This Technical Report provides recommendations for the choice and use of cast-in steel lifting inserts, hereafter called 'inserts' for the handling of precast concrete elements. They are intended for use only during transient situations for lifting and handling, and not for the service life of the structure. The choice of insert is made according to the lifting capacity of their part embedded in the concrete, or may be limited by the capacity of the insert itself and the corresponding key declared by the insert manufacturer. The report covers commonly used applications (walls/beams/columns and solid slabs and pipes) and the range of these applications is further limited to prevent other types of failure than concrete breakout failure (cone failure), failure of supplementary reinforcement or failure in the steel insert. A basic supposition is that the concrete is demonstrably uncracked during all lifting situations. The limitation in scope is used to obtain simple design models. Further information may be found in [1]. The recommended safety levels are intended for short-term-handling and transient situations. This Technical Report applies only to precast concrete elements made of normal weight concrete and manufactured in a factory environment and under a factory production control (FPC) system (in accordance with EN 13369:2004, clause 6.3) covering the insert embedment.