Which inspections are due this week?
You have scaffolds standing on dozens of sites. Some are inspected by your own inspectors under your arrangements, some the customer handles, and some were handed over to a main contractor who does their own. The inspector works through a list in their head and a diary, fills in a pad at each site, and the pages come back to the office when they come back.
A client emails asking for the inspection records for their scaffold since erection. The office finds some pages, a few emails and a gap it cannot explain.
Why inspection admin falls apart
The inspections themselves are skilled work done by people who know what they are doing. The paperwork around them is the weak point: scheduling, recording and filing are all manual, and the information lives with the inspector.
- The list of inspections due is kept by one person.
- Records are handwritten and returned to the office late.
- Who is responsible for inspecting each scaffold is not recorded clearly.
- Records are not filed by scaffold, so history is hard to produce.
- Customers are sent copies inconsistently.
What the admin gaps cost
Time spent searching when a customer or main contractor asks. Records that exist but cannot be found, which look the same as records that do not exist. Inspectors' time spent on paperwork instead of inspecting. And a dependency on one person's diary, which is a problem when they are off.
Inspectors themselves pay a price. Paperwork done in the van at the end of the day is paperwork done tired, and records written from memory are less clear than records written on site with photos taken at the time.
We are clear about what we do here: we organise records. What is inspected, how, and how often is set by your business and the people qualified to decide.
The inspection register we build
- Each scaffold on the hire register records who is responsible for inspections, under the arrangement agreed with the customer, and the frequency your business sets.
- Inspections due are generated automatically and shown on a list and on the inspector's phone, grouped by area.
- The inspector records each inspection on a phone form that follows your own record format, with photos and their name.
- Records are filed as PDFs against the scaffold, giving a complete history from handover to strike.
- Copies are emailed to the customer's nominated contacts, if that is part of your arrangement.
- Overdue or missed entries appear on a list for the office, and scaffolds that have been struck drop off.
- A history pack for any scaffold can be produced in one step for a customer or main contractor.
| Admin task | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Knowing what is due | One person's diary | Generated list |
| Recording | Handwritten pad | Phone form in your format |
| Filing | Paper returned to office | Filed on completion |
| Sending copies | When remembered | Sent to named contacts |
| Producing history | Search through files | One-step pack |
We do not advise on inspection content or frequency. The register records and files what your inspectors do.
After the register is in place
Everyone can see what is due and what has been recorded. Customers receive copies consistently. History for any scaffold can be sent in minutes. And if an inspector is off, someone else can see exactly what their list was.
Is this your inspection admin?
- The inspection schedule is in one person's head or diary.
- Records come back to the office days later.
- Producing a scaffold's history takes hours.
- Customers do not always get copies.