Inspection tracking: how to keep statutory dates, reports and responsibilities under control
Inspection tracking usually starts as a spreadsheet. A few rows, a column for the last inspection and another for the next one. That works for one building and ten pieces of equipment. It stops working when another site is added, the colleague who kept the spreadsheet leaves, or an inspector asks for last year's report and it is buried somewhere in an inbox.
This article is for facility managers, operations managers and inspection companies responsible for dozens or hundreds of pieces of equipment. The examples refer to Czech legislation, but the principles apply wherever statutory inspections are required. We look at why inspection dates fall apart so easily, what good inspection records should contain, and when a ready-made application is enough and when it pays to connect tracking to your own system.
Statutory inspections in a company follow several regulations at once
An inspection (in Czech practice a „revize“) is a professional examination and test of equipment that results in a written report. Alongside inspections there are checks, routine examinations and tests. What matters for record keeping is that each of these has its own legal basis and its own interval.
In the Czech Republic, the operation of so-called regulated technical equipment has been governed since 1 July 2022 by Act No. 250/2021 Coll., with separate government regulations for electrical, gas, pressure and lifting equipment. [1]
Fire safety is covered by a different regulation. Decree No. 246/2001 Coll. requires fire extinguishers to be checked at least once a year, and also after every use or whenever there is doubt about their condition. [2] Chimneys and flue systems fall under Decree No. 34/2016 Coll. [3] Technical standards come on top of that, for example ČSN 33 1500 for electrical inspections.
In practice, a single company with a single building can have obligations under four or five different regulations. None of them will track the dates for you.
Every piece of equipment has its own interval, and a spreadsheet stops coping
An overview published by the Czech Ministry of Regional Development for residential buildings (status as of 14 February 2024) shows how varied the intervals are. [4] A few examples:
| Equipment | Task | Interval according to the ministry overview |
|---|---|---|
| Fire extinguishers | operability check | once a year |
| Electrical installation | periodic inspection | every 5 years |
| Lightning protection | inspection | every 4 years |
| Passenger lift | professional test | every 3 years |
| Flue of a gas appliance up to 50 kW | check and cleaning | once a year |
Intervals in commercial premises may differ. For electrical equipment they depend on the environment, and for many items on the manufacturer's documentation. That is exactly why dates cannot be guessed or set once for everything.
A spreadsheet can hold a list. It cannot recalculate the next date after an inspection, warn the responsible person in time or confirm that a valid report exists for each record. All of that stays with a person and their memory.
The date is only half the job, the other half is evidence
During an audit or an insurance claim, saying that an inspection took place is not enough. It has to be documented. The Czech fire prevention decree, for example, lists what a check record must contain: details of the operator, location and type of equipment, the result, defects found and the deadline for fixing them, the date of the check, the date of the next check, and the signature of the person who carried it out. [2]
This leads to a practical rule for inspection tracking: the inspection report belongs with the equipment record, not in a shared folder called „Inspections 2025 new“. If finding a document takes longer than the deadline it supports, the system is not working.
Defects matter just as much. An inspection often ends with „fit for operation with reservations“ and a deadline for a repair. If your records only watch the next inspection date, that interim deadline slips through.
Inspection tracking needs equipment, not just a list of dates
Well-designed records follow a simple structure that matches reality:
- site (building, campus, premises, or customer for an inspection company),
- equipment at the site with its type, location and manufacturer,
- inspections and checks for each item with date, result and report,
- responsible person who watches the date and books the technician,
- interval rule used to calculate the next date.
When records are built around equipment, the next date is calculated as soon as an inspection is logged. History stays with the equipment even when the facility manager or inspection company changes. And a view of „what is due in the next three months“ is a single filter.
Consider a hypothetical facility manager with three buildings, two lifts, a boiler room and one hundred and twenty fire extinguishers. This is an illustrative example, not a description of a client project. The extinguishers alone mean one hundred and twenty annual checks that may not share a date. In a spreadsheet that is one hundred and twenty rows. In equipment-based records it is one screen with colour-coded deadlines.
Reminders must arrive before it is too late to book a technician
A reminder on the due date is useless. Inspectors need to be booked in advance, and some equipment needs a planned shutdown. Inspection tracking should therefore send reminders with a lead time that suits the equipment type, and again when the date is close or has passed.
The second question is who receives them. A group email to „someone in operations“ is easily lost. Reminders should go to a named responsible person and link straight to the equipment record.
For inspection companies, tracking is also a sales tool
Inspection companies and independent technicians face the same problem from the other side. They manage inspections for dozens of customers, and every due date is another job. When a technician knows two months ahead whose inspection is coming up, they can contact the customer first and plan visits that also make sense geographically.
Records with inspection history for every customer also help with the question „when were you last here and what did you find?“. The answer is available immediately, with the report attached.
A ready-made application, or tracking connected to your own system
For most companies the fastest route is a ready-made application. 1. Web IT, a software company based in Prague and Brno, built Revision specifically for inspection tracking. It keeps equipment and inspections in one place, calculates the next dates from configured intervals, sends reminders about upcoming and overdue inspections, and stores reports, protocols and photos directly with the equipment. More details are available at revision.1webit.cz.
Revision can be configured to match the field, equipment types and intervals a company uses, and it can be connected to a business system. That matters when inspection tracking should not live in isolation, typically when a company already runs its own information system, asset management or customer portal and wants inspections to appear there.
In that case the answer is to connect or extend the existing system. The 1. Web IT team has long experience with custom-built solutions and integrations, so it can advise whether Revision with an integration is enough or whether inspection tracking should be built as a module of your own system.
What to clarify before moving inspection tracking into an application
Before you start, answer five questions:
- How many sites and pieces of equipment do you track, and who maintains the list today?
- Which regulations and intervals apply to each equipment type, and who has verified them?
- Where are the inspection reports stored today, and can all of them be found?
- Who should receive reminders, and how far in advance?
- Does the tracking need to exchange data with another system, such as asset management, accounting or a customer portal?
Answers to questions 1 to 4 are enough to configure a ready-made application. If the answer to question 5 is yes, it pays to address the integration from the start.
Frequently asked questions
How often do statutory inspections take place in a company?
It depends on the equipment type and the regulation. In the Czech Republic, fire extinguishers are checked at least once a year, electrical installations in residential buildings are typically inspected every five years, and lifts have their own schedule of examinations and tests. Specific intervals always need to be verified against the regulation, the environment and the manufacturer's documentation.
Is a spreadsheet enough for inspection tracking?
For a few items, yes. Once you manage several sites or dozens of items, a spreadsheet does not calculate the next dates, send reminders or keep reports with the specific equipment. The risk of a missed date grows with every row.
What should an inspection record contain?
At minimum the equipment and its location, the inspection date, the result, any defects with a deadline for fixing them, the next inspection date, and the report or record signed by the person who carried out the inspection. For fire safety equipment and extinguishers, the content of the record is set directly by Czech Decree No. 246/2001 Coll.
Is inspection tracking software only for inspection companies?
No. Facility managers, site operators and companies that want an overview of their own equipment use it too. Inspection companies additionally use it to plan their technicians' work and to remind customers of upcoming dates.
Managing inspections across several sites or for many customers? We will show you Revision on your own equipment and discuss whether to connect it to the system you already use.
