This post in 30 seconds.
- The check: at the start of every shift the operator walks the truck, tests brakes, steering, lift and tilt, and documents the result. L117 calls this a documented pre-shift check.
- The weak spot: a week of identical ticks proves a pen was used. It doesn't show the fork heel, the chain or the tyre on the day someone asks.
- The defect path: truck out of use, supervisor told, repaired by someone authorised, checked again and signed back, with each step traceable to the same truck.
- Who this is for: warehouse managers, logistics site managers and health and safety managers running forklift and lift truck fleets in the UK and Ireland.
Pull the forklift daily check sheet folder for last month on almost any site and you'll find the same thing. Row after row of ticks, the same handwriting on three trucks, and a Tuesday with no sheet at all.
Now picture the one morning that matters. An operator on the early shift finds a hairline crack on a fork heel, tells a team leader, and the truck is parked.
By the afternoon it's back in use. Who repaired it, who said it was safe, and where is that written down?
If the answer is "somebody's memory", the sheet did its job on day one and failed on every day after. This guide is about the whole chain: what the operator checks, what HSE expects under PUWER and the L117 code of practice, how the daily check differs from the LOLER thorough examination, what happens when a defect turns up, and why a dated photo of that crack is worth more than a tick.
Warehouse and site managers know the defect book that goes missing the week an insurer calls. We build Venta Capture, VentaVid's guided capture product, so the operator's own check lands as a dated record with photos of what they saw. See how a guided daily check works, then judge whether it fits your fleet.
In this post:
What the operator checks before the shift
The operator checks the truck against its handbook at the start of each shift, and HSE's L117 expects the result to be documented, not just done. Our glossary covers the forklift daily check and the wider idea of a pre-use inspection, so this section stays on the order a good check runs in.
L117, paragraph 162 lists what checks "may typically include". Grouped the way an operator actually moves around a counterbalance truck, it looks like this.
Walkaround, truck parked, forks lowered
- Tyres: damage such as swarf, nails, embedded material, cuts and bubbles, with particular attention to the side walls. Pressures on pneumatic tyres.
- Wheels: condition, especially the flanges on rims with pneumatic tyres, and wheel nuts tight and secure.
- Forks: cracks, particularly on the heels and mounting hooks, bent or damaged tips, and missing or damaged fork positioning locks.
- Chains: secure anchor pins and fixing bolts, damaged or elongated links, lubrication.
- Hydraulics: obvious leaks, and fluid level correct with the forks in the parked position.
- Overhead guard and load back-rest extension: condition and security.
- Power: fuel, water and oils on engine trucks. On battery trucks, charged and leak free, charger off, lead disconnected and stored, battery retention device in place.
Function tests, operator seated
- Brakes and steering: a functional test of the parking brake, service brakes and steering gear.
- Lift, tilt and attachments: a functional test of lifting, tilting and manipulation, including any attachment.
- Warning and visibility: horn, lights, mirrors and any other visibility aids fitted.
Two situations trip sites up. On double or triple shifts, "the beginning of each shift" means each operator checks the truck they take over, not one check per day. OSHA's rule for US sites says the same thing in its own words: trucks used round the clock are examined after each shift.
Hired trucks are the other one. L117 paragraph 170 says the hire company and the user should agree who does the safety maintenance and thorough examinations, but the user still has to make sure pre-use checks happen and defects are reported and remedied. The hire agreement doesn't move the daily check off your site.
What the law asks for in the UK
No single regulation prints a forklift check sheet, but the duty to check, report and keep a record runs through PUWER, LOLER and the L117 code of practice together. I went through L117 paragraph by paragraph for this piece, and the useful part for a site manager is short: paragraphs 160 to 172.
Here's how the pieces fit.
- PUWER 1998, regulation 5: work equipment has to be maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair. Brakes, steering and tyres sit here.
- PUWER 1998, regulation 6: equipment exposed to conditions causing deterioration that could lead to dangerous situations is inspected at suitable intervals, and under regulation 6(3) the result of an inspection is recorded and kept until the next one is recorded. Your risk assessment decides what counts as an inspection on your site.
