Blog
Notes from the field.
Product updates, opinionated takes on compliance, and the occasional behind-the-scenes.
Care home bed and bed rail register, with QR tags
What a care home's register of beds and bed rails should record, following MHRA guidance: traceable rail assemblies, matched pairs, compatibility with the bed and mattress, the checks at fitting and at maintenance, withdrawing worn rails, and QR tags that survive cleaning.
Read postHoist and sling register for care homes, with QR tags
How a care home keeps one register of its patient hoists and slings under LOLER: what to record for each item, the 6-month thorough examination, pairing each sling with the hoists it fits, labelling slings without weakening them, and taking failed kit out of use so nobody picks it up by mistake.
Read postLadder register with QR tags: pre-use checks and detailed inspections
What a UK ladder register should record, which law sets the inspection duty (the Work at Height Regulations 2005, not PUWER regulation 6), the difference between the user's pre-use check and the employer's recorded detailed visual inspection, how to tag ladders, and what to do with a defective one.
Read postLOLER for patient hoists and slings: who keeps the records when your examiner is a contractor?
Patient hoists and slings need a LOLER thorough examination every 6 months, usually by an outside examiner. What the report must contain, why the examiner should be impartial, what HSE says about electronic records, and how a care home keeps one register when several contractors each send their own PDFs.
Read postThe sticker says passed. The QR tells the truth: PAT labels that stay current
A hand-written PAT label shows what was true on test day. Small QR plug labels, cable flags, blank label rolls and a fast PAT session put the live record one scan away, in line with HSE guidance.
Read postFire damper inspection and drop testing in the UK: BS 9999, the Fire Safety Order and the damper register
The Fire Safety Order requires fire safety equipment to be kept under a suitable system of maintenance but sets no testing interval. BS 9999 recommends a drop test on installation and at least annually. What a drop test involves, the failures it finds, who should do it, and the per-damper record that shows it was done.
Read postCompliance management software: what it must do
Requirements for compliance management software, worked back from the UK duties it has to support: LOLER, PUWER, PSSR and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order. What the records must hold, what the audit trail must show, how reminders should escalate, what reporting you need, and what no software can do for you.
Read postHow to choose asset management software for a small team
A vendor-neutral checklist for small UK teams choosing asset management software: pricing model, poor-signal behaviour, QR labels, audit trail, statutory report templates, exports, data residency and integrations, with the questions to ask in a demo and the answers to be wary of.
Read postPlanned preventive maintenance (PPM) and work orders: a simple setup for small teams
A PPM setup a small team can run without a maintenance department: list the assets, write one task list per asset type, schedule it, turn every fault into a tracked job, and close the loop with evidence. What PUWER and HSE guidance say about maintenance, and how it differs from inspection.
Read postPUWER inspection checklist: what the law requires and what to check
A practical PUWER regulation 6 inspection checklist, built from the regulation and HSE's L22 guidance. When an inspection is required, who can do it, how often (the law sets no interval), what to check on guards, controls, isolation, stability and markings, and what to record.
Read postQR code asset tagging: a practical guide
How to QR tag the equipment you inspect and maintain in the UK: what to tag first, label materials and placement, what the code should open, what happens where there is no signal, and how to handle lost, damaged and replaced tags without losing the history.
Read postWhat is an asset register? What to record and why
An asset register is the list of equipment you are responsible for, with enough detail to identify each item and show its inspections are current. The fields worth recording, a sample register, how it ties to LOLER, PUWER and PSSR record-keeping, and the mistakes that make a register useless at audit.
Read postWater hygiene logbook: why the run time matters more than the temperature
HSE HSG274 Part 2 makes the Legionella temperature checks time-bound: cold below 20C after running for two minutes, hot at least 50C within one minute. A reading with no run time evidences nothing. Plus flushing without release of aerosols, and why the record is per outlet.
Read postFire door checks under regulation 10: the record no template holds
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 require quarterly communal fire door checks and annual flat entrance door checks in buildings above 11 metres. Regulation 10 also requires a record of the steps taken to gain access where a resident did not let you in, which is the part generic checklists miss.
Read postOne site, three regimes: what LOLER, PUWER and PSSR each want from you
A worked walk through a single site's equipment, deciding which of LOLER, PUWER and PSSR applies to each item and what record each one leaves behind. For duty holders with mixed equipment who need to know what they should be holding, not which regulation is more interesting.
Read postWhy an incomplete statutory report is worse than a late one
A late examination is a visible gap that can be closed. An incomplete report is a document that looks like compliance and is not, sitting in the file until someone reads it properly. Why validation belongs at the point of issue, and what a system can honestly promise about it.
Read postPSSR: the written scheme, the 28-day report, and the imminent-danger duty
Under PSSR 2000 the written scheme of examination decides what is examined and when. Regulation 9(5) sets the four things the report must state, Regulation 9(3) sets the 28-day delivery duty with a whichever-is-sooner clause, and Regulation 10 carries the separate forthwith and 14-day enforcing-authority duties.
