From the vehicle lift to the paint booth: everything in view.

Vehicle lifts are not listed in Annex 3 of the Industrial Safety Ordinance (BetrSichV). The law therefore sets no fixed interval for them. Instead, your risk assessment has to define the type, scope and interval of the inspection, and the interval must be short enough that the lift can be used safely until the next inspection. As a proven interval, TRBS 1201 Annex 4 gives once a year for lifting platforms. Reasons for shorter intervals are how often and how long the lift is used, the manufacturer's notes in the operating instructions and the experience with failures.

The inspection is carried out by a person qualified to inspect (a "befähigte Person"). That can be an employee you have trained for it, or the service company if it can show the qualification. According to the technical rule, the scope covers the condition of components and equipment and the completeness and effectiveness of emergency control and protective devices. In addition, there is the inspection after assembly when safety depends on the assembly conditions, for example after a move or a new installation.

Without a documented inspection, the lift must not be used. vi takes the next due date from the inspection record and enters it into the calendar, separately for each lift and location.

A qualified electrician inspects electrical installations and equipment. If suitable measuring and test devices are available, a person with electrotechnical instruction may also inspect, under the direction and supervision of the qualified electrician. DGUV Regulation 3 requires an inspection before first commissioning, after every modification or repair before recommissioning, and after that at specified intervals. This applies to the new charging station just as much as to an exhaust extraction system with a fixed connection, the compressed air system or the controls of the paint booth.

You set the intervals so that defects show up in time. As a guide, the implementation instructions give four years for fixed electrical installations and equipment. For portable equipment such as hand tools, test devices and extension cords, a benchmark of six months applies, and three on construction sites. If the error rate found during inspections stays at 2 percent or less, the interval can be regarded as sufficient, and the instructions then allow longer intervals. In a shop with hard use, it pays to look at the actual error rate.

Manufacturer requirements come on top. vi reads intervals and findings from the inspection records and keeps them for each device.

The Industrial Safety Ordinance calls any measure that affects the safety of work equipment a change requiring inspection, and it says explicitly that repair work can be one. A qualified inspector must then inspect the equipment before it is used again. The words "before its next use" are meant literally: the lift stays out of service until it has been inspected.

To decide whether a repair counts, ask what depends on the component. A new seal kit on a lift cylinder is something different from a replaced cylinder, a control valve, a limit switch or a safety component that secures lowering, load-bearing or shut-off. The operator decides on the basis of the risk assessment, ideally together with the qualified inspector. The service company should state in its report what was replaced and whether it considers the work safety-relevant.

If that is not written down, you cannot show during a check that the lift was inspected after the repair. vi reads from service reports and quotes which parts were replaced and flags interventions that could trigger an inspection.

Calculate over the years, not invoice by invoice. An old lift rarely causes one big loss. It causes three small ones every year, with different companies, and every time a travel charge runs along. Add up maintenance, repairs, travel and downtime for the last three years and compare the total with the annual cost of a new lift including a service contract. Count the days out of service, because a workstation sits idle during that time.

Safety sets a floor. Necessary maintenance must be carried out without delay, and the lift must stay in a safe condition for its entire period of use. A clear signal to replace is when the manufacturer no longer supplies spare parts, when inspectors keep reporting the same finding, or when the repair concerns a component on which load capacity depends.

When you replace the lift, the inspection after assembly applies again before the new lift goes into operation. vi adds up costs and downtime for each asset across all invoices and shows when continued operation becomes more expensive than replacement. The shop manager decides.

One file per asset, which an inspector or the accident insurance institution (Berufsgenossenschaft) can go through in ten minutes. It should hold the manufacturer's operating instructions and declaration of conformity, the documented risk assessment with type, scope and interval of inspections, the written operating instruction, the inspection records, the maintenance and service reports and the proof that defects were fixed.

Every inspection must be recorded. At a minimum, state the type and scope of the inspection, the result, and the name and signature of the qualified inspector, or the electronic signature for purely electronic documents. Records are kept at least until the next inspection. It makes sense to keep inspection reports for as long as the asset is in service, because you will need them at the latest in a dispute about repairs or warranty.

For electrical installations, the accident insurance institution can also require an inspection log with specified entries. Ask which details it expects there, and record them in your protocols from the start. vi builds the file from the documents that already sit in your mailbox or binder and assigns them to the right asset.

Charging points, diagnostic tools, test benches with a network connection and equipment with remote maintenance are products with digital elements. The Cyber Resilience Act applies to them, and its obligations lie with the manufacturers. The support period, during which the manufacturer must handle vulnerabilities, is at least five years unless the product is clearly in use for less. Security updates must remain available for at least ten years after release. Since September 11, 2026, manufacturers must report actively exploited vulnerabilities, and all remaining obligations apply from December 11, 2027.

For you, that means: at purchase, ask about the support period and put the answer in the contract. Keep a list of networked devices for each location with manufacturer, software version and remote access. Have updates documented in the service report, including those the technician installs additionally during a visit.

From December 9, 2026, the new product liability rules also apply to products placed on the market from that day, and they expressly cover software. For your business, this is mainly a question of documentation. Record who changed what on which device and when. vi keeps maintenance reports and update records together for each asset.

With many small invoices, a fixed routine pays off, because each deviation looks harmless on its own. Check every invoice against four things.

First, the order: there should be a purchase order or service request, and the date and asset must match. Second, the framework contract: hourly rate, travel flat rate, surcharges for evenings, weekends or emergency calls, material markups and minimum quantities. Third, the maintenance contract: what is already paid for there must not appear again in the repair invoice. Travel, inspections, wear parts and small materials are the most common duplicates. Fourth, the service report: working time, parts and days must match the invoice. If the technician writes two hours and the invoice says four, only a comparison with the report helps.

If something deviates, send a written query before paying, quoting the contract clause, and file the correction with the invoice in the asset file. If you have several locations, put identical assets side by side and compare whether one location pays more for the same service. vi checks each invoice against the framework contract and the service report and prepares the correction request, which you approve.