Forklift Truck Inspections In Worcestershire
Lift Truck Thorough Examinations
Any truck working past the date on its last report should be standing still. Tell us what machines and attachments you have, along with the site postcode, and we aim to send a quote back 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 Worcestershire
Lift Truck Thorough Examinations
Report lapsed, or dates getting away from you? Send your truck list and site postcode and we aim to quote within 48 hours.
A Service Is Not A Thorough Examination
Most fleets that turn out to be non-compliant were not neglected. They were serviced, regularly and properly, by people who did a decent job of it. What they were not was examined. Those are two different obligations, and a maintenance contract discharges only one of them. Three checks apply to a working truck: the driver looks it over before the shift, the maintenance engineer services it to the manufacturer’s schedule, and a competent person carries out the thorough examination Regulation 9 of LOLER requires. HSE addresses the confusion directly, stating that an inspection carried out as part of a maintenance scheme or a scheduled service is not a thorough examination.
We do the statutory examination and nothing besides. There is no workshop behind us, nothing to sell you and no service contract of ours to protect, so the report describes the machine rather than our interests. Send a truck list and we will tell you what is due and what it costs.
When A Worcestershire Truck Falls Out Of Date
A truck lifting goods can go twelve months between examinations and no longer. Two things halve that. A machine fitted with a working platform or man-cage is lifting people, not goods. And lifting accessories, the slings, chains and shackles, carry their own six-month requirement whatever they are hung from.
Attachments are the usual blind spot. Fitted permanently, they go with the truck at the truck’s own interval. Taken on and off through the week, whether clamps, rotators, jibs, pallet forks or produce handling attachments, they become items in their own right due at least twice a year. They get missed because ownership of them is rarely written down.
Two events override whatever the calendar says. A machine assembled or installed on site is examined before its first lift, and any truck that has been overloaded, has hit something or has gone over is examined before it works again.
Lift Trucks We Examine Across Worcestershire
Manufacturing is the third largest employment sector in Worcestershire, around 30,000 jobs, and engineering here employs roughly twice the national average of engineers. It is not spread evenly. The north around Redditch, Bromsgrove and Kidderminster runs fabricated metals and pressed components, where trucks move heavy, dense loads in tight bays. South and east through the Vale of Evesham the work is horticulture, produce and food, where electric trucks run in chilled stores and attachments change with the season. Between them sit the distribution sites off the M5.
We examine all of it. 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 their attachments.
Every machine is covered across the lifting elements LOLER deals with, the mast, rams, hydraulics, chains, forks and carriage, and then the brakes, steering, tyres and operator restraint, which belong to PUWER. Cold store machines deserve particular attention, because condensation and corrosion do their work quietly on chains and hydraulics. Where work equipment needs a wider look, that is our PUWER assessments in Worcestershire.
GSB Inspection Services
Covering All Of Worcestershire
We work across the whole county, from Kidderminster, Bromsgrove and Redditch in the north through Droitwich and Worcester, out to Evesham and Pershore in the east and down to Malvern and Upton-upon-Severn. Worcestershire runs a two-tier structure, with the county council above six district, borough and city councils, so the authority you deal with depends on where the site sits.
Growers and packhouses are familiar ground. Seasonal operations often have machines that work intensively for part of the year and stand for the rest, which is its own kind of risk, and they are no harder for us to reach than an industrial estate. If you run trucks at more than one Worcestershire site, say so when enquiring and we will look at grouping them so renewal dates stay together.
What Happens When Our Engineer Is On Site
These visits are rarely as disruptive as expected, provided the machines are actually free when our engineer arrives.
1
Trucks out of service for an hour.
Not mid-load and not blocking an aisle, keys available, and removable attachments brought together in one place. Waiting for a machine that is still working is the commonest reason a visit has to be repeated.
2
One person who knows the fleet.
Someone who can identify each machine, say where and how hard it works, and mention anything damaged since the last visit. Previous reports are handy but not necessary.