- LOLER 1998: the lifting parts (mast, chains, carriage, forks, tilt mechanism) need a thorough examination by a competent person at set intervals. More on that in the next section.
- L117 paragraph 161: you should make sure there is "a documented pre-shift check", "a system for reporting defects and ensuring remedial work is carried out", a planned routine maintenance system, and "a periodic thorough examination and regular safety inspection."
One line in L117 catches people out. Paragraph 164 says there is no legal requirement to keep a record of maintenance checks, but if you do, you must keep it up to date. That's about maintenance, not the pre-shift check, which paragraph 161 wants documented.
L117 (third edition, 2013) mixes two kinds of text. The Approved Code of Practice paragraphs, which have special legal status, cover operator training; the maintenance and pre-shift check paragraphs quoted here are HSE guidance. Guidance isn't compulsory, but it's the benchmark you'd be measured against, and if the daily check isn't written down you have nothing to point at.
For readers in the US, OSHA 29 CFR 1910.178(q)(7) requires trucks to be examined before being placed in service, at least daily, and "Defects when found shall be immediately reported and corrected." Paragraph (q)(1) adds that a truck not in safe operating condition "shall be removed from service." The rest of this post uses the UK framework.
Daily check vs thorough examination
The operator's daily check and the LOLER thorough examination are different jobs done by different people, and a clean check sheet never stands in for the examination report. HSE's lift truck thorough examination page is blunt about a related mix-up: "Your regular inspections as part of a preventive maintenance scheme or scheduled service are not a thorough examination."
The detail behind the bottom row comes from L117 paragraphs 165 to 169, and HSE's page on thorough examinations of lifting equipment:
- Interval: lifting parts at least every 12 months, or under an examination scheme drawn up by a competent person. Trucks and attachments used to lift people, even occasionally, at least every six months.
- Who: a competent person with enough practical and theoretical knowledge to find defects and judge how much they matter, and independent enough to be objective, especially if they also service the truck.
- The report: a report of thorough examination, retained by the employer for at least two years.
- Serious defects: where there's an existing or imminent risk of serious personal injury, the competent person says so on the report, recommends the truck is withdrawn from service immediately, and copies the report to the enforcing authority (HSE or the local authority).
Our glossary entries on the LOLER inspection and the PUWER inspection go further on each. The point for the daily check is simpler.
The examiner sees the truck once or twice a year. Your operators see it every shift. When the examiner asks what's been happening to that mast since the last report, the daily records are the only history there is.
When the check finds a defect
A defect only gets handled properly when the record follows the truck from the moment of the fail to the moment someone signs it back into use. L117 paragraph 172 sets the rule: defects are reported, and "if safety critical, the lift truck should not be used until the fault is rectified."
Take the early-shift example from the top. Here's the path, step by step, and the paragraph each step leans on.
- Stop and don't use it. The operator finds the crack on the fork heel during the walkaround. Forks are on the L117 paragraph 162 list by name, heels included. The truck stays parked.
- Make it obvious. Tag the truck out of use at the truck itself, and take control of the key under your site's key custody arrangement, so the next operator can't pick it up. The tag is for the shop floor; the record is for later.
- Report to the supervisor. Paragraph 162 says the operator reports defects that might affect safe operation "to the supervisor". Write down who was told and when, not just "reported".
- Decide what kind of defect it is. Is it safety critical? A cracked fork heel is. A cracked mirror on a truck that works a fenced bay might be judged differently. A simple defect classification stops that call being made differently on every shift.
- Repair by someone authorised. Paragraph 164: operators, unless suitably qualified and authorised, should not carry out repairs and adjustments. If the damage is to lifting parts and there's any doubt about the truck's safe condition, talk to your competent person about whether it needs examining before use.
- Check it again and sign it back. Someone authorised confirms the fix and the truck returns to service. That inspection sign-off needs a name, a date and a reference to the defect it closes.
- Next shift, normal check. The following pre-shift check on that truck should show the forks as passed. That's the last link.
Now the test. Take any defect from last month and see whether your records can answer these six questions without anyone having to remember:
- Which truck, by fleet number or serial, not "the blue reach truck"?
- What exactly was wrong, and what did it look like?
- What time was it found, and by whom?
