LOLER training online in the UK: where to train and what employers look for

What employers look for in an online LOLER certificate

Your employer decides the lifting training each role needs, based on its risk assessment. The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 require lifting operations to be properly planned by a competent person, supervised and carried out safely, and HSE's Approved Code of Practice L113 explains how. When an employer checks a certificate, they usually look for:

• Content that follows the law and HSE guidance. LOLER 1998 and PUWER 1998 in England, Wales and Scotland, the parallel 1999 regulations in Northern Ireland, the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Approved Code of Practice L113.
• A clear, verifiable record. The course name, hours of learning and completion date, with a way to confirm the certificate.
• The essentials of safe lifting. What counts as lifting equipment and accessories, risk assessment for lifts, safe working loads and markings, the extra rules for lifting people, thorough examination and reports, and planning and supervising a lift.
• A refresh date. Equipment, tasks and people change, so a refresh date matters.

Lift College's certificate does each of these. It records LOLER Training, 2 hours of learning, your completion date and a recommended refresh date 3 years on, with a unique certificate number and a verification link. The course gives you the knowledge of what LOLER requires. Operating a particular crane, hoist or forklift, working as a slinger signaller and carrying out thorough examinations all need practical training and assessment with the equipment, and your employer decides what else you need.

What the Lift College course covers

There are 5 short modules, each with a knowledge check, then a final test with an 80% pass mark and unlimited free retakes.

1. Introduction to LOLER. Why the regulations exist, the Health and Safety at Work Act and PUWER behind them, what counts as lifting equipment and lifting accessories, what is excluded, who the duty holders are and the role of the Approved Code of Practice L113. The parallel Northern Ireland regulations.
2. Risk assessment for lifting operations. The hazards of lifting: falling loads, overturning, striking people, overloading and poor ground. Assessing the load, the lifting equipment, the route, the environment, the weather and the people involved, and recording the control measures.
3. Selecting lifting equipment and accessories. Strength and stability, safe working load and the markings LOLER requires, positioning and installation to avoid the load drifting or striking people, choosing slings, shackles and eyebolts for the load, and the additional requirements where equipment lifts people.
4. Thorough examination, maintenance and storage. The difference between a pre-use check, an inspection and a thorough examination. Six-monthly examination for accessories and equipment that lifts people, twelve-monthly for other equipment, or a written scheme. Competent persons, reports, defects, notifying the enforcing authority and keeping records. Looking after equipment between examinations.
5. Planning and carrying out lifting operations. Appointing a competent person to plan the lift, the lift plan and method statement, roles including the appointed person, supervisor, operator and slinger signaller, exclusion zones, communication and hand signals, supervising the lift, and what to do if conditions change.

By the end you can explain what LOLER covers and who carries the duties, describe the hazards of a lift and how a risk assessment deals with them, identify equipment and accessories that are suitable, strong, stable and marked with their safe working load, recognise the extra rules for lifting people, explain when thorough examination is due and what happens when a defect is found, carry out the checks that keep equipment safe between examinations, and plan a lifting operation with a competent person.

The law and guidance it is written around

• Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (England, Wales and Scotland). Apply to employers, the self-employed and anyone who controls lifting equipment or the way it is used. Lifting equipment must be strong and stable, positioned and installed safely and marked with its safe working load, every lifting operation must be planned by a competent person, supervised and carried out safely, and equipment must be thoroughly examined at set intervals with the reports kept. Northern Ireland has the parallel Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999.
• HSE Approved Code of Practice L113: Safe use of lifting equipment (Great Britain). The Approved Code of Practice and guidance on LOLER. It explains what counts as lifting equipment, how to plan a lifting operation, what thorough examination involves and what the report must contain. Following it is not compulsory, but it has special legal status: if you are prosecuted and did not follow it, you must show you complied with the law in another way.
• Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (England, Wales and Scotland). PUWER applies to all work equipment, including lifting equipment, and sits alongside LOLER. It requires equipment to be suitable for its use, maintained in a safe condition, inspected where deterioration could lead to danger, and used only by people who have received adequate information, instruction and training. Northern Ireland has its own PUWER (Northern Ireland) 1999.
• Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 2 (England, Wales and Scotland). Employers must provide the information, instruction, training and supervision needed to keep employees safe, so far as is reasonably practicable, including for lifting work. Northern Ireland has the same duty in the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978.

How Lift College compares with other UK providers

Details below are as each provider shows them on its own course page, checked 27 October 2026. "Check provider" means the page did not state it.

With Lift College the £19.99 is the full price for one learner, with nothing added at checkout, and the refresher is free when your recommended refresh date arrives. Retakes of the final test are free and unlimited.

Who it suits

LOLER Training is for supervisors, lift planners, forklift and crane operators, slingers, fitters, warehouse and site managers, care staff using hoists and anyone who owns or maintains lifting equipment in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is for you if:

• you supervise or manage a warehouse, factory, construction site, farm, garage or depot where lifting equipment is used
• you operate a forklift, telehandler, crane, hoist or vehicle lift, or you sling and signal loads
• you maintain, hire out or own lifting equipment and need to understand thorough examination and records
• you work in care or health and use hoists, slings and bath lifts to move people
• you are responsible for health and safety and want to check your lifting operations meet LOLER

For the wider rules on all work equipment, see our PUWER training guide. If you lift by hand as well as with equipment, see our manual handling guide, and if you use hoists to move people, our moving and handling of people guide. See every course on the health and safety courses page or browse all Lift College CPD courses. Buying for a team? Open a free organisation account: every course is £16.99, and you can pay by card or invoice with your PO.

Enrol on LOLER Training for £19.99 and start module 1 the moment you pay. Ask within 14 days of paying and we refund you in full.