Read postPUWER Regulation 6 inspection records: what the regulation actually requires
Regulation 6 of PUWER 1998 prescribes no report contents and no inspection interval. What it does require, why a maintenance or service log alone is unlikely to show the inspection was done, what suitable intervals means in practice, and why the retention rule only works if each item carries a next-due date.
Read postWhat must a LOLER report contain? The eleven Schedule 1 particulars
Schedule 1 of LOLER 1998 enumerates eleven particulars a report of thorough examination must contain. Each one in statutory order, what it means in practice, how it goes missing, and why a report short of one does not satisfy Regulation 10 even when the examination was done correctly.
Read postAsbestos register with QR tagging: the CAR 2012 duty to manage, made findable
Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 requires dutyholders to keep an asbestos register and re-inspect known ACMs. How a QR-tagged register works, what the register must contain, and how re-inspection cycles stay on schedule.
Read postThe HSE LOLER review: what could change and what to do now
HSE ran a Call for Evidence in late 2025 reviewing LOLER 1998 and the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations, with outcomes pending through 2026. What the review covers, what might change, and the no-regrets moves for duty holders.
Read postCrane thorough examination under LOLER: intervals, triggers, and scope
Overhead cranes, mobile cranes, and tower cranes under LOLER 1998: the 12-month default, the after-erection trigger, the 6-month cycle for below-the-hook accessories, and what a thorough examination covers versus maintenance.
Read postBS 5306-8: how many extinguishers a UK premises needs, and where
BS 5306-8 governs the selection and positioning of portable fire extinguishers in UK premises. Coverage calculations by floor area, the 30-metre travel distance rule, class-specific siting, and what a fire risk assessor checks.
Read postAsset tagging fire equipment: QR codes and barcodes that survive audits
How UK fire services, facilities teams, and fire maintenance contractors tag extinguishers, alarms, doors, and emergency lighting with QR codes or barcodes so every inspection scans to the right asset record. Tag types, placement, and the audit trail behind the scan.
Read postFire safety log book UK: what the responsible person must record
What goes in a UK fire safety log book under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005: alarm tests, extinguisher checks, fire door inspections, emergency lighting, drills, training, and contractor visits. Paper vs digital, retention periods, and what enforcement officers ask to see.
Read postLOLER on construction sites: telehandlers, excavators, and hoists
Which construction plant falls under LOLER, when an excavator becomes lifting equipment, the intervals for telehandlers and site hoists, and how principal contractors check compliance at the gate.
Read postBS 5306-1 vs BS 5306-3: hose reels, portable extinguishers, and why they get confused
BS 5306-1 is the code of practice for hose reels and foam inlets. BS 5306-3 covers commissioning and maintaining portable fire extinguishers, and BS 5306-8 covers choosing and siting them. Which one applies to your site, and where UK sites most often get it wrong.
Read postLOLER category A vs B defects: worked examples for lifting equipment examiners
LOLER 1998 does not itself use category A and B wording: it is industry practice, codified by LEEA. Category A means immediate risk, out of service before further use; category B means repair within a set time. Worked examples across cranes, MEWPs, hoists, chain slings, and lifting accessories.
Read postWritten schemes of examination under LOLER: when and how to vary intervals
Regulation 9 lets a competent person draw up a written scheme of examination that varies the default 6-month and 12-month LOLER intervals. Who can write one, what it must contain, and when a scheme makes commercial and safety sense.
Read postLOLER record keeping: how long, what format, and what HSE asks for
Regulation 11 of LOLER 1998 sets how long reports of thorough examination must be kept and where. Retention periods by record type, paper vs digital formats, and what an HSE inspector actually asks to see.
Read postLOLER ACOP L113 explained: what it is and its legal status
L113 is the Approved Code of Practice for LOLER 1998. What an ACOP's special legal status means, what L113 covers that the regulations do not, and how the current HSE review may change it.
Read postInspection checklist design: 12 patterns that survive an audit
Twelve concrete patterns we see fail audits and twelve that survive them. Covers checklist structure, skip-logic, photo evidence, signature blocks, version trails, and what auditors look for when they pull a record from two years ago.
Read postLifting equipment thorough examination: LOLER, OSHA 1910.184, and how the regimes compare
A side-by-side guide to the UK LOLER 1998 framework, US OSHA 1910.184 standards, and the ISO standards underneath. Inspection intervals, competent-person definitions, and what a defensible record looks like in either jurisdiction.
Read postLOLER thorough examination 2026: intervals, competent person, and the HSE rules
Six-monthly and twelve-monthly thorough examinations under LOLER 1998. Competent-person definition, Schedule 1 report, categories of defect, and the seven things HSE check first.
Read postLOLER 1998 explained: what duty-holders have to do
Most LOLER compliance gaps come down to the same handful of misunderstandings of the 1998 regulations. Here's the working summary for duty-holders.
Read postFrom TagIt to Hovermarks: why we rebranded
We're now Hovermarks. Here's what changed, what didn't, and why the new name does a better job of describing the product.
Read postWhat a defensible audit trail looks like in 2026
Insurers and regulators are getting more sophisticated. A spreadsheet with a date column doesn't cut it anymore. Here's what does.
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