LOLER examination competency insurance

[pscandrett]

Hi all

 

I preface this full in the knowledge that the answer might be 'speak to Doodson's' or 'ring the PSA advice line', which I'll do at some point, but I'm going to put this out here anyway - I can't find any specific topics about this aspect to LOLER in the forum (via google).

 

Last week I did a course on doing LOLER statutory examinations, which, when they've processed the paperwork, will give me a piece of paper that declares that somebody has found me 'competent'. :). I'm fully aware of the limitations of my new-found knowledge, though I didn't go into it cold - as primarily a lighting guy, I've been involved with using rigging for years and to a lesser extent inspecting stuff as I've been using things, if not being formally trained for the full examinations.

 

My PLI as a lighting guy/general tech/LD/useful person has been for the past few years (and still is) with Crewcover(.com). I've been happy with that and the PSA membership that comes with it (not that I've had to claim). However, my question is related to this - that PLI obviously covers me for general purpose industry-coverage for PLI. Should I consider, or even need, separate insurance for the LOLER examinations that I'm bound to end up doing in the coming few years?

 

I've just had a glance through the crewcover policy (ie not in detail) but, like most people, I'm not great at interpreting legalese; also, I haven't really fully got my head round the implications of me checking something that then fails at some point, how liable I'd be held (presuming I wasn't grossly negligent, at least, passing everything willynilly) or what any insurance I hold would need to protect me and others from.

 

Can anyone please advise? There must be some others on the BR that do the statutory inspections for rigging in our industry... what do you do? Do you have extra insurance? It didn't occur to me to ask this question in the training...

 

NB For clarity, I'm self-employed, so I wouldn't come under any employers' insurances unless they explicitly extended to me in the circumstances.

 

Thanks!

[Jivemaster]

Probably my first actions would be to talk with Crewcover/PSA and the training company who issued your certification.

 

My second actions would consider the wording of any certification that I might issue. I'd be very clear that a tested (list of) item(s) was tested and found compliant on a certain date, BUT may become uncompliant as a result of mistreatment in use or storage at any time.

 

Probably your insurers will want to check or specify the wording of any certificate that you might want to issue.

 

Like a car/van MOT the certificate says it was tested and found compliant on a date at a time, but it's a historic piece of paper after a few months when the tyres/brakes/lights are well used and worn out.

[kerry davies]

As Jivemaster writes you need to talk to Crewcover but it sounds to a non-expert that you are looking at Professional Indemnity aka Professional Liability Insurance which you wouldn't have with the normal PSA/Crewcover policies.

 

Andy Lenthall of the PSA would almost certainly tell you to call Precision Broking/Crewcover for any advice on insurance. That's what a broker is there for, use them, you may well not need it.

[Snailtrail]

Peter

 

Out of interest, what was the course that you did, and can you recommend it? I've been looking at doing something similar but not too sure if what is advertised will be relevant to me and they all seem to be a lot of money to just take a punt at.

 

Sam

[pscandrett]

Sorry for the delay in responding to all; I haven't got any further with the insurance question (through inaction, not because I've hit a problem!); I'll try to update here again when I find out/it becomes an issue.

 

Out of interest, what was the course that you did, and can you recommend it? I've been looking at doing something similar but not too sure if what is advertised will be relevant to me and they all seem to be a lot of money to just take a punt at.

 

Our training group was made up of people from three companies in the NW on the course, sharing the costs etc. I didn't book it; the training was provided by T&C Training. Their website lists their course(s); I believe ours was slightly customised to be more relevant to our immediate needs (eg we didn't cover things like forklifts) and was a two-day course, provided by a trainer who came to us in Manchester. The trainer was excellent - he was clearly experienced in industry (and a variety of workplaces at that) and was very likeable and informative. I found it more engaging than the IPAF training I've done before, if that's a useful reference point.

 

We covered a fair amount of material specifically about the Statutory LOLER Inspections/regs, occasionally discussing other questions/points that we've come across in our industry - which is where it was quite useful to have people from different companies present, actually, because we all work in slightly different ways. We came away after the 'exam' with a big wodge of documentation and paperwork which has already been a useful reference in addition to the notes I took at the time.

 

Inevitably training websites will be quite general and nonspecific because they'll be provided to all sorts of industries. I'm sure many training providers will be able to tailor their course for the events/live industry if you ask them; to be honest, there's not a great deal to tailor though. The main difference, it seems, between the lifting and rigging kit we use in events compared to the equipment used in 'industry' is that we look after our stuff much better! That is, it's not generally exposed to harsh environments for long periods, it's generally reasonably clean, and the stuff is kept dry and often in a case away from contaminants and similar...!

 

Hope that helps?

[Snailtrail]

Hope that helps?

 

That's very helpful, thanks. I shall check that course out.

 

Sam