Lifting Accessories & Slings — The UK LOLER Rules for Trades (2026)

What Counts as a "Lifting Accessory"?

LOLER splits lifting equipment into two broad groups. There's the lifting machine — the crane, the telehandler, the excavator being used to lift, the gantry hoist. And then there's the lifting accessory: any piece of equipment that connects the load to the machine but is not part of the machine itself. If it sits between the hook and the load, it's almost certainly an accessory.

On a typical UK site, your lifting accessories include:

• Webbing slings and round slings — flat polyester woven slings and the tubular "endless" round slings, colour-coded by capacity.
• Chain slings — single, two, three and four-leg grade 8 or grade 10 chain assemblies with master links and hooks.
• Wire rope slings — ferrule-secured steel rope slings, common on heavier and abrasive lifts.
• Shackles — bow and dee shackles used to make connections between slings, hooks and lifting points.
• Eyebolts and lifting points — collar eyebolts, dynamo eyebolts and swivel hoist rings screwed into the load.
• Hooks — self-locking and safety-latch hooks.
• Lifting beams and spreaders — bars and frames that spread the load and control sling angle.
• Grabs and clamps — brick and block grabs, plate-lifting clamps, drum clamps, beam clamps.
• Crane forks — fork attachments slung beneath a crane to lift palleted materials.

If you supply any of this kit for use at work — even to a sub-contractor or a labourer — you carry duties as the responsible person. It doesn't matter that an accessory is small or cheap. A £15 shackle holds the same load as the crane above it.

Thorough Examination: The 6-Month Rule

This is the single most important LOLER duty and the one trades most often get wrong. Lifting equipment must receive a thorough examination by a competent person at set intervals. The intervals differ depending on what the equipment is:

• Lifting accessories (slings, chains, shackles, eyebolts, beams, grabs) — at least every 6 months.
• Lifting equipment for lifting people (e.g. man-riding) — at least every 6 months.
• All other lifting machinery (the crane, hoist, telehandler) — at least every 12 months.

So the accessory in your hand needs examining twice as often as the crane it hangs from. A thorough examination also has to be carried out after installation or assembly at a new site, and after any exceptional circumstances — a shock load, a near-miss, a fall, damage, or a long period out of use that could have affected the kit's integrity.

A "competent person" means someone with the practical and theoretical knowledge and experience to spot defects and judge their significance — independent enough to give an objective verdict. In practice most firms use a third-party LOLER examiner or an insurance-backed inspection service. You can run examinations under a written scheme of examination drawn up by a competent person, which can set intervals more frequent than the statutory minimum where the risk justifies it.

The examiner produces a report of thorough examination. You must keep it, make it available for inspection, and act on any defect identified. A defect that could become a danger has to be reported to the relevant enforcing authority (usually the HSE). Keep records for at least the life of the accessory, or two years, whichever is longer.

SWL, WLL and Sling Angles

Every lifting accessory must be clearly marked with the safe information needed to use it safely — above all its Safe Working Load (SWL) or Working Load Limit (WLL). If you can't read the marking, you don't know the rating, and you can't use it. An accessory with an illegible or missing tag is out of service until it's been examined and re-certified.

The catch that injures people is that a sling's capacity is not a fixed number — it changes with how you rig it. The wider the angle between the legs of a multi-leg sling, the higher the tension in each leg, and the lower the effective capacity of the whole assembly. This is the mode factor (or angle factor). The marked WLL assumes a particular configuration; rig it wider and you de-rate it.

The same applies to the hitch you choose. A straight (vertical) hitch gives full capacity. A choke (or strangle) hitch reduces it — typically to around 80% of the straight rating because of the sharp bend through the choke point. A basket hitch can increase capacity, but only when the legs are vertical; widen the basket and the angle factor cuts it back down. Reeving a sling around the load changes the loading too. Always read the angle off the rated chart for the sling and never assume the headline WLL.

Webbing Sling Colour Codes and Angle De-Rating

Flat and round webbing slings are colour-coded to EN 1492 so you can identify capacity at a glance. The colour denotes the single-leg vertical WLL. Use this as a quick reference — but always confirm against the sewn-on label, which is the legal marking.

Now apply the angle factor for two-leg lifts. As the included angle between the legs widens, the usable capacity of the pair drops sharply:

Never let the included angle exceed 120°. Beyond it the leg tension climbs steeply and the lift becomes dangerous. Use a lifting beam or spreader to keep the legs nearer vertical on wide loads — it's the single most effective way to protect both your slings and your crew.

