Keeping track of work equipment inspection and maintenance: how to build an inspection register

What is work equipment and which items do you include?

Work equipment is anything your employees use to do their job, from simple hand tools to machines and parts of a process installation. The term is broad, so an inspection register starts with an inventory. Which items are subject to mandatory inspection is something you determine yourself as an employer, based on the risk and the rules that apply to the type of equipment.

• Machines and production installations, such as saws, presses, conveyors and packaging lines
• Lifting and hoisting equipment: cranes, hoists, lifts, vehicle lifts, chains, slings and lifting straps
• Ladders, stairs, mobile scaffold towers and scaffolding
• Electrical installations and electric hand tools, including extension leads, cable reels and battery tools
• Vehicles and mobile machinery, such as company vehicles, forklifts and aerial work platforms
• Pressure equipment, such as compressors, boilers and pressure vessels
• Fire extinguishers and other fire safety provisions
• Fall protection and other personal protective equipment that needs periodic inspection

Why inspection and maintenance are needed, and how they differ

Work equipment wears and ages, and a defect often only shows when something goes wrong. As an employer you have to keep it in good condition and have it assessed periodically. There is also a matter of proof: the Labour Inspectorate can ask for the written evidence of inspections, clients and certification bodies check it, and insurers can set requirements in their policy conditions. Under VCA, a register of inspections is a fixed part of the checklist, and ISO 45001 broadly asks you to control the risks of your equipment and to be able to demonstrate it.

Maintenance keeps equipment technically in order: lubricating, replacing wear parts, adjusting and repairing, usually following the manufacturer's instructions. An inspection is an assessment by a competent person of the installation, soundness and condition of the equipment, and so also shows whether maintenance is sufficient. You record both. Also note which check the user does before use, because that catches defects between two inspections.

How often do you have to inspect work equipment?

For work equipment in general, the Dutch Working Conditions Decree sets no fixed interval. You inspect an item before first use if its safety depends on how it is installed, again after relocation or after an exceptional event such as an accident or a long period out of use, and periodically as often as needed to keep it in good condition. According to the explanatory notes to the decree, once a year is a safe lower limit. The risk assessment helps you set the frequency per item.

For a number of categories the rules are stricter. Lifting and hoisting tackle must be examined by a competent person at least once a year. Pressure equipment, lifts and certain cranes have their own rules, sometimes with a designated inspection body. For scaffolding, a competent person checks the structure before use, after every change, after a period of non-use, and after abnormal weather or another event that may affect safety.

Intervals also come from the manual, standards, sector agreements and your client's requirements. The VCA checklist asks for inspections at least once a year, and anyone who deviates has to justify it. For electrical installations and electric tools, NEN 3140 is the common standard. It is not law itself, and you derive the interval from use and environment. For prescribed fire extinguishers, building regulations set a minimum of once every two years, but in practice they are often serviced annually. Your policy conditions determine what applies to you.

Who may inspect work equipment?

The decree requires a competent person: an individual, company or body with the knowledge and equipment for that type of equipment. You choose the inspector yourself, for example an independent inspection body, the supplier's service department or your own technical department. For certain categories, such as pressure equipment, passenger lifts and large cranes, a designated independent body has to carry out the inspection. For simple equipment an in-house employee may sometimes be enough, as long as you can explain why that person is competent.

Record in the register who carried out the inspection and what their competence is based on, for example an accreditation, training or certificate. For external inspections, ask for a report with the findings and for a sticker or label showing the next inspection date, so the user can see on the equipment itself whether it is still approved.

What do you record in an inspection register?

A register is useful when you can see at a glance what has been inspected, what is about to expire and what has been rejected. Record fixed fields for each item. That way you can filter, send reminders and show the proof to an inspector or auditor.

• Identification: unique number, description, make, type and serial number
• Location or project where the item is kept or deployed, and who has it
• Type of inspection or maintenance: initial inspection, periodic inspection, re-inspection or periodic maintenance
• Interval and its basis: law, standard, manufacturer, risk assessment or client
• Last and next date
• Carried out by: internal or external, with company and competent person
• Outcome: approved, approved with remarks or rejected, with the findings
• Certificate or report, and the sticker or label on the item
• Status: in use, out of use or disposed of
• Responsible role for follow-up

Example of an inspection register (illustrative)

Below is a small example register in list form. The equipment, dates and intervals are made up and only show the structure. Your intervals follow from the rules, standards and instructions that apply to your equipment. Every line holds the same fields: identification, location, interval, last and next date, outcome and status.

