Saving lives: Ensuring telehandlers and loaders are safe and compliant

While a large part of engineering manager Keith’s remit involves ensuring all of the substantial fleet of plant at Eagle Plant (Wessex Engineering Inspection Services’ parent company) is regularly inspected and HSE compliant, he and his fully trained team also work within the agricultural industry, covering the breadth of the UK.

With a significant amount of knowledge and experience between them, Keith and his team are all fully trained and up-to-date with BAGMA requirements when it comes to Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER) inspections.

The LOLER regulations place duties on people and companies who own, operate or have control over lifting equipment. This includes all businesses and organisations whose employees use lifting equipment, whether owned by them or not.

LOLER requires that, where you undertake lifting operations involving lifting equipment, you must:

• Plan them properly
• Use people who are sufficiently competent
• Supervise operators appropriately
• Ensure that they are carried out in a safe manner.

With baling and bale handling being a key job on-farm over the next few months, ensuring telehandlers and loaders are in a suitably safe condition for use and that operators are fully trained is imperative for farmers and farm managers.

As Keith points out, it’s no good fixing problems after an accident happens. The point of regular LOLER inspections is to ensure any potential safety issues are picked up in advance, and the Wessex Engineering team pride themselves on doing a good and thorough job, in order to ensure there is no serious consequence (be that injury, death or fine) as a result of unsafe equipment or lack of operator training.

Having grown up on a farm and experienced farming life first-hand, Keith is keen to make it clear that the point of a LOLER inspection is not to try to find fault – it’s simply to give peace of mind that the farmer has done all they can to try to keep their workforce and anyone else safe, helping to prevent accident, injury or worse. He and his team always ensure a thorough and meticulous inspection because, as he explains, no one wants someone’s injury or even death on their conscience. To him it’s not just ticking a box – it’s providing a fully reassuring service to farmers across the UK.

The company can ensure that you have an Annual Lifting Equipment Testing Certificate, provide guidance and advice, ensure that your employees are able to work safely and effectively, and provide a timely notification when your equipment needs re-inspecting.

Contact Wessex Engineering Inspection Services directly to discuss your inspection needs.

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