Forklift Truck Inspections In Greater Manchester
Lift Truck Thorough Examinations
A truck running past the date on its last report should not be moving loads. Send us the machines and attachments on site, with the postcode, and we aim to have a quote back within 48 hours.
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Forklift Truck Inspections In Greater Manchester
Lift Truck Thorough Examinations
Report out of date, or nobody sure who holds it? Send the machines and the postcode and we will price it up.
A Service Is Not A Thorough Examination
Two questions decide whether a truck is legal to lift, and most operators can only answer one of them. The first is whether it has been serviced, and the answer is usually yes. The second is whether a competent person has thoroughly examined it under Regulation 9 of LOLER and issued a written report, and that is where the paperwork tends to run out. Servicing and examination are separate obligations. HSE states outright that an inspection carried out as part of a preventive maintenance scheme or a scheduled service is not a thorough examination.
The statutory examination is the only thing we sell. No trucks, no parts, no service contracts, nothing that benefits from a defect being found or from one being overlooked. Send us a list of your machines and we will tell you what is due and what it costs.
When A Greater Manchester Truck Falls Out Of Date
Twelve months is the maximum for a truck lifting goods. Two things bring it down to six. A machine carrying a working platform or man-cage is lifting people rather than goods. And lifting accessories, the slings, chains and shackles, run on their own six-month cycle whatever they happen to be attached to.
Attachments account for most of the gaps we find. Permanently fitted, they are examined with the truck at its interval. Coming on and off through the week, whether clamps, rotators, jibs or fork extensions, they become separate items due at least twice a year. On multi-shift sites they are also the items most likely to move between machines without anyone recording it.
Some things override the calendar entirely. A machine assembled or installed on site is examined before its first lift, and any truck that has been overloaded, struck something or tipped over is examined before it goes back to work, whatever date the report says.
Lift Trucks We Examine Across Greater Manchester
Nowhere else on our patch concentrates lift trucks like this. Trafford Park alone is the largest employment area in Greater Manchester, with more than a thousand businesses running heavy manufacturing and large-scale distribution off the same roads, and the logistics corridor around it barely stops. Add the mills and industrial estates through Oldham, Rochdale, Bolton and Wigan, and the food and retail distribution across Salford and Trafford, and the fleet mix is as wide as anywhere in the country.
We examine counterbalance trucks in diesel, LPG and electric, reach trucks, very narrow aisle machines and order pickers, powered pallet trucks and stackers, side loaders and multi-directional trucks, rough terrain forklifts, telescopic handlers and truck-mounted forklifts, along with the attachments used on them.
Every machine is covered across the lifting elements that LOLER deals with, the mast, rams, hydraulics, chains, forks and carriage, then the brakes, steering, tyres and operator restraint, which fall under PUWER. Multi-shift sites are where wear accumulates fastest and where a twelve-month interval is least likely to be the right one. Where work equipment beyond the trucks needs looking at, that is our PUWER assessments in Greater Manchester.
GSB Inspection Services
Hired Trucks, Shared Sites And Who Actually Holds The Duty
Greater Manchester runs more hired and contracted-out fleets than anywhere else we work, and that is where the duty gets lost. LOLER puts it on whoever owns, operates or has control over the equipment, which is deliberately broad. A truck you hire in and use is yours to satisfy yourself about. A truck run by a logistics contractor on your site rarely has one obvious answer, and the regulations do not much care whose name is on the invoice.
Two practical consequences. If you hire, ask for the report of thorough examination before the machine works, not after, and keep a copy. If you contract out your warehousing, establish in writing who is arranging examinations rather than assuming the other party has it in hand. Where a machine leaves your undertaking, on hire or otherwise, you also have to be able to produce a written copy of its examination record.
We are asked into all ten boroughs, from Wigan and Bolton across to Stockport, Tameside and Oldham, and into the Trafford Park and Salford corridors most weeks. Operators running trucks across several sites should say so when enquiring and we will look at grouping them so renewal dates stay together.
What Happens When Our Engineer Is On Site
On a busy site the visit stands or falls on whether the machines are actually free when our engineer arrives.
1
Machines made available.
Out of the aisles and off the job, keys to hand, removable attachments collected. On multi-shift operations it is worth deciding in advance which hour the fleet comes off, because chasing trucks round a live warehouse is what turns one visit into two.
2
Someone who can account for them.
One contact able to identify each truck, say which are owned and which are hired, and flag anything damaged since the last visit. On contracted-out sites this matters more than usual, because ownership and control often sit with different parties.
3
Each machine is taken in turn across its lifting components and safety-critical parts, with functional checks where condition calls for them. Attachments are examined as items in their own right rather than assumed covered.
4
Anything dangerous, straight away.
