Lifting plan
Lift plan, method statement for lifting operations
The written plan for a lifting operation, prepared by a competent person (the appointed person for cranes), covering the load, the equipment, the ground, the exclusion zone and the sequence.
LOLER requires every lifting operation to be properly planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out safely. The lifting plan is the record of that planning: the load's weight, dimensions and centre of gravity; the lifting equipment and accessories, their capacities at the radius and configuration to be used, and their examination status; the ground conditions and outrigger or track loading; the position of the machine, the path of the load and the landing point; overhead and underground hazards; the exclusion zone and how it is kept; the people (appointed person, crane supervisor, operator, slinger-signaller) and their competence; communications; weather limits; and the sequence, including what stops the lift.
Lifts are classified as basic, standard or complex, and the plan scales accordingly. A generic lift plan for repetitive basic lifts (drainage rings with the same excavator all week) is acceptable if the conditions genuinely repeat and it is reviewed each day; a complex lift (tandem, near a live railway, over a public road) gets its own. For crane lifts, BS 7121 requires an appointed person to plan and a crane supervisor to run the lift on the ground.
Where it comes from
- Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 reg.8: planning, supervision and safe execution of lifting operations.
- BS 7121-1 and BS 7121-3: code of practice for safe use of cranes, including the appointed person and lift categories.
- HSE Approved Code of Practice L113.
Questions people ask
Do I need a lift plan for an excavator lifting a trench box?
Yes. It can be a short one, but it exists: the box's weight, the excavator's lifting capacity at that reach (from the load chart, with the bucket removed if the chart says so), the chains and their examination, the exclusion zone and who signals.
Who is the appointed person?
The competent person with the training and authority to plan a crane lift and take responsibility for it, under BS 7121. On a hired crane with a contract lift, the crane company supplies them; on a crane hire only, you do.
Lifting plan, handled on a phone
SiteLynx puts the RAMS, permits, inspections, audits, plant checks and records behind every term in this glossary on the crew's phones, signed on site, with a PDF at the end. 14 days free, no card.
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