CareHomeDeskCareHomeDeskCare home passenger lifts carry some of the most vulnerable users of any building. What the law requires -- and what good practice looks like beyond it.
A passenger lift in a care home is lifting equipment used to lift people and must be thoroughly examined every six months under LOLER 1998. The thorough examination must be carried out by a competent person who is independent of the organisation responsible for the lift's routine maintenance. In practice, this means the thorough examination is typically carried out either by an engineer from your scheme insurer or by an independent specialist inspection firm -- not by the lift maintenance contractor who carries out monthly servicing. The examination report must be retained, defects acted upon, and the next examination date noted and complied with.
The LOLER thorough examination is not the same as routine maintenance. A passenger lift requires a planned maintenance contract with a competent lift maintenance company, typically providing monthly or quarterly service visits and 24-hour, 365-day-a-year call-out cover. For a care home, 24/7 call-out is not optional -- a lift out of service overnight or at a weekend creates immediate access and welfare risks for residents with mobility needs. When procuring a maintenance contract, confirm the call-out response time in writing and ensure the contract specifies what is included in each service visit.
Every care home with a passenger lift must have a written entrapment rescue plan. This plan sets out exactly what staff should do if a person becomes trapped in the lift: which number to call first (the lift maintenance company's emergency line), what information to provide, what to tell the trapped person, and who has authority to attempt any action -- which is generally no one except the lift engineer. A care home resident trapped in a lift is a serious welfare emergency. The rescue plan must be displayed in the lift machine room and covered in staff training. The lift maintenance company's out-of-hours emergency number must be known to all shift managers.
A lift logbook must be maintained in the machine room for each lift. The logbook should record every visit to the lift: routine maintenance (date, work carried out, engineer name and signature), LOLER thorough examinations (date, examiner, report reference), any breakdown call-outs (date, fault, resolution), and any remedial works carried out. The logbook is the primary evidence of lift compliance and will be reviewed by the thorough examination inspector, by HSE if there is an incident, and by the local authority if they inspect. A complete, legible logbook is one of the strongest indicators of a well-managed lift asset.
When a passenger lift is taken out of service -- whether for planned maintenance, following a breakdown, or as a result of a LOLER defect -- document the decision formally. Record the date and time out of service, the reason, who was notified (residents, families, CQC if the situation is likely to be prolonged), and the interim risk mitigation measures (moving affected residents to ground floor rooms, providing additional staff support for stair access). Agree a return-to-service process with the maintenance contractor -- verbal confirmation that the lift is fixed is not sufficient. Obtain written confirmation that the lift has been returned to safe working order before reinstating it to service.
CareHomeDesk gives you compliance checklists, maintenance logs, and contractor management tools built around exactly this kind of knowledge.