- Who was told, and when?
- Who repaired it, and what did they do?
- Who signed it back into use, and did the next check pass?
Most paper systems answer the first and the last. The four in the middle usually live in a text message, a job sheet in a different folder, or a conversation.
Why a photo of the defect beats a tick
A tick records that someone says they looked. A photo records what they saw, on which truck, with a time the system received it. That difference matters most on the rare day your records are read by someone who wasn't there.
The paper check sheet has predictable weak spots:
- Filled in from memory. A full row of passes written at the end of the week reads exactly like a row done at the truck.
- The zero-defect fleet. Trucks that never fail a check for months are more often a sign of nobody looking than of perfect trucks.
- No truck identity. A sheet on a clipboard that moves between trucks, with no serial or fleet number.
- No condition. "Forks OK" says nothing about the heel wear the examiner flagged last time.
- The fail with no ending. A cross in the box, and nothing on the sheet that shows what happened next.
- Lost or illegible. Rained on at the yard door, or thrown out when the folder got full.
A photo doesn't fix all of that, but it changes a few things.
A close-up of the fork heel with the fleet number in the next shot shows the condition on that date. A short video of the mast going through lift and tilt shows the function test happened.
And a picture of the defect travels with the report to the supervisor and the technician, so nobody fixes the wrong fork.
Be honest about the limits, too. A photo can be taken of the wrong truck, and a staged picture is still a picture. A server-side timestamp proves when the record was received, not when the crack appeared.
What you gain is evidence that's much harder to fake by accident: photos taken in the session on the operator's phone, tied to the truck, with an audit trail of who did what. We wrote about why unguided uploads fall short in guided photo capture.
If your defect book can't answer those six questions, have a look at Venta Capture and how a check with photos lands as a record.
A guided daily check on the operator's phone
The operator still does the check; a guided capture flow just makes sure the same steps happen in the same order and the record comes back complete. Venta Capture doesn't inspect the truck and doesn't make your site compliant. It produces the dated record of the check your trained operator carries out.
Here's a flow for a counterbalance truck, following the L117 paragraph 162 list. The photo, video and yes/no steps are the kind your own team adjusts in a standard flow; the defect branch in step 8 and any routing are conditional logic that VentaVid sets up around your process.
- Scan the truck. A QR code on the overhead guard or dashboard opens the flow. A scan step reads the fleet number; typing it in is the fallback.
- Hours meter. One photo. It ties the check to the truck's running hours, which your maintenance regime probably runs on.
- Tyres and wheels. Photo slots for each corner, with an example photo and one line: "side walls, cuts, embedded material, wheel nuts".
- Forks. A close-up of each fork heel and the positioning locks. This is the shot the fork example earlier would have needed.
- Mast and chains. A photo from the side, and a short video of lift and tilt with the instruction on screen: "raise, lower and tilt, and say out loud if anything sounds wrong". Spoken comments are transcribed into the record.
- Hydraulics and power. Leaks under the truck, and either fluid levels or the battery, charger lead and retention device.
- Seated tests. Yes or no for parking brake, service brakes, steering, horn, lights and mirrors, plus anything your handbook adds, such as the seat restraint.
- Any defect? A yes steers to a defect step: photo of the fault, a short video if it helps, which part, and "have you tagged the truck out of use?"
- Declaration and submit. A checkbox, then a reference number the operator can quote to the supervisor.
A few things about how that record behaves once it's sent.
- It's asynchronous. Nobody has to be on a call with the operator at 6am. The check is submitted when it's done, and the supervisor reviews it when they're in.
- Defects don't sit in a pile. A workflow rule can send an email to a named address, such as the shift supervisor or workshop, when "any defect" is answered yes. Conditional rules and routing like this are set up around your process by VentaVid, scoped on a call. Workflow automation covers what's possible.
- Statuses match your defect path. Configure statuses such as reported, out of use, repaired, signed back, and assign the case to whoever owns the repair, with internal notes on the case.
- The sign-back links to the fail. The repaired-truck check becomes its own case, linked to the defect case, so the record shows both.
- Missing shots get asked for again. If the fork heel photo is blurred, a retake request goes back, and the operator's reason for the retake is kept. The review and retake page shows how.
