Personal Protective Equipment is often thought of as consumable — issued, used, and replaced without much formal tracking. In reality, a significant proportion of PPE is subject to the same inspection and certification requirements as major plant and equipment. Safety harnesses, fall arrest lanyards, helmets, and high-performance gloves all have defined service lives, inspection schedules, and replacement criteria. Getting PPE asset management wrong is not just a compliance failure — it can be fatal.
Which PPE Requires Formal Tracking?
Not all PPE requires formal asset-level tracking, but the following categories generally do:
- Fall protection equipment — full-body harnesses, fall arrest lanyards, inertia reels, anchor devices, and karabiners must be inspected before each use by the wearer, and formally inspected by a competent person at least every 12 months (or six months for equipment used in particularly arduous conditions)
- Safety helmets — must be replaced after any significant impact and within the manufacturer’s stated service life, typically three to five years from date of issue regardless of condition
- Respiratory Protective Equipment (RPE) — powered air-purifying respirators and airline systems require regular maintenance, filter replacement, and face-fit testing records for each user
- Hearing protection — where used in high-noise environments under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations, issue and replacement records should be maintained
- High-visibility clothing and specialist protective clothing — in environments where PPE is specified as a control measure in a risk assessment, records of issue, inspection, and replacement should be kept
The Legal Framework
The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (amended 2022) require employers to ensure that PPE is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order, and in good repair. For fall protection equipment specifically, LOLER and the Work at Height Regulations 2005 impose additional requirements for competent inspection and written records.
The HSE guidance document INDG367 makes clear that employers must be able to demonstrate that each item of safety-critical PPE has been formally inspected at the required intervals and that records are available to evidence this.
Pre-Use Checks vs Formal Inspections
There are two distinct levels of PPE inspection that must both be managed:
- Pre-use checks — carried out by the wearer before every use. For fall protection, this means visually inspecting the harness for damage, wear, stitching integrity, and hardware condition. These checks should be logged, even informally.
- Formal periodic inspection — carried out by a competent person (typically the manufacturer, an authorised inspector, or a suitably trained internal person) at the intervals specified by the manufacturer or regulation. Each formal inspection must generate a written record.
Managing Service Life and Replacement
Every safety-critical PPE item has a maximum service life set by the manufacturer — from the date of manufacture, not the date of first use. A safety harness still in its original packaging but 10 years old may be beyond its service life before it has ever been worn. Without a register that records manufacture dates and service lives, items can remain in circulation long after they should have been retired.
A PPE asset register should include for each item:
- Unique identifier and type
- Manufacturer, model, and serial number
- Date of manufacture and date of first issue
- Maximum service life (from manufacturer data)
- Retirement date (calculated from manufacture date and service life)
- Record of each formal inspection with date, result, and inspector name
- Record of any impact events (for helmets and harnesses)
- Date of retirement or disposal
After a Fall Arrest Event
Any PPE item involved in arresting a fall must be immediately withdrawn from service and either destroyed or returned to the manufacturer for assessment. This is non-negotiable — the forces involved in a fall event can cause non-visible internal damage that renders the equipment unsafe for any subsequent use. Your tracking system must make it simple to mark an item as withdrawn and record the reason.
Managing PPE alongside your wider asset register — in the same system as your hoists, fire extinguishers, and electrical equipment — means nothing gets missed. Taggit lets you track every PPE item with its own QR code, log every formal inspection from your phone, and get automatic alerts before service dates expire. Learn more or start your free trial.