Forklift Truck Inspections In Cheshire
Lift Truck Thorough Examinations
If a truck on your Cheshire site is past the date on its last report, it should not be lifting. Send us the machines and attachments you run, with the site postcode, and we aim to come back with a quote within 48 hours.
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Tell us what trucks you have and where the site is. We aim to come back with a quote within 48 hours.
Forklift Truck Inspections In Cheshire
Lift Truck Thorough Examinations
Report lapsed, or renewals drifting? Send your truck list and site postcode and we aim to quote within 48 hours.
A Service Is Not A Thorough Examination
The single most common reason a lift truck ends up working without valid cover is that the maintenance contract was assumed to include it. It does not. Three separate things happen to a working truck, and only one of them is required by law: the driver’s check at the start of the shift, the service at the manufacturer’s intervals, and the thorough examination carried out by a competent person under Regulation 9 of LOLER. HSE says it plainly enough, that an inspection done as part of a maintenance scheme or a scheduled service does not count as a thorough examination.
The statutory examination is all we do. GSB has no workshop, no parts counter and no service contracts to protect, so what goes in your report is simply what the engineer found. Send us your truck list and we will tell you what is due and what it costs.
When A Cheshire Truck Falls Out Of Date
Twelve months is the outer limit for a truck that lifts goods. Two things shorten it to six, and both are routinely missed. Fit a working platform or man-cage and the truck becomes equipment used to lift people. And lifting accessories, meaning the slings, chains and shackles kept in the corner of the yard, run on their own six-month cycle whatever they are hung from.
Attachments are where most fleets have a gap. Anything permanently fitted is examined with the truck. Anything that comes off during the week, the clamps, rotators, jibs and fork extensions, is a separate item due at least every six months. They tend to be missed because no one is quite sure who owns them.
Dates can also be overtaken by events. A truck put together or installed on site is examined before it first lifts, and any machine involved in an overload, a collision or a tip-over is examined before it works again, wherever it sits in the calendar.
Lift Trucks We Examine Across Cheshire
Cheshire puts trucks to work in unusually varied settings. The process and chemical plants around Runcorn, Widnes and Northwich, the car plants at Crewe and Ellesmere Port, rail engineering in Crewe, the distribution estates strung along the M6, M56 and M53, and dairy and agricultural yards across the rural middle of the county. The machines differ; the duty under Regulation 9 does not.
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, together with the attachments used with them.
Each machine gets the lifting side that LOLER puts on the report, meaning the mast, rams, hydraulics, chains, forks and carriage, and then the brakes, steering, tyres and operator restraint, which fall under PUWER instead. Half a truck examined is half a truck you cannot rely on. For work equipment beyond the trucks themselves, that is our PUWER assessments in Cheshire.
GSB Inspection Services
Covering All Of Cheshire
We cover the county end to end, from Chester and Ellesmere Port across to Macclesfield and Congleton, down through Crewe and Nantwich, and including Warrington, Runcorn and Widnes. Cheshire has had no county council since 2009, and is run instead by four unitary authorities, so which one you deal with depends on where the site sits rather than on any county-wide body.
Multi-site operators are welcome. Where you run trucks at several Cheshire sites, or a mix of sites here and across the North West and Midlands, mention it at the enquiry stage and we will look at how best to group them so your renewal dates stay together rather than drifting apart across the year.
What Happens When Our Engineer Is On Site
A visit disrupts less than people expect, as long as the machines are genuinely free when the engineer arrives.
1
Have the trucks free.
Out of the aisles, not part-way through a job, keys where we can find them, and loose attachments gathered in one place. Chasing a machine that is still working is what turns a straightforward morning into a second trip.
2
Give us someone who knows the fleet.
One contact who can say what each machine is, where it lives, how hard it works and whether anything has been knocked about since last time. Old reports are useful if you have them, but we manage without.
3
Each truck is worked through in order across its lifting components and safety-critical parts, with functional checks where its condition warrants them. Attachments are treated as items in their own right, not as extras.
4
You hear the bad news first.
If something should stop a truck working, you are told before the engineer drives away rather than when the report lands. The competent person is legally obliged to raise it immediately.
