What Is a Lift Plan? And Why Every Construction Project Needs One (BS 7121 Explained)
A 4 Minute Read
Category:
BS7121
Author:
Sheldon Weinman
Read:
Educational Yet Digestable
Location:
United Kingdom
Date:
Oct 23, 2025
The Question We Hear Too Often
"Do we really need a lift plan for this?" The question usually comes three days before a scheduled lift. The crane's booked. The operators are lined up. The client's waiting. But when we ask about the lift plan, there's hesitation. "It's straightforward. We've done similar lifts before. Can't we just figure it out on the day?" No. You can't. And here's why that matters for every construction project in the UK.
BS 7121: The UK Standard for Safe Lifting Operations
BS 7121 is the British Standard Code of Practice that defines how lifting operations should be conducted safely in the UK. While it's not law in itself, it's the recognized benchmark for demonstrating compliance with legal requirements under LOLER and the Health and Safety at Work Act. Think of BS 7121 as the industry's collective knowledge, distilled into practical guidance. It represents decades of experience—including lessons learned from incidents and near-misses—about what works and what fails in lifting operations. How BS 7121 Is Structured The standard is divided into multiple parts, each addressing specific equipment types and operations: BS 7121-1: General This is the foundation. It covers the overarching principles that apply to all crane operations: planning requirements, competency standards, risk assessment, and the responsibilities of everyone involved in lifting operations. BS 7121-2: Inspection, Testing and Examination Details what's required for equipment inspection, thorough examination under LOLER, maintenance standards, and record-keeping. This part connects directly to your legal obligations for equipment safety. BS 7121-3: Mobile Cranes Specific guidance for mobile crane operations—site preparation, setup procedures, operational limits, and the factors that affect safe use of mobile cranes on construction sites. BS 7121-4: Tower Cranes Covers installation, operation, and dismantling of tower cranes, including foundation requirements, erection procedures, operational controls, and managing work around tower cranes. BS 7121-5: Bridge and Gantry Cranes Guidance for overhead travelling cranes and similar equipment commonly found in industrial facilities and workshops. Additional parts cover loader cranes, railway cranes, and other specialized equipment types. The Core Principles Regardless of which part of BS 7121 you're working with, certain principles run throughout: Every lift must be planned. The complexity of planning should match the complexity and risk of the lift, but planning is never optional. Straightforward lifts need straightforward plans. Complex lifts need detailed plans. But there's no threshold where you can skip planning entirely. Competent people must do the work. Competence isn't just about having certificates—it's about having the right knowledge, training, and experience for the specific task. An operator competent on mobile cranes isn't automatically competent on tower cranes. Competence is specific, not general. Risks must be assessed and controlled. Generic risk assessments don't meet the standard. Assessment must be specific to the actual operation—this load, this equipment, this site, these conditions. Control measures must address the actual hazards present, not theoretical ones. Equipment must be suitable. Cranes and lifting accessories must be appropriate for the load, the site conditions, and the way they'll be used. "It's what we have available" or "it's roughly the right capacity" doesn't satisfy the suitability requirement. Regular inspection and maintenance are mandatory. Equipment must be properly maintained according to manufacturer specifications and inspected at appropriate intervals. This isn't optional housekeeping—it's a fundamental safety requirement. Why BS 7121 Matters for Your Projects Legal Protection: If something goes wrong and the HSE investigates, demonstrating that you followed BS 7121 guidance shows you took reasonable steps to ensure safety. It won't guarantee immunity from prosecution, but it demonstrates professional competence and due diligence. Industry Expectation: BS 7121 compliance is often written into contracts, insurance policies, and client requirements. It's the baseline expectation across UK construction. Operating below this standard marks you as outside normal professional practice. Practical Guidance: The standard isn't abstract theory—it's practical guidance developed by people who actually operate cranes and manage lifting operations. Following it means you're applying proven approaches rather than reinventing solutions to problems that have already been solved. Incident Prevention: BS 7121 embodies lessons learned from incidents that have already happened. The guidance exists because someone, somewhere, got it wrong and people learned from it. Following the standard means you're not repeating known mistakes.
How Cambridge Lifting Services Approaches Lift Planning
Our Planning Process •Site Assessment: We visit your site. We don't quote based on phone conversations or drawings alone. We assess ground conditions, access routes, proximity hazards, and spatial constraints. We measure. We verify. We identify problems before they become surprises. •Engineering: Load calculations use verified weights, not estimates. Equipment selection matches your actual requirements—capacity at the radius you need, configured for your site conditions. Rigging specifications account for load characteristics and attachment points. •Documentation: Comprehensive lift plans that address LOLER requirements and follow BS 7121 guidance. Risk assessments specific to your lift. Method statements detailing the operational sequence. All reviewed by qualified Appointed Persons before we arrive on site. •Execution: Lifting operations supervised by competent personnel. Pre-lift briefings covering the plan, hazards, and communication protocols. Authority to stop work if conditions change or risks emerge that weren't adequately controlled. Why This Matters Our directors have operated cranes and managed lifting operations on major UK infrastructure projects—HS2, Crossrail, Hinkley Point C, major commercial developments. We understand what proper planning looks like because we've delivered it on projects where the stakes were high and the scrutiny was intense. That experience informs every project we take on. A straightforward hire on a small commercial site gets the same planning discipline as complex contract lifts. Because the regulations apply equally, and more importantly, because cutting corners on planning is how incidents happen. Work With Experts Who Understand Planning Don't wait until three days before your scheduled lift to realize your planning isn't adequate. Talk to us early. Let us help you get it right from the start. Because proper planning isn't just about compliance—it's about delivering your project safely, on time, and without the drama that comes from hoping things work out.
