In our latest blog, we will explore and de-bunk the terms ‘insurance inspection’ and ‘insurance inspector’. These terms are synonymous with the world of compliance testing but tend to dull down the importance and value, and potentially move accountability away from the rightful duty holder.

If you are a business owner and you have lifting, pressure or mechanical work equipment you are now a duty holder under several legal regulations. Sometimes your first knowledge of this comes when your friendly insurance broker visits site and spots your new forklift truck, compressed air system or whatever it may be. They will highlight that for plant which lifts or lowers a load, it must be subjected to regular Thorough Examinations under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER), the same for some pressure vessels (dependent on the relevant fluid) under the Pressure Systems Safey Regulations 2000 (PSSR) or inspections under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER).

The simplest way to think of compliance testing is like an MOT on a car – you as the owner/operator have a duty to ensure that it has a valid MOT test certificate to drive it on the roads. This legal compliance also runs hand-in-hand with having a valid motor insurance policy on the vehicle. It will always be a term of business of your insurance policy that the vehicle has an in-date MOT certificate for certain cover to be valid.

So, there are two essential reasons to have the vehicle tested but what are the benefits – it’s a reassurance to you, your passengers, other road users and your insurers that the vehicle is safe and compliant with legislation. It should also give confidence to ensuring reliability or spotting potential future problems. The MOT test itself is an impartial, expert survey and report on the condition of the vehicle and its conformity to regulation for safe usage.

The most common plant requiring statutory examination:

Lifting Plant – work equipment which lifts or lowers loads must be periodically Thoroughly Examined under LOLER Regulation 9. This includes; material handling plant (cranes, forklift trucks, telehandlers, VNA’s, reach trucks, order pickers), garage equipment (vehicle lifts, jacks, scissor lifts), powered access plant (mewps, cherry pickers, boom lifts), vertical transportation (passenger lifts, goods lifts, dumbwaiters, escalators) and lifting attachments (slings, chains, shackles, fork attachments, crane attachments).

Pressure Plant – work equipment falling under PSSR includes pressure vessels of rigid construction where the potential stored energy is above 250 Bar/litres of a relevant fluid. These can be items like air receivers (compressors), expansion vessels, steam boilers, coffee boilers, buffer vessels, autoclaves etc.

PUWER Plant – most work equipment with associated risk falls under PUWER Regulation 6 requiring regular periodic inspection however some Power Press machinery requires Thorough Examination by a Competent Person.

Now, if you have any of the above, lets apply the MOT mindset to work equipment.

1.      Legally, you have an obligation to ensure it is periodically Thoroughly Examined or Inspected under the relevant regulations.

2.      You are compelled to meet the terms of business of your insurance to safeguard your companies financial interests.

3.      Morally, you should be minimising the exposure to risk of your employees and anyone who may be affected by a failure or incident.

4.      Commercially, you will benefit from limiting equipment downtime and maximising plant efficiency.

So, now you know what needs doing and why but if we think of the term ‘insurance inspection’, the insurance requirement is possibly one of the smaller needs here and also makes the Thorough Examination seem like a tick-box clerical exercise and the ‘insurance inspector’ as a clipboard wielding, suit-clad bureaucrat.

An ‘insurance inspector’ is actually an Engineer Surveyor. They are highly trained, vastly qualified and experienced engineers with a wealth of knowledge of many plant types and of the relevant regulations. They meet the legal criteria of a ‘Competent Person’ which is somebody with enough appropriate practical and theoretical knowledge to examine and make informed decisions about an item’s condition, to spot defects and categorise them as to their importance towards continued use.

Lastly, it’s really important to note the difference between maintenance/servicing and compliance inspection. These are two vastly different areas. The person carrying out the thorough examination must be suitably independent from maintenance to ensure objective, unbiased decisions are made. The easiest way to safeguard this is to contract your compliance testing to a suitably qualified third-party. This may be in the offering of inspection services as part of your insurance policy provided by your broker or a third-party independent inspection company such as LiftTech Inspection Services Limited.

At LiftTech we work alongside regional insurance brokers to offer the benefits of an agile independent local inspection company as well as direct business-to-business inspection services either for ad-hoc inspections or annual cover. We pride ourselves on our responsive communication, exceptional customer service and agile inspection delivery.

Join the growing community of businesses already benefiting from partnering with LiftTech for all your compliance needs.

Unlike other independent companies, we have national coverage through our full membership of ESiNet Engineer Surveyor Inspection Network with currently 23 independent businesses all working to the same highest standards of examination and report giving LiftTech the ability and resource of a large service provider but the care, diligence and bespoke attention of an independent.

For Insurance Brokers, we regularly deliver compliance CPD training to Insurance Executives and Handlers to develop and improve knowledge on compiling accurate plant schedules, plant types requiring examination and inspection frequencies. Contact us to find out more on how we can assist your team.