A tick-box sheet in a lever arch file
Before a machine goes out, the yard or workshop does a pre-delivery check: fluids, tracks or tyres, lights, safety devices, attachments, cleanliness. The check is a paper sheet with the same boxes for a dumper as for a telehandler. On a busy morning, with the lorry waiting, the boxes get ticked quickly. The sheet goes in a file.
Two weeks later the customer reports a fault they say was there on delivery. You look for the check sheet. It is in the file, somewhere, and says everything was fine, which doesn't settle anything.
Why paper checks don't work well
The check itself matters. Paper just makes it hard to do properly and harder to prove.
- One sheet for every machine type, so the specific checks are missing.
- Ticks prove nothing about what was actually looked at.
- Sheets are completed after the event, or not at all, when the lorry is waiting.
- Faults noted on the sheet don't become workshop jobs.
- Finding the sheet for a machine and date takes time.
What your checks should cover is set by your own procedures, manufacturers' guidance and your safety adviser. The system makes sure the checks you decide on are done and recorded.
What weak checks cost
Machines sent out with faults, leading to breakdowns, callouts and unhappy customers. Disputes about condition you can't answer. Faults noted and forgotten. And a check process that you can't show to a customer's safety team or an auditor with confidence.
The yard team is put in a difficult position as well. They are asked to be thorough and fast at the same time, with a lorry driver waiting and the hire desk ringing to ask when the machine will be ready. A paper sheet gives them no way to show the checks they did do properly, and no way to hold a machine back without an argument.
Digital pre-delivery checks
- Checklists are built per machine type from your procedures, with the checks that matter for that type.
- The yard or workshop completes the check on a phone or tablet, with photos required for key items such as tyres or tracks, fluid levels and the hour meter.
- Any failed item creates a workshop job and blocks the machine from delivery until it is cleared or a supervisor signs it off under your rules.
- The transport plan shows whether each machine due out has a completed check, and the driver can see it before loading.
- The completed check is attached to the hire and the machine's history, time stamped with who did it.
- Customers can be sent the check with the delivery confirmation if you choose.
| Paper | Digital |
|---|---|
| Same sheet for every machine | Checklist per machine type |
| Ticks | Ticks plus photos on key items |
| Faults noted and forgotten | Faults create workshop jobs |
| Machine can go out unchecked | Delivery blocked until done |
| Filed in a lever arch | Attached to the hire |
What the yard has afterwards
Checks are specific, quick and done before the lorry is loaded. Faults become jobs. Machines don't go out unchecked by accident. And when a customer questions condition on delivery, the check and its photos are attached to the hire.
Is this your yard?
- Pre-delivery checks are on paper.
- The same checklist is used for every machine type.
- Machines have gone out without a completed check.
- Faults noted on checks aren't always repaired before the next hire.
- Finding a check sheet for a past delivery is slow.