• HT-014, lifting strap 3 tonne, warehouse A. Annual inspection by a competent person. Last inspection 12 March 2026, next 12 March 2027. Outcome: approved. Status: in use.
• LD-007, ladder 3 x 8 rungs, service van 2. Annual inspection. Last inspection 5 May 2026, next 5 May 2027. Outcome: approved with remark, foot cap replaced. Status: in use.
• EL-102, angle grinder 230 V, workshop. Electrical inspection, interval one year based on the risk assessment. Last inspection 20 January 2026, next 20 January 2027. Outcome: rejected, cable insulation damaged. Status: out of use, repair planned.
• HF-003, forklift, loading dock. Annual inspection and maintenance according to the manufacturer. Last inspection 2 September 2026, next 2 September 2027. Outcome: approved. Status: in use.
• BL-021, powder extinguisher 6 kg, production hall. Annual maintenance by a certified company. Last maintenance 14 November 2025, next 14 November 2026. Outcome: approved. Status: in use, maintenance due soon.

What do you do when work equipment is rejected?

A rejected item goes out of use immediately, even if that halts a job. Working with a rejected item is exactly the risk the inspection was meant to prevent. What happens next you record in the register and in an action with an owner and a deadline. If the defect was involved in a workplace accident, reporting duties to the Labour Inspectorate may apply, depending on the severity.

• Take the item out of use immediately: remove it from the workplace or lock it, and tell users that it has been rejected
• Mark it visibly with a rejection tag and remove or cover the valid inspection sticker
• Record the rejection: date, finding, inspector, photo and report
• Assess the cause and choose between repairing, replacing or disposing, and register an incident or near miss if there was damage
• Have the item re-inspected after repair and only then set the status back to in use, with a new date and report
• Check whether similar items may have the same defect and adjust the interval or instruction if needed

Reminders and responsibility: who watches the date?

An inspection register only works if someone is warned before a date expires. Agree per item or per group who is responsible, for example the workshop manager for machines and the fleet manager for vehicles, and who takes over when they are absent. Send reminders well before the due date so an inspector can be scheduled, for example sixty days ahead for external inspections and fourteen days for internal checks.

As an employer you remain ultimately responsible, even if you outsource inspections. Review the register periodically, for example every quarter and after each round of inspections: what has expired, what has been rejected and which items are missing? Add new equipment when you buy it and remove disposed items, so that the register matches what is actually there.

Common mistakes when tracking inspections

Most problems with inspections do not arise in the inspection itself, but in the administration around it. The mistakes below are common in practice and can usually be fixed with fixed fields, an owner per item and a periodic check of the register itself.

• The register is incomplete: ladders, extension leads, battery tools and equipment at an outside location are missing, even though they too may be subject to mandatory inspection
• An interval is recorded, but not why: after an accident you must be able to explain why you chose one year or two
• The proof exists only on a sticker or in someone's head, while the written proof of inspections has to be available at the workplace and be shown on request
• Rejected equipment stays in the workshop or still has the status in use in the register
• A re-inspection after relocation, accident, modification or long standstill is forgotten
• Reminders go to a shared mailbox or to someone who has left, so nobody picks them up

How BrydgeOne supports this

In Objects you record machines, installations, vehicles and other equipment, with the recurring inspections and maintenance per object. You choose the interval and the responsible role, report an execution with outcome, cost and report, and the next date moves on by itself. The status in order, due soon or overdue always follows from the data and cannot be set to OK by hand. Before a date runs out, the responsible role gets a message.

If an inspection is rejected, the system plans the re-inspection and creates an action for it, which you follow up in Actions with an owner and deadline. In the object's file you see the related incidents, Workplace inspections and documents together. Measuring equipment with a calibration certificate is managed in Calibration & measuring equipment. BrydgeOne does not decide whether equipment is safe: that remains the judgement of the competent inspector. The platform helps keep the evidence and the follow-up together.