- The record is sealed on receipt. Each submission carries a server-recorded receipt time and a SHA-256 fingerprint, which is what makes it a sealed submission: you can show later that the file is the one you received.
One thing it won't do on its own: remind operators that a check is due. The QR code on the truck is the trigger, and your shift start routine is what makes people scan it.
Rolling it out across a site
Start with one shift and a handful of trucks, and judge it on whether defects get reported and closed, not on how many forms come in. A daily check that nobody reviews is the paper problem again in a different format.
- Pick the trucks. Two or three with the most defects in the last quarter, or the ones on the busiest shift.
- Put the QR code on the truck. On the overhead guard or dash, where the operator sits down. A code on the office wall gets scanned from the office.
- Sort the phone question first. Many sites ban phones on the floor. Decide whether operators use a site phone kept at the charging area, or their own phone at the truck before moving, and write it into the shift start.
- Brief with the fork heel. Show operators the difference between "Forks OK" and a photo of both heels. It explains the whole change in one picture.
- Review weekly for four weeks. Look at missing checks by shift, defects reported per truck, and how long defect cases stayed open. Those are your numbers, from your fleet.
- Watch for the zero-defect truck. If a truck logs passes for a month, look at its photos. They'll tell you quickly whether the check is real.
- Keep the thorough examination separate. File the competent person's report where it always goes, for at least two years, and give the examiner access to the daily records for that truck when they ask.
When a truck strikes the racking, the report moves to a different regime, covered in racking inspection, from hit upright to decision. The thorough examination side of lift trucks is in LOLER inspection records.
Frequently asked questions
Does a forklift daily check sheet have to be written down?
L117 paragraph 161 says there should be a documented pre-shift check, and paragraph 162 says the operator should document the results. PUWER regulation 6(3) also requires the results of inspections to be recorded and kept until the next one. In practice, an undocumented check is very hard to show happened.
How long should we keep forklift daily check records?
PUWER regulation 6(3) sets the minimum for inspection results as until the next inspection is recorded, and thorough examination reports are kept for at least two years. Many sites keep daily checks longer so a defect history for each truck is available to the examiner, an insurer or an investigation. Check with your insurer and your own risk assessment.
Is the daily check the same as the LOLER thorough examination?
No. The daily check is done by the trained operator at the start of each shift; the thorough examination is done by a competent person at least every 12 months, or every six months if the truck lifts people. HSE also states that routine maintenance inspections or a scheduled service are not a thorough examination.
What should happen when a forklift fails its daily check?
If the defect is safety critical, the truck isn't used until the fault is rectified, per L117 paragraph 172. The operator reports it to the supervisor, a suitably qualified and authorised person repairs it, and someone authorised signs it back into service with the record linked to the original defect.
Does the check need doing on every shift?
L117 says at the beginning of each shift, so on multi-shift sites each operator checks the truck they take over. OSHA 1910.178(q)(7) takes the same approach for US sites where trucks run round the clock.
Our operators can't carry phones on the warehouse floor. Does a phone-based check still work?
Yes, if you plan for it. Some sites keep a shared phone at the charging area, others allow a phone at the truck before it moves. The flow runs in the phone's browser, so there's no app to install on a shared device.
Does Venta Capture make our forklift checks compliant?
No software does that. Your trained operators do the check, your supervisors act on defects and your competent person does the thorough examination. Venta Capture produces the dated, photographed record of the check, which is what you'll be asked to show.
Start with one truck
Pick the truck with the most defects in the last quarter, put a QR code on the overhead guard, and run one shift on it. Then ask the six questions about the first defect that comes through.
What it takes to start.
- Free plan, no credit card. Build the flow, run it on one truck, then show it to your supervisors.
- Live in 10 minutes for a first standard flow. Stuck? Book a free setup call and we build your first flow together.
- Everything goes out in your own branding, in the operator's language, with no app to install.
The VentaVid team builds Venta Capture and runs the free setup call on your own check sheet.
See Venta Capture on your daily checks
Or start for free and turn your current check sheet into a guided flow today. If you'd rather talk it through against your fleet first, book a demo.