Sectors
Public Sector Lifting Equipment, Inspection & LOLER Compliance
Crane systems, statutory inspection and maintenance for local authority, NHS, education, blue light and defence estates — through a compliant public sector framework route. Engineering since 1897, from depots across the UK and Ireland.
Lifting Across Public Sector Estates
The public sector runs some of the most varied estates in the country. A single county council may hold a fleet workshop with jib cranes over the pit, a leisure centre with a plant room hoist, a highways depot, dozens of schools with theatre rigging and stairlifts, and a bridge with maintenance gantries bolted to it. The equipment itself is mostly ordinary. What is not ordinary is that one duty holder is accountable for all of it, across dozens of sites, on a public budget, with the inspection record open to audit at any point.
That accountability shapes the work more than the lifting does. Public sector equipment is frequently used intermittently — a hoist lifted twice a month still needs thorough examination on schedule, and a school stairlift still lifts people. Intermittent use does not reduce the statutory duty. It usually makes it harder to discharge, because nobody is standing next to the asset noticing that it is overdue.
WH Scott Group has worked in lifting and engineering since 1897 and supports public sector estates across the UK and Ireland from depots across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. WH Scott, RHC Lifting, Re-Ropes and Metlab together cover equipment design and installation, LOLER and PUWER thorough examination, lift and rope services, and accredited engineering inspection and NDT — so a single asset register can be surveyed, certified and maintained under one contract rather than four.
Key Lifting & Compliance Challenges in the Public Sector
Dispersed assets, a single duty holder. The hard problem is rarely a difficult lift. It is knowing what you own. Estates teams inherit equipment from decommissioned buildings, PFI handovers, academy conversions and departmental reorganisations, and asset registers drift out of date quietly. Equipment that is not on the register does not get examined — and that is precisely the equipment that surfaces during an HSE visit or an insurer’s audit.
Access, permits and buildings that cannot close. Much public sector lifting equipment sits in buildings that stay open. Wards, custody suites, school halls, court buildings and pumping stations all have to keep running. Work is scheduled around term dates, night shifts and shutdown windows, often under permit, and frequently with safeguarding checks, security clearance or escort requirements attached to whoever goes on site.
Budget cycles, legacy equipment and procurement risk. Capital and revenue budgets are separate, defensible and annual, which is why a thirty-year-old crane gets maintained rather than replaced. Ageing equipment can remain perfectly safe and compliant, but that decision needs condition-based evidence behind it and a realistic view of when repair stops being economic. Procurement has to be demonstrably compliant too — which rules out simply re-appointing whoever did it last time.
How WH Scott Group Supports Public Sector Estates
The register comes first. Work usually starts with a site survey and asset register build — identifying, tagging and recording every item of lifting equipment and every lifting accessory across the estate, then setting examination intervals against actual use rather than a default twelve months. Certification is issued through our online inspection portal, so estates, health and safety and finance teams can pull reports and evidence compliance themselves without waiting on a supplier.
Statutory inspection, testing and maintenance. LOLER thorough examination, PUWER inspection, load testing and written schemes of examination are carried out by our own engineers rather than subcontracted, with planned preventative maintenance and reactive breakdown cover behind them. Where a specification calls for an accredited result, Metlab holds INAB accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025 (Reg. 398T) and ISO/IEC 17020 (Reg. 9031). Accreditation is always scope-limited, so tell us which standard and which test before work starts and we will confirm in writing whether it falls inside scope.
Equipment, installation and lift services. Where the answer is a solution rather than a certificate, we design, fabricate and install overhead gantry cranes, jib cranes and bespoke lifting beams under BS EN 1090, and supply compliant lifting equipment and accessories. Re-Ropes covers lift ropes, lift shaft beam testing and refurbishment for passenger and goods lifts across public buildings. WH Scott regularly acts as Principal Contractor, taking on CDM duties for the whole package. For healthcare estates, patient hoists and ward-level handling equipment are covered on our healthcare sector page.
Get in Touch
Tell Us About Your Project
Whether you need a single piece of equipment or a fully engineered lifting system, our specialists can help. Tell us your load, environment and compliance requirements — we’ll do the rest.
LOLER, PUWER & Public Sector Compliance Duties
Public sector lifting operations are governed principally by the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER) and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER). Under LOLER Regulation 9, lifting equipment used to lift people and all lifting accessories require thorough examination at intervals not exceeding six months. Other lifting equipment requires thorough examination at intervals not exceeding twelve months. Either may instead follow an examination scheme drawn up by a competent person, and a further examination is required after exceptional circumstances such as damage, failure or major modification.
The duty sits with the employer or the person in control of the equipment — in practice the council, trust, board, agency or academy, not the maintenance contractor. It cannot be contracted away. Reports of thorough examination must be provided in writing, defects notified, and any equipment found unsafe taken out of use until it is repaired. Records must be kept and made available on request.
Depending on the estate, further duties apply: the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, CDM 2015 where the work counts as construction, LEV thorough examination under COSHH in workshops and technology departments, and the relevant BS EN standards for specific equipment. WH Scott delivers examination and certification against all of these, with reporting structured to satisfy internal governance and external audit alike.
What We Deliver in Lifting Solutions for the Public Sector
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Overhead Gantry Cranes
Overhead travelling and gantry crane systems for depots, workshops and plant rooms, designed to site constraints and supported through installation, examination and lifecycle maintenance.
Jib Cranes
Wall- and pillar-mounted jib cranes for fleet workshops and maintenance bays, including outdoor and marine-grade specifications for depot yards.
Lifting Equipment Supply
Compliant lifting equipment and accessories with certification, tagging and register entry included, so new items enter the examination programme rather than sitting outside it.
Get in Touch
Tell Us About Your Project
Whether you need a single piece of equipment or a fully engineered lifting system, our specialists can help. Tell us your load, environment and compliance requirements — we’ll do the rest.