If a machine should come out of use you hear it in person before our engineer leaves site. The competent person is legally required to raise it immediately and to confirm it in the written report.
Why Greater Manchester Operators Choose GSB
A thorough examination produces a list of faults on your machines. In a region where most examinations are carried out by the same firms that maintain the fleets, it is worth asking who gains from that list.
Inspections are the whole of our business. Not trucks, not parts, not attachments, not maintenance cover. A defect written up by our competent person arrives with no quotation attached and earns us nothing at all. The LOLER Approved Code of Practice addresses the point directly, expecting the examiner to be sufficiently independent and impartial to give an objective opinion, which is a difficult standard for a firm quoting for the repair.
Operators also tell us they wanted a straight answer from someone who knew. Ring 01782 855481 and you get one of two directors, both senior engineers and joint owners of the business.
What Your Report Of Thorough Examination Contains
A LOLER certificate is not a thing that exists in law. Regulation 10 requires a report of thorough examination, and Schedule 1 sets out what has to be in it. The format is open; the contents are not. A report missing a Schedule 1 item has stopped serving its purpose.
Every report identifies one machine by make, model and serial number, and records the safe working load, the date examined, the date the next is due, the competent person’s details, and any defect with the time allowed to correct it. Reports arrive electronically, ready to pass to an insurer, an auditor, a borough inspector or a client running a contract audit.
One duty is worth knowing. Where the examination finds a defect that is, or could become, a danger to anyone, the competent person must tell you immediately and send a copy of the report to the enforcing authority. That obligation sits on the examiner, not on you, and it is the plainest reason to use somebody with no stake in what the repair costs.
Our Commitment To Your Safety
We Are A Proud Associate Member Of The Safety Assessment Federation (SAFed)
GSB Inspections is an associate member of the Safety Assessment Federation (SAFed), the trade body representing independent engineering inspection in the UK. Our examinations follow SAFed’s published technical guidance for lifting equipment, alongside HSE’s Approved Code of Practice L113 and the L117 guidance on rider-operated lift trucks. Competence in this trade is largely self-declared, which is reason enough to ask any provider what they actually hold.
How To Book A Forklift Inspection In Greater Manchester
No portal, no qualifying call. The first step takes a couple of minutes.
1
Send the fleet list
Email info@gsbinspections.co.uk or use the form here. Rough makes, models and numbers will do, plus attachments and the site postcode, and a note of anything hired rather than owned. A photograph of the data plate resolves any machine nobody can identify.
2
A price back
Usually inside 48 hours, priced on the machines and the site rather than on what we expect to find. If anything has already lapsed, or a client audit has set you a date, put it in the message so we know where you stand.
3
Agree the slot
Trucks examine best standing still, which on a distribution site usually means a gap between shifts or a quiet hour. Tell us what works and we will be straight about what our schedule can offer.
4
Before we attend we agree what is being examined and which interval applies to each item, so nothing turns up missing on the day. Detachable attachments and hired machines are the two usual omissions.
5
On site
Our engineer works through the fleet, raises anything serious with you directly, and issues a report of thorough examination per item covering the Schedule 1 requirements.
6
Afterwards
Each report carries its own next-due date, which is what stops renewals drifting across a multi-site operation. Acting on a defect inside the stated timescale is your duty as dutyholder. We take no part in the repair and have nothing to sell you afterwards.
GSB Inspections Reviews
Client Satisfaction
Gary has been doing our certifications for the last few years. Very professional and very reliable. A**
Rob Scanlan
Great service. Would highly recommend and will use again.
Jade Furey
Inspected transferable winch units with, greatly appreciated, additional guidance covering separate requirements for accompanying D shackles and inspection schedule. Very diligent service and great value.
Andrew Piekarczyk
Excellent service & communications
Gary Jackson
My first contact was with Gary and he dealt with my query and questions brilliantly. He explained the process, it was easy to sort and it went smoothly. Expected contact... read more
Mrs B
Great bloke, reliable, informative, pleasure to deal with.
Gary Jackson
Excellent service very competent knowledgeable and professional staff Would highly recommend
Carl Eades
Been using GSB for a year, great service keeping all our plant and machinery in certification
James Plant
Well what a great service Gary provides, always does a very thorough job, can't recommend enough, we always Gary really great guy.
Daz Griffiths
Gary has been doing MPi ltd's lifting certifications, air compressor tank and roller shutter door inspections for a number of years now. I have always found him a pleasure to... read more
matt page
Prompt and professional friendly service.
Apples & Pears Nursery
Excellent service, very thorough and practical
Kerry Callear
Service, communication, support and advice has been excellent, Garry has gone out of his way to support our school with issues arisen from council maintenance, he has gone out of... read more
Miss H Morrey
Useful Greater Manchester Resources
Website: hse.gov.uk
The regulator’s pages on lift trucks, setting out what thorough examination involves and why it is not the same as servicing or the driver’s daily check. Approved Code of Practice L117 deals specifically with rider-operated lift trucks and is the document an inspector will expect you to have worked to.
