Recording and reporting operational information
This domain tests whether you can produce records that would stand up to scrutiny by an HSE inspector or a court: accurate, contemporaneous, machine-identifiable and complete.
Core rules
- What is recorded: daily and weekly check sheets, defects and rectification, hour meter readings, fuel and AdBlue use, work completed, downtime, per mit and lift plan details, handover notes, near misses and accidents.
- Legal records you may feed into: PUWER reg. 6 inspection records, LOLER thorough examination reports (6 months for lifting accessories and equipment used for lifting people, 12 months for other lifting equipment), COSHH assessments, RIDDOR reports and the accident book.
- RIDDOR 2013 timescales - specified injuries and dangerous occurrences reported without delay and followed in writing within 10 days; over-7-day incapacitation reported within 15 days.
- Contemporaneous, factual, no opinion. Record times, machine number, location, weather and ground conditions, what happened in sequence, who was present and what you did. Avoid blame and speculation.
- Personal data in reports is handled under data protection rules - share only with those who need it.
- A record on the wrong machine number is worthless: it can clear the wrong machine, leave a defective one in service and undermine the whole reporting chain.
Worked example
Your counterweight clips a scaffold standard; nobody is injured. You stop, inform the supervisor, and complete a report on the same shift: machine number, hour reading, time, exact location, which corner of the machine made contact, ground and weather, witness details, photographs and the scaffold inspection requested. Reasoning: later recall fades and the scaffold may be struck again, so the record must let others identify the cause and prove the machine was reported rather than hidden.
Traps that cost marks
- Back-filling sheets at the end of the week from memory.
- Writing "all correct" ticks with no readings, times or machine identification.
- Not reporting near misses because nothing and nobody was damaged.