Are you looking at this from a LOLER perspective in relation to the hoists and rails etc?
The company I work for has a lot of lifting equipment and we have it inspected every 6 or 12 months (depending on its designation) by a "competent person" who tends to be an inspector from Allianz Engineering. The equipment is inspected rather then load tested.
I suppose a lot is going to come down to your risk assessment and the consequence of the failure of said lifting equipment etc.
Hope I havent gone off on a tangent