Posted By Dave Jackson Good morning all. We have a system in place where at the start of each shift all crane and FLT operators do a safety check list. My question is, how long must we keep copies of the results on file? Hope you can help Dave

Posted By George Wedgwood The real point is that something has to be seen to have been done after each checklist goes to a supervisor or local manager. It's all about looking for safety defects and a defect management system on PC would be a great help in keeping track of them. The other point is about checking that the daily checks have actually been done properly. Recently, I did a spot check with a manager, which he supported, and actually took the checklist to the relevant vehicle, where we found a catalogue of safety defects - and yet the list had been signed as 'OK'! When the operator was asked, he shrugged and stated that nothing ever got done so he ended up just ticking and signing to keep the peace! The Manager was 'too busy' to see if the system was effective. The actual records of defects (and ticks to say that the item has been visually checked as OK), provide at least some defence if a problem occurs that causes injury. However, don't rely on it! My advice is to keep the records for the life of the vehicle or work equipment (these can be transferred to PC if you have the resource) and that demonstrates that the employer has been diligent throughout the life of the work equipment - even if some defects have been occasionally overlooked. No system is perfect so make a point of monitoring it from time to time, with the people concerned, to show that the system is important and that their efforts get results. George