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Over the last few years, there has been a considerable increase in the requirement for companies to comply with new legislation from a variety of sources including Health & Safety & Environmental as well as their own customers’ safety & quality requirements.
Tail Lift Legislation
By law, all good tail lifts are required to have a thorough inspection carried out by a “competent person” and weight test to ensure compliance with the tail lift legislation. A person is deemed to be a competent person where, “having regard to the task he or she is required to perform and taking account of the size or hazards (or both of them) of the undertaking or establishment in which he or she undertakes work, the person possesses sufficient training, experience and knowledge appropriate to the nature of the work to be undertaken”. This excerpt is taken from the HSA “Guide to the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005” page 10.
Tail Lifts are quite often described by operators & Government departments as a goods lift and in many cases are treated in the same way. In reality, there is rarely a time when a Tail Lift is not lifting or lowering a truck driver or warehouse operative along with the goods. If a person is lifted by a tail lift at any time, it is considered a passenger lift. To this point, we at Ballinlough treat all tail lifts as passenger lifts and ensure that our customers comply with the legislation designed for passenger lifts. The legislation states that a thorough inpsection should be carried out every 6 months, along with an annual weight test.
The latest guidance from the HSA, titled “Safe Vehicle Tailboard Goods Lift Operations”, was published in June 2020. It states that the owner of the tail lift should retain records of risk assessments, examinations and inspections, and a copy of the thorough examination report should be kept in the cab of the vehicle. It is also the employers duty to ensure that the operators of tail lifts are trained appropriately. There is also a legal duty on the employer to determine a safe system of work by risk assessing the task and deciding if fall prevention measures are required.
All lifts covered by all of our maintenance contracts are examined twice a year and weigh tested annually to comply with Chapter 2 Part 2 of the Health & Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007. This ensures that you will always be in compliance with the laws and regulations, giving you total peace of mind.
Should you need any clarification on any of the above items, the document itself or and advice on Tail Lift specifications, safe use of Tail Lifts or maintenance & conformity please do not hesitate to contact any of the Ballinlough Sales & Service team on 01-4600322 for Dublin, 021-488 2077 for Cork & 094 96 40045 for Roscommon. For more information about our services regarding Tail Lifts, please click on the link below.
