OSHA equipment inspection requirements, equipment by equipment

How OSHA sets equipment inspection rules

There's no single OSHA rule for equipment inspections. Each standard sets its own frequency, its own inspector and its own paperwork: the forklift standard says daily, the scaffold standard says before each shift, the crane standard says each shift, monthly and yearly. General industry rules are in 29 CFR 1910, construction rules in 29 CFR 1926, and commercial vehicles on public roads are covered by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in 49 CFR, not by OSHA.

Where no standard names a frequency, the duty doesn't go away:

• General industry: "Each employer shall be responsible for the safe condition of tools and equipment used by employees, including tools and equipment which may be furnished by employees" (1910.242(a)).
• Construction: safety programs "shall provide for frequent and regular inspections of the job sites, materials, and equipment to be made by competent persons designated by the employers" (1926.20(b)(2)).
• Everywhere: the General Duty Clause, Section 5(a)(1) of the OSH Act, requires employers to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm.

Equipment inspection requirements at a glance

This table lists the federal rules for the equipment most workplaces inspect. Each equipment name links to a free checklist for it.

Two rows need a note. The ANSI A92 frequent and annual inspections for boom and scissor lifts come from consensus standards, not OSHA rules; see MEWP inspection requirements. The eyewash frequencies come from ANSI/ISEA Z358.1, not from 1910.151(c), which only requires suitable facilities "for immediate emergency use."

Which rules require a written inspection record

Most equipment rules require the inspection, not a written record of it. These federal rules are the exceptions:

• Construction cranes: the monthly inspection, with the items checked, the results, and the name and signature of the inspector, kept at least 3 months; the annual inspection, kept at least 12 months (1926.1412(e) and (f)).
• Overhead and gantry cranes: monthly certification records for hooks, hoist chains and running ropes (1910.179(j)(2) and (m)).
• Crawler, truck and locomotive cranes: monthly certification records on critical items such as brakes, hooks and ropes, "kept readily available" (1910.180(d)(6)).
• Alloy steel chain slings: a record of the most recent month each sling was thoroughly inspected, at least every 12 months (1910.184(e)(3)).
• Fire extinguishers: the annual maintenance date, kept one year after the last entry or the life of the shell, whichever is less; and hydrostatic test certifications (1910.157(e)(3) and (f)(16)).
• Lockout/tagout: certification of the periodic inspection of energy control procedures, at least yearly (1910.147(c)(6)).
• Forklift operators: certification of training and evaluation (1910.178(l)(6)).
• Commercial vehicles: DVIRs listing defects, with repair certifications, kept 3 months (49 CFR 396.11).

Everything else, from the daily forklift check to the pre-shift scaffold inspection, is legally required to happen but not to be written down. You'll still want a record: it's how you show the inspection happened. Equipment inspection record keeping covers retention periods rule by rule.

Competent, qualified and authorized persons

Three terms decide who may inspect. In construction, a competent person is "one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them" (1926.32(f)). A qualified person is "one who, by possession of a recognized degree, certificate, or professional standing, or who by extensive knowledge, training, and experience, has successfully demonstrated his ability to solve or resolve problems relating to the subject matter, the work, or the project" (1926.32(m)).

The difference matters. A competent person can be a trained operator or foreman with the authority to stop the work; a qualified person is usually a mechanic or engineer. Scaffolds, crane shift and monthly inspections, slings and construction ladders call for a competent person; the annual crane inspection calls for a qualified one. "Authorized" turns up too: only authorized persons may operate an aerial lift (1926.453(b)(2)(ii)), and only authorized personnel may repair a forklift (1910.178(q)(1)). See what is a competent person.

What to do when equipment fails inspection

Defective equipment comes out of service until it's repaired. The standards say it in different words:

• Forklifts: "taken out of service until it has been restored to safe operating condition" (1910.178(p)(1)).
• Slings: "Damaged or defective slings shall be immediately removed from service" (1910.184(d)).
• Construction cranes: a deficiency that's a safety hazard means "the equipment must be taken out of service until it has been corrected" (1926.1412(d)(2)).
• Jobsite vehicles: "All defects shall be corrected before the vehicle is placed in service" (1926.601(b)(14)).
• Ladders: tagged "Dangerous: Do Not Use" or similar and removed from service (1910.23(b)(10)).

On construction sites, 1926.20(b)(3) covers everything else: equipment that doesn't comply "shall either be identified as unsafe by tagging or locking the controls to render them inoperable or shall be physically removed from its place of operation." In general industry, accident prevention tags must carry a signal word and a major message (1910.145(f)). Print one with our out-of-service tag maker, and see what to do when equipment fails inspection.

Manufacturers' instructions and consensus standards

Many inspection schedules that people treat as OSHA rules come from manuals and consensus standards: ANSI A92.22 and A92.24 for mobile elevating work platforms, ANSI/ISEA Z358.1 for eyewash stations, NFPA 10 for extinguishers (through local fire codes), and the B56 standards for forklifts. They aren't federal regulations unless a rule incorporates them, but they're written by the people who build the equipment, and following them is the plainest way to show you took the hazard seriously.

OSHA's crane rule makes the point directly: any part of a manufacturer's inspection procedure that is "more comprehensive or has a more frequent schedule of inspection" than the standard "must be followed" (1926.1412(j)). For everything else, build each machine's daily checklist from its operator's manual.

State plans and penalties

Penalties are per violation. Federal OSHA's maximums in October 2026 are $16,550 for a serious or other-than-serious violation, $165,514 for a willful or repeated one, and $16,550 a day for failure to abate (1903.15(d)); the 2026 inflation adjustment was cancelled, so the 2025 figures still apply.

Keeping every inspection record in one place

A shop with forklifts, lifts, ladders and extinguishers can end up with a different clipboard for each. CheckBadges puts a QR sticker on each machine, linked to the checklist you choose for it: operators scan with their own phone's camera, with no app or login, and every check is filed under that machine with the operator's name and the time. Problems email you with photos and stay flagged for the next operator until you mark them fixed. It records the inspections your people do; it doesn't schedule monthly or annual inspections or track certifications. It's free for 3 machines, and you can try it with your own equipment before signing up.