PHW
PHW · Lifting

Lorry loader

Haulage yards, builders' merchants unloading by crane, and any site running planned lifts.

Scope

What is assessed

Theory and practical assessment, carried out on the employer's own machine, on their site.

  1. Health, Safety and Security at Work
  2. Operator Roles and Responsibilities
  3. Regulations and Legislation
  4. Principal Components, Controls and Terminology
  5. Pre-Use Checks
  6. Pre-Travel Set-Up and Travelling the Vehicle
  7. Manoeuvring in Confined Spaces
  8. Configure for Lifting Duties
  9. Hazards: Underground and Overhead Services
  10. Rated Capacity Indicator for Lifting Duties
  11. Lifting Loads: Radius, Slewing and Swing
  12. Moving Un-balanced Loads
  13. Lifting Accessories
  14. Shutdown and Securing Procedures

What the operator and the employer receive

  1. Award certificate
  2. Unit credit certificate, covering the units listed above
  3. Theory test record
  4. Practical assessment record
  5. Site evidence statement for site management
  6. Live verification page
  7. QR code on the certificate, resolving straight to that page

See the sample operator pack →

The legal position

No UK government body issues a licence to operate a lorry loader, and no statute requires one.

The duty to train and assess competence sits with the employer, under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 section 2(2)(c) and PUWER 1998 regulation 9.

LOLER 1998 applies to a lorry loader used for lifting; the Approved Code of Practice L113, safe use of lifting equipment, requires every lift to be planned by a competent person, with thorough examination at intervals not exceeding 12 months, or 6 months where the equipment lifts people.

The lorry loader often works from the public highway, so the stabilisers are deployed and the ground bearing beneath them checked before a lift begins, and overhead lines are identified and cleared first.

Employer duty

The employer still authorises each operator in writing under PUWER 1998 regulation 9; the certificate, unit credit, records and site evidence statement are the evidence the employer relies on for that decision, not a substitute for it.

Read the full legal position →