Forklifts, gates, racking: every inspection on schedule.

Industrial trucks must be inspected by a qualified expert (Sachkundiger) at intervals of no more than one year. That is stated in § 37 of DGUV Regulation 68, and it fits the value in TRBS 1201, Annex 4: industrial trucks once a year. The regulation also names attachments and the safety devices for operation in narrow aisles. Those devices must also be function-tested daily, unless a failure is indicated automatically and clearly to the driver.

The regulation speaks of the qualified expert, the Industrial Safety Ordinance of the person qualified to inspect. Commission someone who can show both, and ask for the qualification. The scope: condition of components and equipment, completeness and effectiveness of the safety devices, and completeness of the inspection record.

The record contains the date and scope of the inspection, the result with the defects found, the assessment of whether there are objections to continued operation, details of necessary re-inspections, and the name and address of the inspector. You also note there that defects were fixed. In a fleet with many trucks, nobody notices when one misses its inspection unless a list shows it. vi tracks the inspection date for each truck and bundles the inspection with maintenance.

The duty in § 37 of DGUV Regulation 68 is addressed to the employer who uses the industrial trucks in its business, not to the lessor. The rental or full-service contract can provide that the lessor or a service partner carries out the annual inspection. Even so, making sure it happens and is documented remains your job.

So settle in the contract whether the inspection under DGUV Regulation 68 is included in the price or charged extra, who orders it and who receives the inspection record. Agree that it is combined with maintenance so the truck is out of service only once, and that a replacement truck is provided if a defect rules out continued operation.

The inspection records must be available for viewing when needed, and according to the implementation instructions they should be kept as close to the place of use as possible. For rented or borrowed industrial trucks, a copy of the latest record may be enough. At the request of the accident insurance institution or the supervisory authority, however, you must produce the original. Have the lessor send you the inspection records. The notice alone that an inspection took place is not enough.

vi stores the contract, inspection date and inspection record with each truck, even when the lessor has the inspection done.

Racking is work equipment under the Industrial Safety Ordinance. There is no fixed interval in it, and you set it in the risk assessment. As a proven interval, TRBS 1201 Annex 4 gives once a year for racking, including power-operated types. What is inspected is the condition of components and equipment, the completeness and effectiveness of protective devices and the marking. Practical notes on assessment are in DGUV Information 208-061 on storage equipment and load carriers. The inspector must be a person qualified to inspect.

After impact damage, the annual interval does not help, because the ordinance requires an extraordinary inspection before further use after extraordinary events. Accidents expressly count. Whether a bent upright or a damaged frame affects load capacity is judged by the qualified inspector, not the driver and not the shift supervisor.

In practice: report the damage, photograph it, unload or cordon off the affected area, have it assessed, and write down the result and the measure. The danger lies in small damage that is reported but not assessed for months. The next inspection then finds it all at once. vi keeps damage reports, assessments and inspection reports together for each racking system.

The technical rule ASR A1.7 applies to power-operated doors and gates. They must be inspected for safe condition according to the manufacturer's specifications before first commissioning, after substantial changes and at recurring intervals. The recurring inspection should take place at least once a year. The results must be recorded and kept in the workplace.

The inspection may only be carried out by qualified experts. They must be able to assess the functional capability of the protective devices and check them with suitable measuring technology, for example technology that demonstrates the force-time curve at closing edges. A look at the door and a function test are therefore not enough. The inspection includes checking the technical documentation and the operating instructions. Fire doors and gates are inspected according to their approval or test certificate. As an example, the rule names hold-open systems, which the operator checks once a month and a qualified expert once a year. In addition come the building law requirements of the German states, for example the technical inspection ordinance.

Even with twelve roll-up doors at a site, a bulk order is worthwhile: one record per door, one appointment, one report with measured values. For dock levelers, you set the type and interval of inspection according to the operating instructions and the risk assessment. vi puts the inspections of all doors into one calendar and bundles them with trucks and racking.

Billing errors usually arise in three places.

First, the exclusions. Tires, batteries, fork tines and operator damage are often excluded from full service. Ask for the list of exclusions and check every repair invoice against it. If an invoice contains an item that the contract covers, send it back quoting the clause.

Second, the operating hours. Clarify how large the allowance is per year or over the term, what an extra hour costs and when it is billed, at return or on an ongoing basis. Read the operating hours from the service reports and project when each truck reaches its allowance. If you only notice at return, you can no longer do anything about it. Beforehand you can shift the work between trucks or renegotiate.

Third, term and return. Check when the contract ends, whether it renews silently and by when it must be terminated, in what condition the truck has to be returned and who bears damage. This includes the response time on a breakdown, the question of a replacement truck and who orders the statutory inspections. Compare quotes by total cost per operating hour, not by monthly rate. vi checks every repair invoice against the scope of the contract and warns you before an allowance or a term runs out.

Besides the annual inspection, the Industrial Safety Ordinance requires checks during operation. TRBS 1201 distinguishes two kinds. Checks for obvious defects cover what can be established without aids, for example defective connection cables, housing damage or externally defective plugs. Checks of functional capability concern protective and safety devices. As an example, the technical rule expressly names the brakes on industrial trucks at the start of each work shift. You set the type and scope of the checks in your risk assessment.

For forklifts, that means a fixed checklist for each truck type, which the driver works through at the start of a shift. It includes, for example, brakes, steering, warning device, forks, mast and battery condition. Results are noted and defects reported. A truck with a defect that impairs safe use must not be driven further. This check does not replace the inspection by the qualified expert. It complements it.

A driver who knows the checklist and knows whom to tell about a finding notices defects sooner than any annual inspection. Make sure reported defects do not sit idle. vi turns reported defects into tickets with a deadline so they do not disappear in a shift handover.