Is a Digital Inspection Checklist All That?

Do you sometimes wonder…if a digital inspection checklist is worth the money, time and effort? If all that is being done is taking the current paper checklist and entering it into a software system and the same checklist of questions is being presented to the operator in a digital format? Is there anything else to the digital inspection checklist solution? You have to stop and ask yourself: Is the digital inspection checklist all that? Well, let’s find out.

What is a Digital Inspection Checklist?

To some, a digital inspection checklist means that less time is spent on the administration side once the checklist is complete. Others say that they need it for compliance, like OSHA compliance. And even more believe that a digital inspection checklist ensures that a piece of equipment like a forklift has been inspected. Are all of these safety professionals, right? Or is there more to the story. Let’s break it down.

Benefits to the Digital Inspection Checklist

It is a goal to turn the paper-based material handling vehicle’s forklift inspection into a digital solution. That’s because there has been many safety professional complaints about operators driving away leaving the checklist blank. Or the forklift operator ‘pencil whipping’ or quickly checking everything off without reading, without checking the true health of the vehicle. These issues cause a problem for OSHA compliance leaving the company vulnerable to potential fines…and plenty of them. So what are some of the benefits of digital inspection checklist now that we discussed the problem?

• In order to encourage reading of each question, you, the safety manager can turn on the feature of ‘randomizing’ the questions. The operator will not know which question will come first, second, third and so forth. By electronically pencil whipping, the operator has a high risk of failing the forklift inspection.
• If the forklift inspection fails, an electronic notification will go to those responsible or needed to know that the forklift failed in order to take action quickly in order to minimize the downtime of the asset. If it was due to quickly completing the inspection, management will now know that as well.
• As the forklift operator goes through the digital inspection checklist and answers the questions, these answers get recorded in the cloud-based telemetry Dashboard. These findings will track the history of the asset, giving valuable insights into keeping each of the forklifts or assets healthy and working at maximizing its useful life.
• All of this leads to OSHA compliance and quick reporting if asked for ‘proof’ of the inspections.

Impact Detection

Because the inspection checklist is digitized, more features can be added and greater insights can be found. This is where impact detection comes in. By utilizing the SIERA.AI forklift safety system, you will automatically get impact detection. This allows greater insights as to what the forklifts or other material handling assets are experiencing on the facility floor.

– Are there low impacts? If so, how many, how often, who and where.
– Are there medium impacts?
– High impacts?

By understanding the answers to these questions, safety professionals can begin to take action to mitigate the risk of equipment, facility and product damage which also leads to bottom line savings for the company as well.

Contact Us!

Contact us today at sales@siera.ai or call us at (512) 817 0702.