What is a lifting equipment inspection register?
A lifting equipment register lists every crane, forklift, man-lift and lifting accessory on your sites with its last thorough examination by a competent third party, the certificate number and when the next examination is due. A good register also covers the people: the operator, rigger and signaller cards that clients and authorities ask to see.
The aim is simple: no machine or sling is used after its certificate expires, and nobody operates or rigs without a valid card. In practice the dates sit on paper certificates in different site offices, and an expired one is found by an inspector or after an incident. One register with calculated due dates puts them in front of you weeks before.
What do Gulf authorities require?
Rules differ by country and emirate, and clients often add their own. A short summary, checked on 21 October 2026:
- Dubai: cranes, lifts, lifting equipment and gear, and forklifts are inspected and certified every 12 months by a third party accredited by EIAC, and the certificate is kept on site. Crane, man-lift and forklift operators, riggers and signallers must be approved by an EIAC-accredited third party (Dubai Municipality, DM-HSD-GU48-ECLA1, version 5, 29 January 2025, §4-1).
- Sharjah: a thorough examination by a third party before first use and at least every 12 months for lifting goods, every 6 months for equipment lifting people and for lifting accessories; findings go in the lifting equipment inspection register, and operator, signaller and rigger certificates are kept (SPSA, OSHJ-CoP-10, version 2, July 2024, §5.7–5.8).
- Bahrain: lifting equipment is inspected at least weekly while in use; cranes, pulleys and cradles get a full test every 6 months and hoists and winches every 14 months (Ministerial Decision No. 5 of 2014, Articles 5 and 17).
- Saudi Arabia: SASO's technical regulation for lifting equipment requires a certificate of conformity for new and used cranes, forklifts and accessories placed on the market (SGS notice, 17 March 2026). Periodic inspection intervals then come from your client or project HSE plan.
The register does not choose for you: enter the interval for each type on the Settings sheet, using the strictest rule that applies to the site.
How to use the register and lift plan
- Set the intervals for each equipment and accessory type, the warning window (30 days in the example) and your site codes.
- Enter each machine and accessory from its third-party certificate: last examination date, inspection body and certificate number.
- Enter each card with its expiry date and issuer.
- Log defects from pre-use checks and examinations, and close them with a date when fixed.
- Review the Summary every week: stop anything Expired or with No certificate, and book examinations for anything Due soon.
- For each planned lift, complete the Word lift plan and check its certificates against the register.
How does the register work out the status?
Cards use the expiry date on the card in the same way. The as-of date is today by default; type a fixed date on Settings to review a past day.
Worked example: six machines on 21 October 2026
- CR-02, a hired crawler crane examined on 14 September 2025 with a 12-month interval, was due on 14 September 2026: 37 days ago, so Expired. It must stop until the hire company has it examined.
- ML-03, a man-lift examined on 18 May 2026 with the 6-month interval for lifting people, is due on 18 November 2026: 28 days left, so Due soon.
- CR-01 is within its certificate, but a load moment indicator warning logged on 18 October is still open as "out of service until repaired", so the crane shows Out of service.
- On the Operators sheet, a forklift operator's card expired on 19 June 2026 and a lift supervisor has no card recorded: both show in red.
Common mistakes with lifting equipment records
- Tracking cranes but not accessories. Slings and shackles have shorter intervals in many codes and wear faster.
- Forgetting hired machines. The site that uses the crane is responsible for checking its certificate, whoever owns it.
- One interval for everything. Equipment lifting people often has a shorter interval than equipment lifting goods.
- Defects without a closing date. An open defect nobody closes leaves a machine in use with an unknown fault, or stopped for no reason.
- Cards checked only at induction. Operator cards expire during long projects.
What the template does not do
The register follows the dates you enter. It does not replace the third-party examination, the certificate or the pre-use check, and it does not tell you which rule applies to your site. The rules summary is for reference and may change; check the current text with the authority before relying on it. The lift plan is a form: the load chart, the capacity limits for critical lifts and the method come from the crane manufacturer and your company or client procedure. For daily machine checks, use the Heavy Equipment Daily Inspection Checklist; for document dates beyond lifting, the Fleet Document Expiry Reminder.