The draft Regulations govern the operation, maintenance and frequency of periodic inspection of lifting machinery. In addition, the Regulations set out criteria for the approval of persons engaged in the occupation of authorised lifting machinery inspector and impose obligations on them, maintenance workers and owners of such lifting machinery.

The Health and Safety at Work (Operation, Maintenance and Inspection of Lifting Machinery) Regulations of 202x

The availability of safe machinery on the market, including lifting machinery, is regulated by harmonising legislation which lays down the health and safety specifications and specifies the CE marking, and Cyprus has fully harmonised its legislation with this. With regard to the safe use of lifting equipment, for the most dangerous categories of lifting this is ensured by means of specialised inspections carried out by the Department of Labour Inspection, while less dangerous lifting equipment is inspected by competent persons in the private sector. For all machines, including lifting machinery, the employer retains overall responsibility for keeping work equipment in an appropriate and safe condition by means of maintenance and inspection.

The purpose of the draft Regulations is to ensure that machinery used for lifting operations operates safely. To that end, the Regulations will establish a system that will govern the inspection of lifting machinery in the most efficient way for modern Cypriot society.

The draft Regulations outline and describe such a system, which will ensure that lifting machinery is safe and in good working condition. At the same time, the State is to undertake the development, supervision and maintenance of the system, while it will be implemented by skilled persons in the private sector. The intention is that the inspection of lifting machinery by inspectors from the Department of Labour Inspection will cease with the launch of the system.

The draft Regulations separate the roles of the owner of lifting machinery, the authorised inspector and the maintenance worker, and clear obligations are imposed on these distinct persons. In order for a person to be authorised as an inspector he or she must have appropriate academic qualifications and experience and specialised training, which will be checked by the Department of Labour Inspection before authorisation is issued. For maintenance workers there will be no authorisation system, but they must be trained, must work responsibly, must carry out maintenance correctly and must complete the required lifting machinery documents.

Lifting machinery is classified into four risk categories. The higher the risk category in which the lifting equipment is included, the more frequent are the inspections. The owner of lifting machinery must ensure that checks and tests are carried out on the machine, in accordance with its risk level.

The checks and tests must be carried out by an authorised inspector. When an inspection has been completed a report must be issued, the authorities relevant to the machine must be informed and a label must be affixed to the lifting machine stating the findings. The authorised inspector may, if he or she considers it necessary, request that the lifting machine be repaired or order an immediate halt to its operation.

For breaches of the Regulations, sanctions are laid down ranging from the cancellation of the authorisation of inspectors to fines or imprisonment for persons who fail to comply with their obligations. Finally, the technical upgrading of old lifting machinery with a nominal load in excess of 1,000 kg is being put in place with overload protection systems.

The Regulations will be implemented fully by the Chief Inspector following their entry into force in order to allow time for applications to be submitted and for inspectors at the Department of Labour Inspection to be authorised in order to prepare the infrastructure required.