Can a tag keep the inspection record of safety equipment?
The record lives behind the tag and the tag identifies the item, which is the same split as any asset. What a tag does not replace is the visible evidence: European law asks for inspection results to be recorded and for equipment used outside the undertaking to carry proof that the last inspection was done.
What the rules already require
directive 2009/104/EC on the use of work equipment sets out, in article 5, an inspection regime that exists whether or not anyone fits a tag. Work equipment whose safety depends on installation conditions is inspected before first use and again after assembly at a new site. Equipment exposed to conditions that cause deterioration gets periodic inspections and, where appropriate, testing, plus special inspections after exceptional circumstances such as modification work, accidents, natural phenomena or long periods out of use.
Two more clauses decide how a digital record fits. The results of inspections must be recorded and kept at the disposal of the authorities for a suitable period. And when work equipment is used outside the undertaking, it must be accompanied by physical evidence that the last inspection has been carried out.
Member States determine the conditions under which those inspections are made, so the detail, including who counts as a competent person and how often, is national. This page describes what the directive says; the rule that applies to your equipment is the one in force where you work.
The label a tag does not replace
Physical evidence is something a person can see. A dated label, a coloured band, a stamped tag: an inspector, a supervisor or the worker about to use a harness reads it at arm's length without a phone.
An NFC tag is invisible by construction, which the accessibility page identifies as its one structural weakness. It cannot carry that function on its own.
So the pairing is the answer rather than a compromise: the visible marking says when the last inspection happened, and the tag leads to what was found, by whom, with which reading, and when the next one is due. Each does what the other cannot.
The tag as the anchor
One identifier per item, with the history on a server, which is the split the maintenance page sets out and the repair history page pushes further: a record that grows does not belong on memory written once.
The question that decides the system is who may add an entry. An inspection record written by anyone with a phone is worth nothing, so entries are made through accounts belonging to identified people, and the tag establishes which item is in front of them rather than who they are.
The tap then earns its place at the moment of the inspection: the inspector taps the item, the form opens already knowing which one it is, and the wrong serial number cannot be typed into the wrong record.
What it has to survive
Harnesses, ladders, extinguishers, lifting gear and rescue equipment live outdoors, in vans, in oil and grit, and get dropped. That is the environment the outdoor page and the adhesive page describe, and a paper label will not do it.
Most of it is metal, so an on metal construction is the default, fitted with a rivet, a cable tie or a moulded holder rather than adhesive alone, as the metal equipment page covers.
Assume no network where the inspection happens, which means the form has to work offline and queue, the same requirement a round has.
And plan replacement. A tag that falls off a harness leaves an item that cannot be identified by tap, and the record must survive the tag, which it does if the identifier is also printed on the item.
Frequently asked questions
Does a tag satisfy the record keeping requirement?
The directive asks for inspection results to be recorded and kept available. Where that record lives is open; a tag identifies the item rather than holding the record.
Can the tag replace the inspection label?
No. Equipment used outside the undertaking must carry physical evidence that the last inspection was done, and an invisible tag is not evidence anyone can see.
Who should be able to write an entry?
Identified people through their own accounts. A record that anyone with a phone can add to is not a record of an inspection.
How often are inspections required?
The directive sets the occasions and leaves the conditions to each Member State, so the frequency comes from national rules and from the equipment itself.