What to do when equipment fails a pre-use inspection

What the rules say when equipment fails inspection

The rules agree on the core: equipment that isn't safe comes out of service and stays out until it's fixed. For common US equipment:

In the UK, HSE's lift truck guidance says a truck with a safety-critical defect "should not be used until the fault is rectified", and LOLER bars using lifting equipment with a defect reported by its examiner until it's put right. Most manufacturers' manuals say the same for every machine.

The steps

Eight steps take a machine from a failed check back into service with nothing skipped:

1. 1Stop and make it safe. Don't start it, or stop using it. Park it out of the way, lower forks, platform or bucket, set the brake and switch it off.
2. 2Tag it out. Hang a danger or do-not-operate tag on the controls, and take the key.
3. 3Report it immediately. Tell your supervisor what's wrong and where the machine is, with photos if you can.
4. 4Decide what happens next. A competent supervisor decides whether it's repaired, replaced or retired.
5. 5Repair it under lockout/tagout. An authorized person makes the repair, with hazardous energy controlled.
6. 6Verify the repair. Re-check the failed item and run the machine's function tests.
7. 7Release it and remove the tag. The person with authority signs it back into service and removes the tag.
8. 8Record what happened. Keep the defect, the repair, the dates and who released it with the machine's records.

Stop, make it safe and tag it out

The first job is to make sure nobody uses the machine, including you. Park it where it won't block an exit or an aisle, lower anything raised, set the parking brake and switch off. Then tag it.

OSHA's tag rule for general industry, 1910.145(f), sets out how tags work:

• Tags stay on until the hazard is gone: "Tags shall be used until such time as the identified hazard is eliminated or the hazardous operation is completed."
• Danger tags are for serious hazards: "Danger tags shall be used in major hazard situations where an immediate hazard presents a threat of death or serious injury to employees."
• They say what and why: every tag needs a signal word (such as DANGER) and a major message (such as DO NOT OPERATE), with the signal word readable from at least five feet.
• They're attached firmly, "as close as safely possible to their respective hazards by a positive means such as string, wire, or adhesive".

That paragraph doesn't apply to construction or agriculture. On construction sites, 1926.20(b)(3) requires unsafe equipment to be tagged, locked out at the controls, or removed. Our free out-of-service tag prints a red DANGER – DO NOT OPERATE tag with lines for the machine, the problem, your name and the date.

Report it straight away

A defect report should let someone who hasn't seen the machine decide what to do. Include:

• which machine, and where it is now;
• what's wrong, in plain words: "hydraulic hose weeping at the tilt cylinder", not "leak";
• when it was found and by whom;
• a photo, if you can take one safely;
• that it's tagged, and who has the key.

Report to a named person, usually the supervisor on shift, and make sure whoever arranges repairs hears too. A defect written on a sheet that sits in a cab until Friday hasn't been reported.

Decide: repair, replace or keep running

Anything that affects safe operation keeps the machine out of service. OSHA's forklift rule says a truck "shall not be placed in service if the examination shows any condition adversely affecting the safety of the vehicle", and in a 2004 interpretation letter warned that keeping a defective truck as a backup could be cited: "An employer who does not comply with 1910.178(p)(1) or 1910.178 (q)(7) could be cited by OSHA."

Brakes, steering, controls, hydraulics, horns and alarms, seat belts, guards and structural damage are clearly safety items; another OSHA letter says even a gauge that isn't working properly usually makes a truck "defective and in need of repair". Some findings aren't safety defects, like a cosmetic dent or a torn seat cover. Those can be recorded and scheduled, but someone competent should make that call, not whoever needs the machine most. When in doubt, it stays out.

Repair it under lockout/tagout

Repairs are made by people authorized and competent to make them, not by whoever found the fault. OSHA requires it for forklifts ("All repairs shall be made by authorized personnel"), and HSE's lift truck guidance says operators "unless suitably qualified and authorised, should not carry out repairs and adjustments".

An out-of-service tag isn't lockout/tagout. LOTO, under 29 CFR 1910.147, covers "the servicing and maintenance of machines and equipment in which the unexpected energization or start up of the machines or equipment, or release of stored energy could cause injury to employees." The mechanic applies their own lock or tag to the energy-isolating device, and "Each lockout or tagout device shall be removed from each energy isolating device by the employee who applied the device", with a narrow exception for an employer procedure when that person isn't available.

Verify the repair and release the machine

A repair isn't finished until someone checks it. Re-check the item that failed, then run the machine's full pre-use check and function tests. On lifting equipment, a repair or replacement of critical parts can count as the kind of exceptional circumstance that calls for a fresh thorough examination; ask your examiner.

Then release the machine deliberately. Decide in advance who can do that, usually the supervisor or maintenance lead, and have them sign or note the release. Only then remove the danger tag. Tell the operators who use the machine, especially the one who found the problem.

Record what happened

A record of each failed inspection shows the defect was handled, and over time shows which machines and parts keep failing. OSHA doesn't require a written record for a failed forklift check, but some rules do require records of inspections and repairs: monthly crane inspections must be documented and kept at least three months (1926.1412(e)), and motor carriers must certify DVIR repairs and keep the report three months (49 CFR 396.11). See equipment inspection record keeping.

How CheckBadges handles a failed check

In CheckBadges, an operator who marks an item Problem on a QR checklist has to describe it and can add up to 3 photos. The check emails your alert list as soon as it's submitted. The machine shows red on your dashboard, and every operator who scans its sticker sees the open problem before they start, even if the paper tag has fallen off. When the repair is done, you mark it fixed with a note, and the whole history stays filed under that machine. It's the record and the alert; the tag and the key still do the physical job.