What counts as a daily check?

The pre-use check an operative does before starting work: a walk-round and function check against a list for that type of machine. PUWER itself doesn’t say daily, but HSE’s construction guidance recommends daily checks for plant such as dumpers and MEWPs, and most sites ask for one. The checklists here are the same ones PlanOps issues, written for excavators, telehandlers, cranes, dumpers, dump trucks, rollers and mast climbers, with a general check for everything else. Each one is also a free printable sheet.

What paperwork can I drop in?

The hire note or delivery note, a LOLER thorough examination report, a PUWER inspection record or a service record, as a PDF, PNG or JPEG - a photo of the page is fine. Up to three files for one machine. We use it to fill the form; nothing you upload is kept.

Does the operative need an account or an app?

No. They scan the sticker with the phone camera, type their name the first time and the checklist opens. The name stays on their phone, so the next scan goes straight to the check. One check a day is recorded per machine.

What happens with a defect?

The operative marks the item Defect, says how bad it is, describes it and takes a photo. Minor and major defects go on the register and, if you gave an email, you are told. A stop-work defect also means anyone who scans the sticker sees Do not use until you clear it on the register with a note, and that clearance stays on the record.

Does it track LOLER and PUWER dates?

Not on this free register. We note which certificates were in the paperwork, but only the daily checks are recorded. The statutory thorough examinations and periodic inspections, with their due dates and certificates, are tracked in PlanOps.

What happens when the daily checks stop?

The register stays readable for a further period so you can print or save the record, or keep the plant in PlanOps with its full history of checks, defects and photos carried across. After that the checks, photos and sticker are deleted together.

Plant checks: pre-use checks, PUWER inspections and LOLER thorough examinations

The operator's pre-use check, the PUWER inspection and the LOLER thorough examination are three different things. What each one is, who does it, how often and what has to be recorded.

Three different checks get called "the plant check" on a construction site. The operator's walk-round before starting work. The periodic inspection of the machine under PUWER. The thorough examination of lifting equipment under LOLER. They're done by different people, at different intervals, with different records, and running them together is how a site ends up with a stack of daily sheets and an out-of-date thorough examination report.

This page separates them, says what the regulations themselves require and what is HSE guidance, and links every point to the source. It covers Great Britain. Northern Ireland has its own, near-identical regulations (see the end of the page).

The short version

Pre-use check. Done by the operator before using the machine. PUWER doesn't require it to be daily or to be written down, but HSE's construction guidance recommends daily checks for some plant, such as dumpers and MEWPs. A written sheet is the simplest way to show it was done.
PUWER inspection (regulation 6). Done by a competent person, at intervals set by risk, for equipment whose condition can deteriorate into danger. It must be recorded. It doesn't apply to lifting equipment.
LOLER thorough examination (regulation 9). Done by a competent person for lifting equipment and lifting accessories. At least every six months for anything that lifts people and for every lifting accessory, at least every twelve months for other lifting equipment, or to a written examination scheme. It must be reported in writing.
Hired plant must come with evidence of its last inspection and its last thorough examination. That duty is in the regulations, whatever the hire contract says.

The pre-use check

The pre-use check is the operator's look over the machine before work starts: fluids, leaks, tyres or tracks, guards, controls, brakes, lights and alarms, and anything the manufacturer's instructions add. It's the check most people mean by "the daily check".

The law doesn't say daily. Regulation 6 of PUWER is about inspection, and HSE's approved code of practice for PUWER (L22, paragraph 81) says a pre-use check isn't an inspection and doesn't need to be recorded. That doesn't make the check optional: HSE's own enforcement guidance treats simple operator pre-use checks as implied by PUWER's duty to keep equipment suitable (regulation 4). But nothing in the regulations makes them daily or requires them to be written down.

Guidance is where "daily" comes from. HSE's construction pages recommend a programme of daily visual checks for site dumpers and for MEWPs, based on the manufacturer's instructions and the risks of each machine, with defects reported and safety-critical faults taking the machine out of service. Most hire companies and principal contractors ask for the same, and many site rules make the written sheet a condition of using the machine.