3
Each truck is taken in turn across its lifting components and safety-critical parts, with functional checks where its condition calls for them. Attachments are examined as items in their own right.
4
Serious faults raised on site.
Anything that should take a machine out of use is put to you in person before our engineer leaves. The competent person is legally required to raise it immediately rather than let the report carry the news.
Why Worcestershire Operators Choose GSB
A thorough examination is, at bottom, a list of what is wrong with your machines. Worth asking who benefits from that list running long.
Inspections are our entire business. We sell no trucks, no parts, no attachments and no maintenance cover, so a defect recorded by our competent person carries no quotation with it and makes us nothing. In most of the country the firm examining the truck also services it, and the LOLER Approved Code of Practice speaks to precisely that, expecting the examiner to be sufficiently independent and impartial to give an objective opinion.
The other thing operators mention is reaching somebody who knows. Call 01782 855481 and you get one of two directors, both senior engineers and joint owners. Worcestershire is comfortable ground for us from Stoke-on-Trent.
What Your Report Of Thorough Examination Contains
No document called a LOLER certificate exists in law. What Regulation 10 requires is a report of thorough examination, with Schedule 1 setting out its required contents. The layout is not prescribed. The contents are, and a report missing a Schedule 1 item is no longer doing its job.
Each report is tied to a single machine by make, model and serial number, and sets out the safe working load, the date examined, when the next falls due, who carried it out, and any defect alongside the time allowed to put it right. Reports come electronically and are written to go straight to an insurer, an auditor or an inspector.
One obligation catches operators out. Where the examination finds a defect that is, or could become, a danger to anybody, the competent person must tell you at once and send a copy of the report to the enforcing authority. That duty falls on the examiner rather than on you, and it is the strongest case there is for using somebody with nothing to gain from the repair.
Our Commitment To Your Safety
We Are A Proud Associate Member Of The Safety Assessment Federation (SAFed)
GSB Inspections holds associate membership of the Safety Assessment Federation (SAFed), the trade body for independent engineering inspection in the UK. We examine lifting equipment to SAFed’s published technical guidance, alongside HSE’s Approved Code of Practice L113 and the L117 guidance covering rider-operated lift trucks. External tests of competence are thin on the ground in this market, which makes it a fair question to put to any provider.
How To Book A Forklift Inspection In Worcestershire
No portal, no qualifying call. The first step takes about two minutes.
1
Send us the machines
Email info@gsbinspections.co.uk or use the form on this page. Approximate makes, models and numbers are enough, plus attachments and the site postcode. A photograph of the data plate settles it where nobody is certain what a machine is.
2
A price comes back
Usually within 48 hours, priced on the machines and the site rather than on guesses about what we will find. If something has already lapsed, tell us and we will be honest about what that means for timing.
3
Settle a date
Machines are easiest to examine standing still, so tell us what suits, whether a shutdown, an early start, a quiet period between seasons or access out of hours, and we will say honestly what our schedule can offer.
4
Ahead of the visit we agree what is being examined and which interval covers each item, so nothing is found missing on the day. Removable attachments are the usual gap and worth raising early.
5
On the day
Our engineer works through the fleet on site, raises anything serious with you directly, and issues a report of thorough examination per item covering the Schedule 1 requirements.
6
And afterwards
Every report carries its own next-due date, which is what keeps renewals from drifting. Acting on a defect within the stated timescale is your duty as dutyholder. We play no part in the repair and have nothing to sell you once the report is issued.
GSB Inspections Reviews
Client Satisfaction
Prompt and professional friendly service.
Apples & Pears Nursery
Great service. Would highly recommend and will use again.
Jade Furey
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
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
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 our certifications for the last few years. Very professional and very reliable. A**
Rob Scanlan
Great bloke, reliable, informative, pleasure to deal with.