Why Cheshire Operators Choose GSB
Every thorough examination ends in a list of faults. The useful question is who benefits from that list.
We sell inspections and nothing else. No trucks, no parts, no attachments, no maintenance contracts. A defect written up by our competent person arrives without a repair quote behind it, because there is no repair for us to sell. Most forklift examinations in this country are carried out by the same firm that services the machine, and the LOLER Approved Code of Practice is direct about it: the examiner should be sufficiently independent and impartial to give an objective opinion.
The other thing people mention is getting a straight answer. Ring 01782 855481 and you reach one of the two directors, both senior engineers and both owners of the business. Cheshire is an easy reach from our base in Stoke-on-Trent.
What Your Report Of Thorough Examination Contains
There is no such document as a LOLER certificate. What the law requires is a report of thorough examination under Regulation 10, with Schedule 1 setting out what it has to contain. No particular format is prescribed, but leave out a Schedule 1 item and the report stops doing its job.
The report ties itself to one machine: make, model and serial number, safe working load, the date it was examined, when the next one is due, who carried it out, and any defect with a deadline attached. It arrives electronically, in a state you can forward to an insurer or an inspector without explanation.
There is a duty here that surprises people. If the examination turns up a defect that is, or could become, a danger to anyone, the competent person has to tell you at once and send a copy of the report to the enforcing authority. That obligation sits on the examiner by law. It is also the plainest argument for using someone who does not stand to profit from the repair.
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 association for the UK’s independent engineering inspection industry. We examine lifting equipment against SAFed’s published technical guidance, alongside HSE’s Approved Code of Practice L113 and the guidance in L117 dealing with rider-operated lift trucks. In a market with few external checks on competence, it is one worth asking any provider about.
How To Book A Forklift Inspection In Cheshire
No portal to register with and no qualification call. The first step takes a couple of minutes.
1
Tell us what you run
Email info@gsbinspections.co.uk or use the form here. Makes, models and rough numbers will do, plus any attachments and the site postcode. Photograph a data plate if nobody is certain what a machine actually is.
2
Get a price
A quote follows, usually inside 48 hours, priced on the machines and the site rather than on what we suspect we will find. If something is already out of date, say so and we will tell you honestly where that leaves us for dates.
3
Agree a date
Trucks examine best when they are standing still, so tell us what works at your end, whether that is a shutdown, an early start or access outside normal hours. We will be straight about what our schedule can offer.
4
Before the visit we agree what is being examined and which interval each item falls under, so nothing is discovered missing on the day. Detachable attachments are the usual omission and worth raising early.
5
The visit
The engineer works through the fleet on site, raises anything serious with you in person, and issues a report of thorough examination for each item covering the Schedule 1 requirements.
6
Afterwards
Every report carries its own next-due date, which is what stops renewals slipping. Acting on a defect inside the stated timescale is your responsibility as dutyholder. We have no part in the repair and nothing to sell you once the report is issued.
GSB Inspections Reviews
Client Satisfaction
Great service. Would highly recommend and will use again.
Jade Furey
Excellent service very competent knowledgeable and professional staff Would highly recommend
Carl Eades
Gary has been doing our certifications for the last few years. Very professional and very reliable. A**
Rob Scanlan
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
Excellent service, very thorough and practical
Kerry Callear
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
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
Been using GSB for a year, great service keeping all our plant and machinery in certification
James Plant
Great bloke, reliable, informative, pleasure to deal with.
Gary Jackson
Prompt and professional friendly service.
Apples & Pears Nursery
Excellent service & communications
Gary Jackson
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
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
Useful Cheshire Resources
Website: hse.gov.uk
HSE’s hub for lift trucks, including its guidance on thorough examination and the distinction between examination, servicing and the operator’s pre-use check. ACOP L117 covers rider-operated lift trucks specifically.
Website: gov.uk
Cheshire has had no county council since 2009. Four unitary authorities each cover their own area: Cheshire East for Crewe, Macclesfield, Congleton, Nantwich, Sandbach, Middlewich, Wilmslow, Knutsford and Alsager; Cheshire West and Chester for Chester, Ellesmere Port, Northwich, Winsford, Neston, Frodsham and Tarporley; Warrington; and Halton for Runcorn and Widnes. For warehousing, distribution, retail and offices, health and safety enforcement sits with your council rather than HSE.
