How to Prepare for a GA1 Inspection: A Checklist for Plant Owners

A well-prepared GA1 visit takes a fraction of the time of a chaotic one, costs less in standing time, and is far more likely to end with reports issued on the day. Here is exactly what to have ready — and the handful of avoidable problems that most often send an inspector away without a completed examination.

Paperwork to have ready

• Previous GA1 reports. They tell the inspector the machine's history, its configurations, and any defects flagged last time for monitoring.
• The operator's manual and load charts. Examinations assess the machine against the manufacturer's specification; missing load charts are themselves a defect on machines that require them.
• Records of repairs or modifications since the last examination. Especially anything touching load-bearing parts, hydraulics or safety devices — the inspector needs to know what changed.
• Details of attachments. Every accessory the machine uses — buckets with lifting points, forks, jibs, baskets — listed so nothing is missed. Accessories have their own examination requirements.
• The equipment list, if we're doing several items. Serial numbers matched to machines in advance saves a surprising amount of time on the day.

Prepare the equipment

• Clean enough to examine. Nobody expects showroom condition, but structural welds, chains, pins and ID plates caked in muck cannot be examined. A machine that can't be seen can't be passed.
• Fuelled, charged and running. Thorough examination includes functional testing — an examination can't be completed on a machine that won't start or a MEWP with a flat battery.
• Accessible. The machine free to move, space to operate booms and masts through their range, and not buried behind three other machines or mid-pour on a live task.
• Tackle laid out. For accessory inspections, slings and fittings on a rack or laid out — not knotted in a heap in a van — with any known-damaged items already separated.

Prepare the people

• Someone available who knows the machine. Ten minutes with the operator — any odd noises, drift, warning lights — is genuinely useful examination input.
• Authority on site to act on findings. If a defect means the machine should stop, the inspector needs someone who can make that decision on the day, not a phone chain.

Why visits fail (all avoidable)

In order of frequency: the machine isn't available (out on a job despite the booking); it won't start or hold charge; it's too dirty to examine; load charts and ID plates are missing; nobody on site knows anything about the booking. Every one of these turns a scheduled examination into a return visit — paid for twice, with the due date still ticking.

What happens after

If the equipment passes, the GA1 report is issued with the next due date stated. If defects are found, the report says exactly what they are and what happens next: dangerous defects stop the machine until repair and re-examination; lesser items are recorded with timescales. Book examinations a few weeks before the due date, not on it — it leaves room to fix findings without the machine going out of date.

Download the checklist, then book

Keep this checklist in the site office, and call 083 870 5355 — L&M Plant & Inspection Services Ltd. will handle the rest.