Posted By Ian Waldram In UK all such equipment has to be regularly inspected by a competent person. The colour coding (a small area of paint in a special colour) helps to ensure that no item is missed when such inspections are due. Thus, every piece of movable lifting equipment which should be inspected regularly is painted with the current colour, and when the inspection is due they are all collected and replaced by an item with the new colour. At the same time the new colour is displayed on suitable notice boards around the site, and included in the site induction training, toolbox talks, etc. Anyone who uses the equipment must check that it is the new colour, if not it means it is overdue an inspection, and must be returned to the lifting gear store immediately. You need to have three or four different colours that you use in rotation. You also need to have enough spare equipment, because trying to collect it all at once for inspection and repainting means that work is stopped, which normally you don't want. You also need one organisation responsible for all the lifting equipment on the site - it doesn't work well if there are many contractors each with their own equipment and colour-coding! You also need agreement on what the standard frequency is for 'thorough inspection by a competent person', if that is not defined in local legislation (this is in addition to the simple inspection that the user should make every time they use such equipment). I hope this outlines how to implement such a system. Obviously you need to have a procedure which gives all the details, and who is responsible for what on your particular site.