Website: cheshireandwarrington.com
The economic body for Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, and Warrington, with sector information covering the chemicals, automotive, manufacturing and logistics employers that run most of the county’s lift trucks.
Website: safed.co.uk
The trade association for the UK’s independent engineering inspection industry. SAFed publishes the technical guidance its members work to for the thorough examination of lifting equipment. GSB Inspections is an associate member.
Got Questions? (FAQs)
The interval is set by LOLER rather than by any local rule, so it is the same across Cheshire as anywhere else. Twelve months is the maximum for a truck lifting goods, six months where the truck carries a working platform or man-cage, and six months for lifting accessories such as slings and chains. A competent person can specify shorter intervals in an examination scheme where a truck works hard enough to warrant it.
No. Servicing and thorough examination are different duties with different purposes. HSE states that an inspection carried out under a preventive maintenance scheme or a scheduled service is not a thorough examination. The examination is a statutory check by a competent person resulting in a written report under Regulation 10. A well-maintained truck with no valid report is still non-compliant.
It depends on the main activity at the premises, under the Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1998. Chemical works, car plants, rail engineering and food production are HSE territory, which covers a good deal of Cheshire. Warehousing, distribution, retail and offices fall to your unitary authority instead. The duty under LOLER is identical whichever applies.
Take the truck out of service until it has been examined. The regulations contain no grace period, and a lapsed report is among the first things an inspector or auditor will look for. Say so when you enquire and we will be straight with you about the earliest date we can offer.
Permanently fitted attachments are covered with the truck at the truck’s interval. Anything that comes on and off, such as clamps, rotators, jibs and fork extensions, counts as a separate item requiring thorough examination at least every six months. Slings, chains and shackles are lifting accessories and follow the same six-month cycle.
Not in law. The statutory document is the report of thorough examination under Regulation 10, with its required contents set out in Schedule 1. Providers often present it as a certificate, and the name does no harm, but what matters is that the report covers every Schedule 1 item and identifies the specific machine.
Someone with enough practical and theoretical knowledge of lift trucks to find 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 difficult where the examiner also profits from the repairs.
The whole machine. LOLER governs the lifting elements, meaning mast, chains, forks, hydraulics and carriage. Brakes, steering, tyres and the operator restraint sit under PUWER. LOLER does not displace PUWER on a lift truck, so both get covered rather than leaving you a report on half a machine.
The duty falls on whoever owns, operates or controls the equipment, which includes hired machines in your use. Hire companies commonly supply a report, but you remain responsible for satisfying yourself that a valid one exists. Where a truck leaves your undertaking, you must also be able to produce a written copy of its examination record.
A truck assembled or installed on site is examined before it first lifts. A machine delivered complete, with a Declaration of Conformity less than a year old and no site assembly involved, does not need that first examination, though the twelve-month clock starts from then.
Not until it has been examined. Any exceptional event likely to affect the machine’s safety, including overloads, collisions and tip-overs, requires a thorough examination before the truck returns to service, irrespective of when the next one was due.
No. We sell inspections only, so there is nothing for us to gain from a long defect list. You take the report to whoever maintains your fleet, which is usually the arrangement you already have in place.
GSB Inspection Services
Forklift Inspection Service Areas In Cheshire
This is not an exhaustive list. We examine lift trucks across the whole county, including Warrington, Runcorn and Widnes, and we are constantly expanding our reach. If your site sits outside these areas, send us your truck list and we will tell you plainly whether we can cover it.
- Chester
- Warrington
- Crewe
- Ellesmere Port
- Runcorn
- Widnes
- Macclesfield
- Northwich
- Winsford
- Congleton
- Nantwich
- Sandbach
- Knutsford
- Wilmslow
Require A Forklift Inspection In Cheshire?
No brokers, no call centre, and nothing to sell you off the back of what we find.
Send your truck list and site postcode using the form below, or email info@gsbinspections.co.uk. We aim to come back with a quote within 48 hours. Mention any machine already running past its date.
info@gsbinspections.co.uk
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01782 855481
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