Irish firm Hoistech has been using CoreRFID’s CheckedOK lifting equipment inspection software since 2010. What started as a way to manage six-monthly lifting equipment inspections across Ireland has grown into a system covering service and breakdown work, PPE checks, risk assessments, and now a multi-language rollout supporting Hoistech’s expansion into Scandinavia.
“CoreRFID’s CheckedOK is helping us to streamline operations and deliver a better service to our customers.”
– Joe Duignan, Managing Director, Hoistech Ltd
Cranes, hoists and construction plant across Ireland
Founded in 2000, Hoistech offers bespoke manufacturing and maintenance of overhead cranes, hoists and jib cranes, alongside sister company Chain and Rope Suppliers, which supplies and hires lifting, transport and fall arrest equipment. Hoistech also inspects and maintains construction excavators, tele-porters, forklifts and auxiliary plant across its customer sites.
Testing and certification of lifting equipment is central to the business, along with breakdown servicing and planned preventative maintenance. Under the Irish Safety, Health & Welfare at Work (General Applications) Regulations, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) requires thorough examinations of lifting equipment every six or twelve months, depending on the equipment type, with results reported on a GA1 Report of Thorough Examination.
Before CheckedOK, tying inspection reports to specific assets across different equipment classes was a manual job, and one that carried a real risk of error.
Finding the right lifting equipment inspection software
CoreRFID proposed CheckedOK to simplify the inspecting engineer’s tasks, speed up data collection, and improve accuracy. Each asset is identified with an RFID tag. Engineers use handheld devices to scan the tag, pull up the correct inspection tasks for that asset type, and record results, measurements and photos on site. Data uploads automatically to a central database, which synchronises with Hoistech’s own asset management system and produces the GA1 reports required by the HSA.
A year after going live, Hoistech opened the system up to its own customers, giving them secure online access to inspection data and certificates for the equipment on their sites. That visibility has stayed central to how Hoistech supports its customers ever since.
What’s changed since 2010
CheckedOK has evolved alongside Hoistech rather than sitting still. Engineers now use it for PPE inspections and for service and breakdown work, not just statutory testing. Risk Assessment and Methods Statements (RAMS) are built into the same workflow, and inspection failures trigger automatic alerts to management, customers and, where legislation requires it, the HSA, prompting corrective action without anyone needing to chase it manually.
More recently, Hoistech has integrated CheckedOK into a new business system, added multi-language support across six languages, and rolled the system out to support its expansion into Scandinavia. Engineers and customers can also use location-based QR codes linked to CoreRFID’s Asset Fetch module: scan a code at a site and get an instant list of every asset registered there, without needing to search or cross-reference manually.
In 2015, Hoistech was using CheckedOK to manage over 300,000 assets for 5,000 clients.
In 2023, Hoistech worked with CoreRFID to launch Compliance, an app-based condition monitoring tool. Users scan a QR code on the asset itself, then work through a tailored inspection questionnaire, with photos attaching automatically and the app geolocating both user and asset using the phone’s GPS. Anything flagged during an inspection is sent straight to the right person, with every interaction logged automatically. Compliance can be customised with an unlimited number of questions, so no two clients need manage their assets the same way.
Since then, CheckedOK has continued to earn its keep. A quick list of what it’s brought Hoistech:
- Proven system, in continuous use since 2010, with no data loss over that period
- Prompted, asset-specific inspection tasks that reduce the risk of error
- Automated production and distribution of regulatory reports
- Automatic failure alerts to management, customers and the HSA
- Full visibility for customers, who can see exactly which assets are where and when they were last inspected
- Rapid technical support and reliable hosting, adapted over time to match the business as it has grown internationally
More than ten years on, that footprint has grown steadily alongside the business, now spanning multiple countries and languages, powered by the same lifting equipment inspection software from day one.