equipment must be of adequate strength and stability for each load. Every part of a load and anything attached to and used in lifting it must also be of adequate strength (regulation 4)
- lifting people: equipment must prevent a person using it from being crushed, trapped or struck, or falling from the carrier. Where activities are carried out from the carrier, those risks must be prevented so far as is reasonably practicable. Subject to a limited exception, suitable devices must prevent the risk of the carrier falling, and a trapped person must not be exposed to danger and must be capable of being freed (regulation 5)
- positioning and installation: equipment must be positioned or installed to reduce, so far as is reasonably practicable, the risk of the equipment or load striking a person, or a load drifting, falling freely or being unintentionally released (regulation 6)
- marking: lifting machinery and accessories must be clearly marked with their safe working load. Additional marking requirements apply where capacity depends on configuration and where equipment is, or is not, intended to lift people (regulation 7)
- lifting operations: every operation must be properly planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out safely (regulation 8)
- thorough examination: lifting equipment must be thoroughly examined and inspected in prescribed circumstances (regulation 9).
Thorough examination, reports and records
Before lifting equipment is first put into service, it must be thoroughly examined unless it has not previously been used, the relevant declaration of conformity could or should have been drawn up, the employer has received that declaration, and it was made no more than 12 months before the equipment was put into service. Alternatively, where equipment is obtained from another person’s undertaking, it must be accompanied by physical evidence showing the last thorough examination required by regulation 9 has been undertaken.
Where safety depends on installation conditions, examination is required after installation and before first use, and after assembly at a new site or location.
Equipment exposed to conditions causing deterioration liable to result in dangerous situations must be thoroughly examined at least every six months if used to lift people or if it is a lifting accessory, and at least every twelve months for other lifting equipment, or in accordance with an examination scheme. Examination is also required following exceptional circumstances liable to jeopardise safety. Where appropriate, inspections must take place at suitable intervals between thorough examinations.
A thorough examination is a systematic, detailed examination of the equipment and safety-critical parts by a competent person, not routine maintenance, servicing or a pre-use check. The person should have appropriate practical and theoretical knowledge and experience of the equipment and be sufficiently independent and impartial to make objective decisions.
The examiner must notify the employer forthwith of any defect which is or could become dangerous and, as soon as practicable, provide the employer and anyone from whom the equipment has been hired or leased with an authenticated written report containing the particulars required by Schedule 1.
Where a defect involves an existing or imminent risk of serious personal injury, the report must also be sent to the relevant enforcing authority. Equipment must not be used before an existing dangerous defect is rectified. If a defect could become dangerous by a specified time, it must not be used after that time until rectified (regulation 10).
Required declarations of conformity, thorough examination reports and inspection records must be retained for the periods prescribed by regulation 11.
Practical steps for dutyholders
Organisations should integrate LOLER compliance with their wider arrangements for work equipment and workplace transport. Practical measures include:
- identifying the lifting operations and equipment within the organisation’s undertaking or control, including non-routine work, attachments and relevant contractor activities
- assessing each task by reference to the truck, load, centre of gravity, capacity, attachment, route, ground conditions, visibility, people exposed to risk and foreseeable abnormal use
- selecting a truck and compatible attachment suitable for the task, and ensuring the rated capacity is understood and not exceeded
- ensuring operations are planned by a person competent for the task, with proportionate supervision and an appropriate safe system of work
- providing adequate training and authorisation for operators, and sufficient information, instruction and training for managers and supervisors
- maintaining an accurate equipment register and coordinating pre-use checks, defect reporting, preventive maintenance, PUWER inspections and LOLER thorough examinations
- checking examination reports are complete, acting on defects within the specified timescale and withdrawing equipment from use where regulation 10 requires
- ensuring purpose-designed access equipment is used to raise people rather than forks or an improvised platform. Any exceptional use of a non-integrated platform on a forklift truck should be undertaken in accordance with HSE guidance, using a suitable and compatible truck-platform combination and appropriate planning and risk controls.
Finally...
A current report of thorough examination alone does not demonstrate compliance with every relevant duty. Safe operation depends on suitable equipment, competent people, effective planning and supervision, maintenance, inspection, pre-use checks and prompt action on defects. For forklift trucks, LOLER should therefore be treated as part of an integrated system for managing work equipment and risks relating to workplace transport.