--- title: "A PPE Inspection System you’ll love" description: "Schedule PPE inspections for harnesses, lanyards and fall-arrest equipment under EN 365, record the result and keep certificates ready before an audit." canonical: https://www.papertrail.io/ppe-inspection-management last_updated: 2026-10-20 --- # A PPE Inspection System you’ll love Schedule every harness, lanyard and lifeline for its EN 365 examination, record the result against the manufacturer's checklist, and produce the certificate before anyone has to ask. That's a periodic examination by a competent person at least every 12 months, or sooner wherever the manufacturer's instructions call for it, so the equipment and the paperwork are never out of step. No card required. Trusted by Teams Worldwide Petrofac · RWE · 270 Climbing Park · Hogan Group · Cardiff Council · University of Edinburgh · Glacier Energy ## Every harness and lanyard inspected on time, with the record to prove it 1. A certificate's expiry date is written down somewhere, but nothing flags it before it lapses. 2. A harness or lanyard that's overdue an inspection looks the same as one that just passed, until somebody actually checks it. 3. When it goes wrong, the auditor doesn't ask why. They ask for the record, and a missing one is the finding. ## Everything you need to evidence a PPE inspection programme | Feature | Card copy | | --- | --- | | Checklists | Manufacturer-approved inspection checklists for harnesses, lanyards and fall-arrest equipment, drawn from the 120+ brands in the [Papertrail Product Directory](https://www.papertrail.io/directory), or build your own with the Checklist Editor on Expert and Enterprise. | | Schedule Manager | Set inspection frequencies from a daily pre-use check to the EN 365 12-month periodic examination, each with its own checklist, certificate and list of who's authorised to sign it off. | | Certificates | Every inspection produces a certificate carrying the competent person's name, what was checked and the next-due date, ready before an auditor or insurer asks. | | Scanning (NFC/QR) | Tag a harness or lanyard and pull up its full inspection history on site, even offline in a synced account. | | Task Manager | Fail an item and it goes to Quarantine, so nobody issues it again by mistake. Raise the corrective action during the inspection and track it to close-out. | ## Every harness on record, ready for the audit 1. "We've been using Papertrail for about seven years and I can confidently say that it's a fantastic software. It's super easy to use and we can easily train our staff on it. We love the filters that let us easily see which equipment needs attention. It's a must-have for any centre manager." Abbie Wilkinson, Centre Manager, Redpoint Worcester · Read the case study → 2. "We had an audit last week. They asked how we manage inspections, and I just showed them Papertrail. The auditor just said, 'Yeah, that's brilliant.'" Liam O'Hara, Safety and Maintenance Officer, 270 Climbing Park · Read the case study → 3. "There are no more spreadsheets that change with each new person adding something new or changing it. The application is intuitive to use and the staff are really helpful and quick to respond." Lee Bolton, Rope Access Manager, Offshore Painting Services ## Your PPE inspection records, visible to the client or site you're working for - **Invite** Invite any partner outside your account, with no repeat setup after the first connection - **Updates** Every new inspection, task or note upload on a shared record stays visible to everyone with access - **File** Partners can file shared records into their own folder structure, so it becomes part of their system rather than a link they were sent ## The standard behind every PPE inspection, on the certificate PPE against falls, harnesses, lanyards, lifelines and connectors, is examined against EN 365. The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (amended in 2022) require employers to keep PPE in efficient working order and in good repair (regulation 7), and employees to report any loss or defect (regulation 11). Many teams running a PPE programme are also running lifting equipment under LOLER, on the same sites, often the same technicians. `EN 365` `LOLER` ISO 27001 Certified · Capterra 4.7 · Software Advice · GetApp · **Read about our security →** `/security` ## 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. ### How fast can we migrate from spreadsheets or another system? Our team handles the data migration for you, so your PPE inventory is ready to work with rather than waiting on you to key it in. We set up your folder structure, frequencies and states with you first, and equipment added from the product directory arrives with its details already attached. ### How often does PPE against falls need to be inspected? At least once every 12 months, under EN 365, carried out by a competent person, on top of the pre-use check before each day's work. Follow the manufacturer's own instructions where they call for a shorter interval than 12 months: EN 365 sets a minimum, not a ceiling. ### Who counts as a competent person for a PPE examination? EN 365 defines a competent person as someone who knows the current periodic examination requirements for that specific item, from the manufacturer's own instructions, and who can identify and assess a defect and decide what happens next. That can be someone in-house or an external inspector, as long as they hold that knowledge for the equipment in front of them. ### Is it easier than using spreadsheets? Spreadsheets get complicated fast once your inventory grows. No reminders, no accountability, and they are prone to entry errors. Papertrail replaces all of that with reminders, structure and an audit trail built in. ## See your own PPE inspection records and certificates Book a demo and we'll walk through your harnesses, lanyards and fall-arrest equipment with you. Prefer to look around first? Start for free, no card required.