Pre-Use Checks: Your Daily Duty

Thorough examination every 6 months does not replace the check you make before every lift. The user must visually inspect the accessory each time it's used and quarantine anything that fails. What you're looking for depends on the kit:

• Webbing and round slings: cuts, fraying, abrasion, heat or chemical damage, fibre exposure on round slings, and any tag that's missing or illegible.
• Chain slings: stretched, bent, nicked or cracked links, wear at the bearing points, and seized or distorted hooks and master links.
• Wire rope slings: broken wires, birdcaging, kinks, corrosion, crushing and damaged ferrules or eyes.
• Shackles: bent or stretched bows, worn or mismatched pins, and any pin that won't seat fully.
• Eyebolts and hooks: distorted hook throats, missing or broken safety latches, thread damage on eyebolts, cracks or corrosion.

If a piece fails the check, take it out of service straight away. Don't leave damaged kit lying where someone might grab it in a hurry — quarantine it, tag it "do not use", and either get it examined or destroy it. Cut a condemned webbing sling so it can't be used again. There is no field repair for a sling, shackle or eyebolt: it's either fit for use or it's scrap.

Correct Selection, Use and Storage

Picking the right accessory and using it properly is as much a part of LOLER compliance as the paperwork. The most common avoidable failures on UK sites are:

• Sharp edges: any edge with a radius smaller than the sling thickness will cut a webbing sling under load. Use proper edge protectors, corner sleeves or packing — not a folded bit of cardboard.
• Knotting to shorten: never knot, twist or tie a sling to take up slack. A knot can cut the sling's rated capacity by half or more. Use a shortening clutch on chain slings, or pick the right length.
• Storage: keep slings dry, off the ground and on a rack — not coiled in a puddle in the van. Damp, grit and UV degrade webbing; corrosion attacks chain and wire rope.
• Colour-coding: use the EN 1492 webbing colours to grab the right capacity quickly, but always confirm against the label.
• CE / UKCA marking: only buy lifting accessories that carry UKCA (or CE) marking and come with a manufacturer's declaration of conformity. Unmarked imports with no traceable rating have no place on a UK site.

Competence, Training and the Responsible Person

LOLER expects lifting operations to be planned by a competent person, properly supervised and carried out safely. The person attaching the load — the slinger — and the person directing the crane — the signaller — need recognised training for those roles (commonly the CPCS or NPORS slinger/signaller route). Selecting slings, judging angles and reading a load chart is a skilled job, not something to hand to whoever's nearest.

On the equipment side, name a responsible person to own the lifting accessory register. Their job is to log every accessory with its unique ID and rating, schedule the 6-monthly thorough examinations, file the reports, act on defects and keep condemned kit out of circulation. A simple register — ID, type, WLL, last examination date, next due date, status — turns LOLER from a scramble into a routine. Software that flags the next examination date before it lapses removes the most common cause of an expired certificate: nobody was watching the calendar.

Practical Compliance Checklist

• Every accessory has a legible WLL/SWL marking and a unique ID.
• Thorough examination by a competent person at least every 6 months, plus after exceptional circumstances.
• Reports of thorough examination kept on file and defects acted on.
• Pre-use visual check before every lift, with a clear quarantine-and-destroy route for failed kit.
• Sling angles kept under 120°, with beams or spreaders for wide loads.
• Edge protection used; no knotting; correct hitch for the load.
• Accessories stored dry, off the ground, on a rack.
• Slingers and signallers trained and competent.
• A named responsible person maintaining the lifting accessory register.

The Consequences of Getting It Wrong

A failed sling or a stripped eyebolt drops the load instantly and without warning. There is no slow leak, no second chance — the people underneath have no time to move. The HSE prosecutes LOLER failures hard, and the penalties for firms and individuals run to unlimited fines and, where there's a death, custodial sentences. Beyond the law, a dropped load on your site ends the job, your reputation and quite possibly your business.

None of this is hard or expensive. A £15 shackle examined on time, a sling stored on a rack, an angle kept under 120° and a register someone actually keeps — that's the whole job. The trades that get hurt are the ones who treat lifting accessories as an afterthought. Treat them as what they are: the last thing standing between a heavy load and your crew.