Auditing your kit

Why audits matter

An audit is a periodic check on a piece of kit. You confirm it still exists, record its current condition, and document anything you need to know about it. Done regularly, audits keep your asset register honest and give you the inspection trail you need for things like:

• PAT testing on electrical equipment
• LOLER inspections on lifting gear
• Pre-use checks on harnesses and fall arrest equipment
• Calibration tracking on survey kit and measuring tools
• Hire fleet condition checks before kit goes back out
• General stock checks to make sure nothing's gone walkabout

Every audit is permanent, signed off, timestamped, and impossible to edit after the fact. That's what makes the audit history a defensible record if you ever need to prove an inspection happened.

When to run an audit

Reach for the Audit button when:

• A scheduled audit is due (the Asset will be on the Pending Audits banner)
• A piece of kit has come back from repair and you want to clear the maintenance flag
• You're doing a stock check on the yard
• A specific incident has prompted a one-off check (a near miss, a complaint, an insurance request)

Setting up an audit schedule

Every Asset has an audit schedule that decides when it's next due. The schedule has two settings:

• Audit Interval Days — how often the kit should be audited (90 for quarterly, 30 for monthly, 365 for annual)
• Audit Reminder Days Before — how many days before the next audit it should start showing on the Pending Audits banner (so you get a warning, not a surprise)

You can set these in two places:

• At the category level — every Asset in the category inherits the same schedule. This is the easy way for groups of similar kit. See Categories
• On the Asset itself — open the Asset, find the Audit Schedule card in the sidebar, and click Configure. The Asset's schedule overrides anything inherited from its category

For most kit, the category-level schedule is enough. Use the per-Asset override only when a specific item needs different treatment (for example, an old harness that needs more frequent checks than the rest).

How the Pending Audits banner works

The banner at the top of the company-wide Assets list flags two groups of kit:

• Overdue — Assets where the next audit date has already passed
• Upcoming — Assets where the next audit date is inside the reminder window

It's the easiest way to see what needs auditing without trawling the whole register. Click any Asset on the banner to jump straight to it and run the audit.

Opening the audit form

You can open the audit form in three ways:

• From the Assets list — click Audit on a row, or use the actions dropdown
• From the Asset detail page — click the Audit button in the header
• From the Pending Audits banner — click an Asset listed in the banner

All three open the Audit Asset form in a dialog.

Filling in the form

1. 1

   Pick the Condition — Excellent, Good, Fair, or Poor — to capture the current state of the kit. This is the only required field besides the signature.

2. 2

   Add Condition Notes if there's anything worth recording about how the kit is performing.

3. 3

   The Actual Location Confirmed checkbox is ticked by default. If the kit isn't where the system thinks it is, untick it and add Location Notes describing where it actually is.

4. 4

   Optionally override the Next Audit Date if you want to schedule the next check on a specific day rather than letting the interval calculate it.

5. 5

   If the Asset is currently flagged for maintenance, tick Clear Maintenance Flag to bring it back into service as part of this audit.

6. 6

   Sign the audit (see below).

7. 7

   Drag in any Evidence Photos showing the inspection — typically photos of the kit, PAT test stickers, calibration labels, serial numbers, or anything noteworthy about the condition.

8. 8

   Click Save Audit.

Signing the audit

Every audit needs a signature so you know who carried it out. The form gives you two ways to sign:

• Draw mode — sign with your finger on a touchscreen, or with your mouse on a desktop, on the canvas in the dialog
• Type mode — type your name and it'll appear in cursive

Toggle between the two modes with the switch at the top of the signature area. Both options leave a clear record of who signed off the inspection.

Confirming the location

The Actual Location Confirmed checkbox is ticked by default — it assumes the kit is where the register thinks it is. Untick it only if your physical inspection shows the kit somewhere else.

When you untick it, a Location Notes field appears so you can describe where the kit actually is. The audit still saves, and the location notes become part of the permanent record so future audits can chase the discrepancy.

This is genuinely useful when an audit reveals kit has wandered to a different site without anyone updating the register.

Clearing the maintenance flag

If the Asset is currently flagged for maintenance (because it was flagged during a previous check-in), you'll see a Clear Maintenance Flag checkbox on the audit form. Tick it to clear the flag as part of this audit.

The standard pattern is:

1. Kit comes back damaged, gets flagged for maintenance at check-in
2. Repair work happens
3. Audit is run on the now-fixed kit, condition is set to Good or Excellent, and Clear Maintenance Flag is ticked
4. The Asset moves back to Available and can be checked out again

This keeps a clear paper trail showing the kit was inspected before being returned to circulation — which is often a hard requirement for safety-critical equipment.

Evidence photos

You can attach photos and documents as evidence — typically:

• Photos of the kit at the time of audit
• Close-ups of PAT test stickers or calibration labels
• Photos of the serial number to prove identity
• Anything unusual about the condition

There's also a Guided Camera option that walks you through a stepped photo capture flow — useful for inspections where you need a specific set of shots in a defined order (for example, four sides of a harness, top and bottom of a ladder, all four sides of a vehicle).

You can mark up the photos with arrows, circles, and text before saving them. See Attachments and annotation.

What happens after you save

When you click Save Audit, the audit is added to the Asset's history (visible on the Audit History tab on the detail page sidebar). The next audit date is calculated from the interval, or set to whatever override you entered. The Asset is taken off the Pending Audits banner if it was on there, and the maintenance flag is cleared if you ticked the option.

You can't edit or delete an audit after it's saved — the history is intentionally append-only so it stays defensible. If you spot a mistake, run a new audit with the correct values and add a note explaining what changed.

Real-world examples

• Quarterly PAT testing — set the Power Tools category to a 90-day audit interval, then work through the Pending Audits banner each quarter and sign off each tool with a photo of the new PAT sticker
• Harness inspection — set the Harnesses subcategory to a 30-day interval with a 7-day warning, and use the Guided Camera each time to capture all four sides
• Bringing a fixed grinder back into service — open the grinder, click Audit, set condition to Good, tick Clear Maintenance Flag, sign, and the grinder is back on the Available list
• End-of-month yard stock check — run audits on every piece of plant in the yard, ticking Actual Location Confirmed for everything that's where it should be, and unticking it (with notes) for anything missing or in the wrong spot

Next steps

• Audit history — to view past audits.
• Categories — to set default audit intervals at the category level.
• Check-in — to set the maintenance flag that audits later clear.