Compliance guide · Inspection & records
Providing PPE is half the duty; the other half is keeping it working — maintained, checked, replaced. The rules scale sensibly: a glove gets a glance, a harness gets a signed record. Knowing which regime each item sits in is what keeps both the workforce and the paperwork defensible.
The regimes
Everything gets pre-use checks: the wearer's quick look — tears, contamination, expired date stamps, seized fittings. It's informal, it's every use, and inductions should teach what 'failed' looks like per item (our care pages — hi-vis condition, FR retirement signs, repair-or-replace logic — are effectively the syllabus).
Some kit adds formal, recorded inspection by a competent person: fall-arrest equipment leads the list (periodic detailed inspections, at least annually and usually more often, recorded per item with unique IDs), followed by RPE — reusable respirators need documented monthly-style examinations plus fit-test records per wearer — and inspection-and-test regimes attach to insulating gloves for electrical work and similar Category III equipment. Helmets sit between: no statutory inspection interval, but date-of-manufacture stamps, maker's service life and post-impact replacement make an informal register worthwhile on any site that issues them (the age checker does the date maths).
The records themselves: what was inspected (unique ID), when, by whom, findings, next due. Keep them at least through the equipment's life; they're the first thing asked for after an incident — and their absence reads as an unmanaged system regardless of the kit's actual state.
The map
| Equipment | Regime | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Harnesses, lanyards, blocks | Pre-use + formal recorded inspection | Withdraw immediately after arresting a fall |
| Reusable RPE | Pre-use + documented examinations + fit-test records | Filters on schedule; records per wearer |
| Safety helmets | Pre-use + date/impact management | Replace on impact or maker's life — check the stamp |
| Hi-vis, FR garments | Pre-use + condition-based retirement | Fading and contamination are the failure modes |
| Gloves, disposables | Pre-use; consumed, not inspected | Stock management is the control |
Questions
Fall-arrest equipment heads the list — periodic detailed inspection by a competent person, recorded per item — followed by reusable RPE (documented examinations plus fit-test records) and specialist items like electrical insulating gloves. Everyday PPE runs on pre-use checks and condition-based replacement instead.
At least through the equipment's service life, and organisations commonly keep them longer — they're primary evidence after any incident. Each record should identify the item uniquely, the inspector, the date, findings and the next inspection due.
No statutory interval exists, but helmets carry date-of-manufacture stamps and manufacturers state service lives — so a simple issue register with dates, plus replace-on-impact discipline, is cheap defensibility. The pre-use glance for cracks and UV chalking does the daily work.
Whatever the risk assessment says the team needs, it's stocked, certified and priced for volume.