GROUNDS INSPECTION
Grounds inspection records, on schedule
Papertrail holds a schedule for everything across your grounds, from playgrounds to fire exits, car parks to footpaths. You can optionally tag each one with an NFC tag or QR code, so scanning it opens its own record directly, even out of signal, and turn any issue you spot into a task with an owner and a deadline. See what's overdue at a glance, instead of relying on someone remembering to walk the whole site again.
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The inspections get done. Proving they were done is the part that costs you.
Every playground, car park and fire exit on its own schedule
A large site can have a hundred or more separate items to inspect: playgrounds, benches, footpaths, fencing, fire exits. If each one only lives on its own bit of paper or its own spreadsheet tab, nothing about it is actually in one place.
Two identical pieces of play equipment look the same from a clipboard, so an inspection gets logged against the wrong one, or missed altogether: a fault on the one that was skipped goes unnoticed until it fails.
A point that isn't on a schedule can go unchecked for months, and the first anyone notices is when something's already failed, not at the next audit.
Papertrail.io
PaperEvery inspection point, on its own schedule
Schedule Manager
Set inspection frequencies for everything across your grounds, playgrounds to fire exits, with alerts before anything falls due.
Checklist Editor
Customise checklists to ensure thorough inspection of everything on site, with the Checklist Editor on Expert and Enterprise.
Task Manager
Turn a spotted issue into an assigned task with an owner and a deadline, tracked through to close-out, with the Task Manager add-on.
Scanning Suite
Tag each inspection point with an NFC tag, QR code or barcode, and pull up its full history, even offline in a synced account.
Schedule Manager
Set inspection frequencies for everything across your grounds, playgrounds to fire exits, with alerts before anything falls due.
Checklist Editor
Customise checklists to ensure thorough inspection of everything on site, with the Checklist Editor on Expert and Enterprise.
Task Manager
Turn a spotted issue into an assigned task with an owner and a deadline, tracked through to close-out, with the Task Manager add-on.
Scanning Suite
Tag each inspection point with an NFC tag, QR code or barcode, and pull up its full history, even offline in a synced account.
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Checklist Editor
Inspect
Use manufacturer-approved checklists for any equipment type, from lifting gear to PPE inspection records. Build your own with the Checklist Editor on Expert and Enterprise.
Proven across a mixed, outdoor site
Wessex Water's Recreation team runs picnic benches, playgrounds, lifejackets, boats and footpaths across more than 100 sites on one account: over 13,000 inspections completed and more than 1,600 defects caught since adopting Papertrail.
“Inspection scheduling is really helpful. You can have multiple checklists and schedules for each item depending on what is required, so it's flexible for your needs.”
Karen Kingston
Senior Recreation Advisor, Wessex Water
Your grounds inspection records, visible to whoever needs them
PartnerHub connects your account to the organisations you work with, so they see the records you share, and every update to them, in their own workspace.
Invite
Invite the landscaping or grounds maintenance contractor who does the work, or the client whose site you manage, into a PartnerHub partnership once, with no repeat setup after
See
They see the live record in their own workspace: every new inspection, task and note you add appears there automatically, not a copy you have to remember to resend
Withdraw
Withdraw access at any time: they keep a read-only copy of the record as it stood, with no further updates
Every part of your site, inspected on schedule
Different parts of a site are checked in different ways. Play equipment is inspected to BS EN 1176, with routine visual checks, an operational check every one to three months and a detailed annual inspection. Car parks, fencing and footpaths follow your own risk assessment.
In Papertrail, each item can have its own record, checklist and schedule. Whoever walks the site scans the item, completes its checklist and logs any defect as a task, so nothing found on the round gets lost.
- ISO 27001, British Assessment Bureau (opens cvs.babcert.com)
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- GetApp Category Leaders 2025, GetApp User Reviews 4.7
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Common questions
Will my team actually adopt it?
Papertrail is built around the inspection your team already does: scan a tag, work through the checklist, save. RWE's technicians are working in it after a half-hour session, and Hogan Group runs it across a team aged 18 to 79 on minimal training. When questions come up, our support team's average first response time is under 8 minutes.
Can you migrate us from spreadsheets or another system?
Our team handles the migration for you, so your inspection points are ready to work with rather than waiting on you to key them in. We set up your folder structure, frequencies and states with you first, and help bring your existing site records across from a spreadsheet, site map or your current system.
Can we track different types of inspection points on the same site?
Yes. A playground, a car park, a footpath and a fire exit can each be its own record, with its own schedule, checklist and history, all on the same account. Wessex Water's Recreation team runs picnic benches, playgrounds, lifejackets, boats and footpaths this way across more than 100 sites.
Can we tell identical-looking points apart out in the field?
Yes. Tag each point with an NFC tag, QR code or location tag, and scanning it opens its own record directly rather than a list you have to search. This is exactly the field-identification problem Wessex Water's Recreation team solved by moving to NFC and location tags across its sites.
Can we map inspection points across multiple sites?
Yes, on one account. Wessex Water's Recreation team runs more than 100 sites and locations on a single account, with photo evidence attached to each inspection: over 13,000 inspections completed and more than 1,600 defects caught since adopting Papertrail.
Every inspection point, always accounted for
Book a demo and we'll walk through it with your own site, or start for free and add your first inspection points from a spreadsheet or site map.
26 million inspections recorded· No obligation.
Last reviewed on . MJB.