So the honest position is: the law doesn't say daily, HSE guidance does for some plant, and recording it is good practice rather than a legal duty. The written check is what shows a defect was found and reported, which is usually the question after something goes wrong.

The plant pre-use check set has a printable weekly sheet for each common type of machine.

The PUWER inspection

Regulation 6 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 requires two kinds of inspection:

Where safety depends on how the equipment is installed, it must be inspected after installation and before first use, and after it's assembled at a new site or location.
Where the equipment is exposed to conditions that cause deterioration liable to result in dangerous situations, it must be inspected at suitable intervals, and each time exceptional circumstances that could affect its safety have occurred.

PUWER doesn't set the interval. HSE says to decide it from "the manufacturer's recommendations, industry advice and your own experience", and to inspect more often where the machine works hard or in poor conditions.

The inspection must be done by a competent person, who is often someone in the business or the hire company's fitter rather than an outside examiner. Its result must be recorded and "kept until the next inspection under this regulation is recorded" (regulation 6(3)). The record doesn't have to be on paper, but it has to be available to an inspector.

Regulation 6 doesn't apply to work equipment for lifting loads, including persons. That's inspected under LOLER instead.

The LOLER thorough examination

The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 cover lifting equipment (cranes, telehandlers, MEWPs, mast climbers, hoists, and excavators used for lifting) and lifting accessories (chains, slings, shackles, eyebolts and lifting beams). Regulation 9 requires a thorough examination by a competent person:

before first use, unless the equipment is new and comes with a recent declaration of conformity, or comes from another business with evidence of its last thorough examination;
after installation, where safety depends on the installation conditions, and after assembly at a new site or location;
periodically, where it's exposed to conditions causing deterioration;
after exceptional circumstances liable to affect its safety, such as an overload, a collision or damage.

The periodic intervals are the precise part of the law:

What it is	Thorough examination at least every	Examples
Lifting equipment for lifting persons	6 months	MEWPs, mast climbing work platforms, passenger hoists, a telehandler with a work platform fitted
Lifting accessories	6 months	Chains, slings, shackles, eyebolts, lifting beams
Other lifting equipment	12 months	Cranes, telehandlers used with forks, goods hoists, excavators used for lifting

An examination scheme drawn up by a competent person can set different intervals instead. Six months isn't only for equipment that lifts people: every lifting accessory is on six months as well, which is the part most often missed.

The competent person must tell the employer straight away ("forthwith") about any defect that is or could become a danger, and send the written report "as soon as is practicable". Where there's an existing or imminent risk of serious personal injury, a copy also goes to the enforcing authority. For hired equipment, the report goes to the hire company too. The familiar "within 28 days" for the written report comes from HSE's approved code of practice (L113), not from the regulations.

Periodic examination reports must be kept until the next report is made or for two years, whichever is later. The competent person doesn't have to be from outside the business, but must be independent and impartial enough to make objective decisions about the equipment.

Hired plant

Both regulations deal with equipment that moves between businesses. Under PUWER regulation 6(4), work equipment obtained from another business mustn't be used unless it comes with physical evidence that its last inspection was carried out. LOLER regulation 9(4) says the same for the last thorough examination of lifting equipment.

In practice that means the hire note isn't enough on its own. The inspection record and the thorough examination report should arrive with the machine, or be available before it starts work. If they're missing or out of date, the machine waits.

What a register has to show

None of this requires a register by that name. But between the regulations, a site has to be able to show, for each machine: what it is, when it was last inspected or examined and when the next is due, where the report is and whether it's safe to use today. That's what a plant and equipment register is for. What a plant register should contain sets out the fields, with a free template.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland has its own regulations: the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 and the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999. They follow the Great Britain regulations closely and are enforced by HSENI. If you work in Northern Ireland, check the NI text and HSENI's guidance.

Sources

This page is general guidance, not legal advice. The manufacturer's instructions, your risk assessment and the competent person's reports decide what applies to your plant. Last checked 22 October 2026.