Overview, planning, documentation: good inspection deadline management is based on these three pillars. Those who take them into account will no longer have sleepless nights during an upcoming audit or revision. Software tools such as those from Hoppe Unternehmensberatung help companies to be up to date in this area:

1. obtain an overview of inventory, devices and deadlines

In order to comply with the prescribed control obligations, you first need an overview of the company's inventory. Appropriate software helps to keep a detailed inventory of all of a company's assets and thus creates the necessary transparency. The inventory software also records the location of work equipment, warranty periods and repairs carried out, which is important for audits. The inventory software is therefore also suitable as legally compliant proof of insurance. If you have an overview of your inventory, its value, new acquisitions and sales, you don't have to worry about any more audits.

It's no secret that machines and systems have to be inspectedregularly . But there are also various other items of equipment that need to be inspected that may not be immediately obvious: Electrical appliances and emergency vehicles, shelving, ladders - even gates and windows are subject to inspection intervals. Companies can use a maintenance planner to ensure they don't lose track of the amount of equipment that needs to be inspected. The software records the objects and devices to be inspected and offers various detailed functions. Employees are given a quick overview of the maintenance status of the work equipment subject to mandatory inspections as well as access to due maintenance dates. This makes it easy to ensure important occupational safety.

2. preparation and planning

Inspections and maintenance must be planned and carefully scheduled. This prevents maintenance cycles from colliding with other processes, machines being taken out of production at inconvenient times or appointments not being able to be coordinated because the responsible employees are out of the office. In particular, cyclically recurring maintenance work requires precise timing with the maintenance department in order to avoid downtimes.

The maintenance planner from Hoppe Unternehmensberatung is based on DIN EN ISO 9001. © Hoppe Management Consulting

A maintenance planner helps to smooth out the often bumpy coordination of the necessary work steps. For good planning and smooth organization, it is therefore essential to know the life cycles of the systems requiring inspection. Ideally, the legally prescribed maintenance, servicing, rectification offaultsor repairs are assigned to each system and machine - child's play with the appropriate software. In addition, the inspections no longer have to be coordinated between several systems or tools, as there are no interface problems. The susceptibility to errors is reduced.

3. precise documentation of inspections and maintenance

Once work equipment anddeviceshave beentested, it is necessary to document the results: It should be traceable, easy to find and preferably centralized so that everyone who needs it has access to it. Documenting inspections, maintenance and repairs manually on paper or in self-programmed Excel spreadsheets is still often done this way, but it is no longer a modern solution. It is time-consuming and error-prone, and the administrative effort and manual work for employees is enormous.

The maintenance planner software makes it possible to clearly record faults, maintenance work, inspections, servicing and repairs. © Hoppe Management Consulting

Software does this more efficiently: It documents the results of maintenance and servicing in the system. All relevant information is available to those responsible at the click of a mouse. This overview makes it possible to identify and correct weak points in the processes and the transparency helps to optimize work processes.

A very important factor for companies, apart from the increased efficiency of processes, is that the software offers legally compliant documentation and therefore legal certainty. A company can easily prove that inspections have been carried out correctly and within the prescribed periods and can prove that enough has been done to prevent machine breakdowns and accidents at work.

Maintenance planners and inventory software prevent the dreaded scenario of machines coming to a standstill because their repair status was not known or the company was not prepared for an upcoming inspection. There are no production downtimes or disrupted production chains. Spare parts are available in good time and repairs to machines are not delayed. Optimal conditions for employee safety: accidents and downtimes are minimized.

Fines for non-compliance with maintenance deadlines or suspended insurance cover: companies with the right software no longer have to worry about worst-case scenarios. This digitalized inspection and maintenance management enables up-to-date and legally compliant occupational health and safety that is simple, safe and economical.