Website: gov.uk
There has been no county council here since 1986. For warehousing and wholesale distribution, retail, offices, hotels and catering, and leisure premises, health and safety enforcement sits with your borough: Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford or Wigan. Each environmental health team holds the same powers to serve improvement and prohibition notices as an HSE inspector.
Website: greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk
The combined authority for the ten boroughs, led by a directly elected mayor, covering transport, regeneration, housing and strategic planning. Health and safety enforcement is not among its powers and has not been devolved, so a LOLER question goes to the HSE or your own borough rather than here.
Website: safed.co.uk
The body representing independent engineering inspection organisations in the UK, and the source of the technical guidance those members examine lifting equipment against. GSB Inspections holds associate membership. Worth checking what any provider in the city region actually belongs to, since competence here is largely self-declared.
Got Questions? (FAQs)
LOLER sets it, so it does not vary by borough. Twelve months at most for a truck lifting goods, six months where a working platform or man-cage is fitted because the machine is then lifting people, and six months for lifting accessories such as slings and chains. On hard-worked multi-shift fleets a competent person can set a shorter interval through an examination scheme, which is a judgement about the machine rather than a rule.
A maintenance contract discharges a different duty. The regulator draws the line clearly: work done under a preventive maintenance scheme or a scheduled service does not amount to a thorough examination. Maintenance keeps a machine working. Examination is a statutory assessment by a competent person, ending in a written report under Regulation 10. Plenty of immaculately maintained fleets in this region have no valid reports behind them.
They usually supply a report, but the duty does not transfer with the invoice. LOLER applies to whoever owns, operates or has control over the equipment, so as the user you are responsible for satisfying yourself that a valid report exists before the machine works. Ask for it up front and keep a copy rather than relying on the hire desk having it on file.
Potentially both parties’, which is why it needs settling in writing rather than assumed. Control over the equipment is what the regulations look at, not whose name is on the lease. In practice the workable answer is to agree explicitly who arranges examinations and who keeps the reports, and to check it rather than take it on trust at contract renewal.
Neither. Health and safety enforcement has not been devolved to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. It sits with the HSE for manufacturing, construction and similar, and with your individual borough council for warehousing, distribution, retail and offices, under the Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1998.
The machine comes out of use until it has been examined. The regulations contain no grace period, and an expired report is one of the first things an inspector or a client auditor looks for. Say so when you enquire and we will be straight with you about the earliest date we can offer.
Only where permanently fitted, in which case they go with the machine at its interval. Anything removable, such as clamps, rotators, jibs and fork extensions, is a separate item due at least every six months. On sites where attachments move between machines it is worth recording which is which, because they are examined as items rather than as part of any one truck.
Not in law. Regulation 10 requires a report of thorough examination, with Schedule 1 listing its required contents. The word certificate is used loosely throughout the industry, which does little harm, but what counts is whether the document contains every Schedule 1 item and identifies the individual machine.
Someone with enough practical and theoretical knowledge of lift trucks to detect defects and judge what they mean for continued safe use. The Approved Code of Practice adds that they should be sufficiently independent and impartial to give an objective opinion, which is hard to satisfy where the same business profits from the repair work.
Yes. LOLER covers the lifting side, meaning mast, chains, forks, hydraulics and carriage, while brakes, steering, tyres and operator restraint sit under PUWER. LOLER does not replace PUWER on a lift truck, so we work through both rather than handing over a report on half a machine.
If it was assembled or installed on site, yes, before its first lift. One delivered complete with a Declaration of Conformity less than a year old and requiring no assembly does not, although the twelve-month clock starts running from then.
No. Inspections are all we sell, so a long defect list gains us nothing. The report goes to whoever maintains your fleet, which on most sites here is an arrangement already in place.
GSB Inspection Services
Forklift Inspection Service Areas In Greater Manchester
All ten boroughs and the towns between them, and the list below is only where we are asked most often. If your site is not shown, send the fleet list anyway and we will say plainly whether we can cover it.
- Manchester
- Salford
- Trafford
- Stockport
- Bolton
- Wigan
- Oldham
- Rochdale
- Bury
- Tameside
- Altrincham
- Ashton-under-Lyne
- Sale
- Eccles
Require A Forklift Inspection In Greater Manchester?
No brokers, no call centre, and nothing to sell you off the back of what we find.
Use the form below or email info@gsbinspections.co.uk with your machines and the site postcode. Tell us which are owned and which are hired, and flag anything already past its date, and we will come back with a price and honest dates.
info@gsbinspections.co.uk
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01782 855481
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Mon-Fri, 8am until 4pm