Gary Jackson
Excellent service very competent knowledgeable and professional staff Would highly recommend
Carl Eades
Excellent service & communications
Gary Jackson
Excellent service, very thorough and practical
Kerry Callear
Been using GSB for a year, great service keeping all our plant and machinery in certification
James Plant
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 Worcestershire 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
Worcestershire has a two-tier structure, and health and safety enforcement in council-enforced premises sits with the districts rather than the county: Bromsgrove, Malvern Hills, Redditch, Worcester City, Wychavon or Wyre Forest. For warehousing, retail, offices, hotels and catering, and leisure premises, these are your enforcing authority, and their environmental health teams hold the same powers to serve improvement and prohibition notices as an HSE inspector.
Website: worcestershire.gov.uk
The upper-tier authority, covering education, transport and social care, and a useful source of business and site information. Health and safety enforcement in council-enforced premises rests with the district councils rather than here.
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 comes from LOLER, so it is the same wherever you are. Twelve months at most for a truck lifting goods. Six months where it is fitted with a working platform or man-cage, because it is then lifting people. Six months for lifting accessories such as slings and chains regardless of use. A competent person can set a shorter interval through an examination scheme where the work justifies it.
Almost certainly not. HSE states that an inspection carried out as part of a preventive maintenance scheme or a scheduled service is not a thorough examination. Servicing keeps a machine running; the examination is a statutory check by a competent person producing a written report under Regulation 10. Plenty of well-maintained fleets are non-compliant for exactly this reason.
The interval is the same, but the wear is not. Condensation and corrosion work on chains, pins and hydraulic fittings in ways that are easy to miss, and machines moving between cold store and loading bay see it worst. Where a truck works in those conditions a competent person may set a shorter interval through an examination scheme, which is a judgement made on the machine rather than a rule.
It follows the main activity at the premises, under the Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1998. Manufacturing, construction and agriculture sit with HSE, which takes in a good deal of Worcestershire including the growers. Warehousing, distribution, retail and offices fall to your district council. The LOLER duty itself is identical whichever applies.
Take the machine out of use until it has been examined. There is no grace period in the regulations, and a lapsed report is among the first things an inspector or auditor asks to see. Mention it when you enquire and we will be straight with you about the earliest date we can offer.
Only when permanently fitted, in which case they go with the machine at its interval. Anything removable, from clamps and rotators to jibs, pallet forks and produce handling attachments, is a separate item due at least every six months. Slings, chains and shackles are lifting accessories on the same cycle.
Not legally. Regulation 10 requires a report of thorough examination and Schedule 1 lists what it must contain. The term certificate is used loosely across the industry without much harm, but what matters is that the document carries every Schedule 1 item and identifies the individual machine.
Enough practical and theoretical knowledge of lift trucks to identify defects and judge what they mean for continued safe use. The Approved Code of Practice also expects sufficient independence and impartiality to give an objective opinion, which is a hard standard to meet when the same business profits from the repairs.
Yes. LOLER governs the lifting side, meaning mast, chains, forks, hydraulics and carriage, while brakes, steering, tyres and operator restraint fall under PUWER. LOLER does not displace PUWER on a lift truck, so both are covered rather than leaving you a report on half a machine.
The duty sits with whoever owns, operates or controls the equipment, and that includes machines hired in for a season. Hire companies usually provide a report, but checking that a valid one exists remains your responsibility. Where a machine leaves your undertaking you must also be able to produce a written copy of its examination record.
If it was assembled or installed on site, yes, before its first lift. A machine delivered complete with a Declaration of Conformity less than a year old, needing no assembly, does not, although its twelve-month clock begins at that point.
No. We sell inspections and nothing else, so a long list of defects earns us nothing. The report goes to whoever maintains your machines, normally the arrangement you already have.
GSB Inspection Services
Forklift Inspection Service Areas In Worcestershire
This is not an exhaustive list. We examine lift trucks across the whole county, 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.
- Worcester
- Redditch
- Kidderminster
- Bromsgrove
- Malvern
- Evesham
- Droitwich Spa
- Stourport-on-Severn
- Bewdley
- Pershore
- Tenbury Wells
- Upton-upon-Severn
- Hagley
- Rubery
Require A Forklift Inspection In Worcestershire?
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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Mon-Fri, 8am until 4pm