Membership Assessment

Hard questions, easy process

Lifting equipment keeps people safe only when the businesses behind it work to a consistent, high standard. The Membership Assessment is how LEEA members demonstrate that standard each year.

It replaces the previous LEEA Audit with a single annual assessment that is technically rigorous and simple to complete. The questions are demanding because the work is. The process is designed to take as little of your time as possible.

Watch Ross Moloney, LEEA CEO, explain why it matters

Your assessment window: 90 days

Your window opens Your renewal date

What it is

The Membership Assessment is an annual review of how your business works, measured against the LEEA Gold Standard. The Gold Standard is the minimum standard for LEEA membership: one part applies to every member, and the rest is set out by scope of work, so you only evidence what is relevant to the work you do. The assessment replaces the previous LEEA Audit with a single assessment each year, tied to your renewal date.

Why it exists

Lifting equipment is only as safe as the businesses that make, supply, inspect and maintain it. The assessment gives every LEEA member a consistent, rigorous way to show they work to a high standard, and gives the people who rely on LEEA members good reason to trust them.

What it looks at

Your systems and processes for the work you do: your procedures, records, competence and evidence. The questions are specific to your scopes of work and the products you handle. It is an assessment of how you work, not a certification of individual products. Everything you submit is treated in the strictest confidence.

What you get

Successfully completing the assessment is what makes you a LEEA Full Member or Associate Member. Your membership certificate is issued once your assessment is complete and your renewal payment is made, and your Full Member or Associate Member status on LEEA's Find a Member directory shows customers that your business has been assessed against LEEA's standard. You also get clear feedback from a named assessor, including opportunities for improvement that are yours to act on.

Find a Member

Thinking of joining LEEA?

The assessment is the next step on your membership journey after your application. Successfully completing it is what makes you a Full Member or Associate Member.

Become a member

How it works

Each step is short and clearly timed, and your named assessor is there to help you through every one.

The LEEA Membership Assessment journey, step by step — View the full-size assessment journey

1Your window opens

Your named LEEA assessor emails you a personal link, 90 days before your renewal date.

Time allowed: your assessment, including any development actions, is completed within this window.
2Part 1: online desktop review

Complete an online form about your business, scopes and accreditations.

Time allowed: 5 working days.
3Part 2: online assessment

Register on LEEA's assessment portal and answer the questions for your scopes, uploading evidence as you go.

Time allowed: 7 working days from release.
only if needed
4Follow-up

If your answers leave areas to explore, your assessor arranges a virtual or on-site follow-up, covering only those areas.

Time allowed: held within 15 working days.
only if actions are raised
5Development actions

If anything needs addressing, you agree a short plan and then show the changes in the portal.

Time allowed: plan within 5 working days, actions within 10 working days after that.
only if actions are raised
6Training actions

Where a competence gap is identified, you have longer to close it.

Time allowed: up to 12 months.

Membership certificate

Issued once your assessment is complete and your renewal payment is made.

Every date is set when your window opens, so you know from day one what is due and when. Opportunities for improvement are yours to act on, and you have until your next assessment to address them.

How long it takes

For most members, a few hours.

The assessment is evidence based. You answer questions about the work you do and upload the documents and records that show how you do it.

It is also proportionate. The questions match your scopes of work, so the more scopes you cover, and the more complex they are, the more there is to look at. That can take a little longer, so that every assessment is thorough and fair.

It only gets close to the maximum of around 16 hours where a follow-up is needed and the scopes of work are very complex.

Whatever your scopes, we have designed the process to take as little of your time as possible. A little preparation makes it easier still. The biggest time saver is knowing where to find these before your window opens:

certificates for any accreditations you hold
your procedures for the work you carry out
recent records, such as test, inspection and calibration records
competence and training records for your team

If you have more than one branch

Where a membership covers several branches in the same country, a sample of branches is assessed each year. The sample is the square root of the total number of branches, rounded up. For example, 9 branches means 3 are assessed, and 81 branches means 9. Each sampled branch starts with the desktop review and only receives a follow-up where its answers call for one.

Sampling keeps the assessment proportionate, so a larger business is not asked to repeat the same work for every branch.

9 factory icons, 3 highlighted as assessed — 9 branches: 3 assessed

81 factory icons, 9 highlighted as assessed — 81 branches: 9 assessed

If you fall behind

Need more time?Ask your assessor before the date passes.
Something serious affecting your business?We'll pause the clock and agree a new timetable.
Delay on our side?Your dates move back to match.

The assessment is how every Full Member and Associate Member shows they meet the LEEA Gold Standard. Where a member does not complete it despite this support, their Full or Associate Membership does not continue.

See it at LiftEx 2026

Inside the Membership Assessment: a live walkthrough

See LEEA's new Membership Assessment on screen, from invitation to certificate. Find out how it works, how long it takes, and what to have ready before your window opens.

Exhibition Centre Liverpool

Showcase session: Tuesday 24 November at 2pm, and Wednesday 25 November at 11:30am (20 minutes)
Drop-in session: Tuesday 24 November, 2:30pm to 3:30pm. Talk one-to-one with our team, no appointment needed.

LiftEx 2026 event page

Help and contact

We want the assessment to be as straightforward as possible, so help is always close at hand.

Your named assessor is your first point of contact throughout. For anything else, email membership.assessments@leeaint.com