Who Can Sign a GA1? What "Competent Person" Actually Means

Every GA1 stands or falls on one line: the signature of the competent person who carried out the thorough examination. The Regulations require that person to be competent — but they don't hand out a licence called "competent person," which is exactly why you should know what the term means before you hire an inspector.

The working definition

A competent person, in this context, is someone with the combination of training, practical experience and technical knowledge of the specific class of equipment to detect defects and weaknesses — and, crucially, to judge how much they matter to the equipment's continued safe use. Three parts to notice:

• Training — formal instruction in examination of lifting equipment, not just in operating it.
• Experience — enough machines of that type, over enough time, to know what wear looks like at every stage.
• Judgement — the examination isn't a checklist; it's an assessment. Is this chain stretch within limits? Is this crack cosmetic or structural? That call is the job.

A person can be competent for chain slings and not for tower cranes. Competence is equipment-specific, and a serious inspection company matches the inspector to the machine.

Why independence matters

Nothing in the Regulations says the competent person must be external — but there's a reason the industry standard is an independent specialist. The person examining the machine should have no stake in the answer. An examiner who is also the machine's operator, its maintainer, or the person whose programme depends on it working today faces pressure a third party doesn't. Independence also matters downstream: when an insurer or the HSA reviews the report after an incident, an independent examination by a specialist company carries weight that in-house sign-off struggles to match.

Can you do your own GA1s?

Legally, if you genuinely employ someone with the training, experience and judgement for the equipment in question — and can demonstrate it. Practically, for most companies the honest answer is no: maintaining real examination competence across telehandlers, MEWPs, cranes and tackle is a full-time discipline, and "our fitter signs them" is one of the first threads an investigator pulls after an incident. If your fitter's competence can't be evidenced — training records, experience with that equipment class, examination methodology — the reports won't hold.

Five questions to ask an inspection company

1. What training do your inspectors hold? Look for recognised lifting-equipment examination qualifications — LEEA training is the international benchmark — and ask about the specific inspector coming to you.
2. Are you independent of sales, hire and repair of my equipment? Not disqualifying, but you want to understand any interest in the outcome.
3. What do your reports contain? The answer should map to the required Schedule 1 Part E information — equipment ID, configurations and safe working loads, result, defects, next due date, named signatory.
4. What happens when you find a defect? The right answer involves telling you immediately, in plain terms, with the machine's status made explicit — not a surprise buried in paperwork a week later.
5. Can you produce records later? After an incident or in an audit, you'll want copies fast. Ask how reports are stored and retrieved.

Our answer to those questions

L&M Plant & Inspection Services Ltd.'s inspectors are trained to recognised standards, examine only — we don't sell what we inspect — and every report is issued against the machine's serial number, signed by a named competent person, and retrievable whenever you need it. Call 083 870 5355 to talk to us before your next examination is due.