Facilities and maintenance checklists

What is a facility inspection checklist?

A facility inspection checklist is the list of things a facilities manager, maintenance engineer or contractor checks on a building and the equipment in it, with space to record what was found. It covers the fabric of the building, its services (heating, ventilation, water, electrics, lifts), its safety systems and the areas around it. Done on a schedule, it becomes planned preventive maintenance (PPM): you inspect and service before things fail, rather than waiting for a fault and raising a work order.

In the UK the starting point is the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. Regulation 5 says the workplace and its equipment, devices and systems must be maintained, including cleaned as appropriate, in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair, and where appropriate be subject to a suitable system of maintenance. A checklist with a date, a name and the result for each item is how you show that system exists.

Many UK maintenance teams build their PPM schedules from SFG20, the maintenance specification standard created by BESA (the Building Engineering Services Association). It turns legislation and codes of practice into maintenance tasks for each type of asset. If you hold an SFG20 licence, the PPM checklist records the schedule reference and tasks done against each asset in your asset register.

Sources: Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, regulation 5 and SFG20: what is SFG20.

Types of facilities inspections: by building, purpose and frequency

Most facilities teams run several kinds of inspection side by side. It helps to sort them three ways, because each answers a different question about the same building.

By building

An office, a school, a care home, a warehouse and a block of flats share the basics (water, electrics, fire, access) but differ in the detail. A gym needs gym equipment inspections, a leisure centre a swimming pool checklist, a kitchen a grease trap log, a site with grounds a tree survey. Housing providers will find more in housing and property forms.

By purpose

Statutory checks the law requires (gas, lifting equipment, pressure systems, legionella control), PPM servicing to keep plant running, condition surveys that feed budgets, commissioning when something new is installed (such as a heat pump or air conditioning), and reactive visits after a fault, leak or complaint.

By frequency

Daily and weekly checks are short walk-rounds and logs, such as flushing little-used outlets or a security patrol. Monthly and quarterly checks are typically temperature monitoring, descaling and plant servicing. Annual and five-yearly visits are the formal inspections and certificates, such as gas safety checks and the EICR.

By who does it

Some checks suit a caretaker or site manager. Others need a competent person: a Gas Safe registered engineer for gas, an electrician for fixed wiring testing, an F gas certified technician for refrigerant leak checks, and a competent examiner for lifts.

Which facilities checks are a legal requirement in the UK?

Most of the law sets a duty to maintain, not a checklist, and leaves the frequency to risk assessment and the maker's instructions. A few duties do set intervals or a written scheme. These are the ones facilities teams are most often asked about.

Legionella

HSE's approved code of practice L8 applies to water systems at work. HSG274 Part 2 gives the hot and cold water figures: store hot water at 60 °C or above, reach 50 °C at outlets within one minute (55 °C in healthcare premises) and keep cold water below 20 °C. Record them on a legionella temperature log.

Gas

Employers must keep gas appliances, pipework and flues at work in a safe condition (regulation 35). Landlords must have each appliance and flue checked for safety at intervals of not more than 12 months (regulation 36). Use the boiler service checklist for the service record.

Electrical installations

The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require systems to be maintained to prevent danger, without setting an interval. In England, private and social landlords must have the installation inspected and tested at least every 5 years, recorded on an EICR with a schedule of test results.

Lifts

Under LOLER regulation 9, lifting equipment for lifting people must be thoroughly examined at least every 6 months, other lifting equipment at least every 12 months, or in either case to an examination scheme. The examination is separate from routine lift maintenance.

Pressure systems

Systems such as air receivers and steam boilers need a written scheme of examination by a competent person before they are operated (Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000, regulation 8). The compressor maintenance checklist covers the routine side.

F gas and air conditioning

Equipment containing F gas equivalent to 5 tonnes of CO2 or more needs regular leak checks, at least every 12 months at the lowest band. In England and Wales, air conditioning systems over 12kW must also be inspected by an energy assessor at intervals of no more than five years.

Asbestos and fire

The duty holder for non-domestic premises must manage asbestos, which in practice means an asbestos register and plan. Fire safety systems must be kept in efficient working order and good repair under article 17 of the Fire Safety Order; those checks are in the fire safety forms.

Sources: HSE: L8, Legionnaires' disease approved code of practice, HSE: HSG274 Part 2, hot and cold water systems, Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, regulation 35, Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, regulation 36, Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, regulation 4, GOV.UK: electrical safety standards in the private and social rented sectors, LOLER 1998, regulation 9: thorough examination, HSE INDG339: thorough examination and testing of lifts, Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000, regulation 8, GOV.UK: checking F gas equipment for leaks, Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012, regulation 18, Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, regulation 4 and Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 17.

What a facility inspection checklist covers

A good facilities checklist is organised the way you walk the building, so nothing is missed between areas. Each item gets a result (pass, fail, action or not applicable), a note and a photo where something is wrong.

Exteriors

Roofs, gutters and drainage, walls and render, windows, external doors, balconies, fences, retaining walls, lighting, car parks and footways (highway and car park inspection), grounds, bin stores and signage.

Interiors

Floors and trip hazards, ceilings, stairs and handrails, doors and ironmongery, washrooms, kitchens and tea points, and cleanliness. Regulation 9 of the Workplace Regulations requires workplaces, furniture and fittings to be kept sufficiently clean, which is what a cleaning audit checks.

Building systems

Heating and hot water, ventilation and air handling units, cooling and chillers, water storage, electrical distribution, generators, pumps, lifts, automatic doors and access control.

Safety

Fire alarm, emergency lighting and escape routes, sprinklers, spill kits, fuel tanks, asbestos condition, and work equipment. PUWER regulation 6 requires inspection of work equipment where its safety depends on how it is installed or where conditions cause it to deteriorate. Wider workplace risks sit in the health and safety forms.

Access and energy

An access audit supports the Equality Act duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people, and an energy audit finds lighting, heating and controls that waste money.

Sources: Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, regulation 9, PUWER 1998, regulation 6: inspection, HSE: inspection of work equipment and Equality Act 2010, section 20: duty to make adjustments.

How to run a facilities inspection on site

Start from the asset register, not from memory. Each plant item, water outlet and distribution board should have an ID and a location, so the person on site knows exactly what to check and the record ties back to one asset. Labels or QR tags on plant make this quicker and stop the same unit being recorded under three names.

Walk the building in a fixed order and record as you go rather than writing up later. Take a photo of every defect, with an annotation showing exactly where the problem is, and take readings (temperatures, pressures, test results) straight into the form so nobody has to copy them from a notepad. SiteSurvey forms run on iPhone, iPad and Android and work offline, so plant rooms and basements without signal are not a problem.

Grade what you find. A simple scale (safe, monitor, repair within a set time, make safe now) lets you sort a long list of findings into what goes on today's work order and what goes into next year's budget. Anything dangerous should be made safe or isolated before you leave, and recorded as such. HSE's guidance on electrical equipment makes the same point for testing generally: the type and frequency of checks should follow the equipment, where it is used and what earlier checks found.

Finish with a signature from the engineer and, where the contract needs it, the client or site contact. A maintenance shift handover passes open faults to the next shift so nothing is lost overnight.

Source: HSE: maintaining electrical equipment safety.

Turning inspections into a report and a maintenance plan

An inspection is only useful if someone acts on it. Each completed SiteSurvey form becomes a branded PDF report with the photos, readings, signatures and notes in place, ready to send to a client, landlord or insurer, or to file against the building.

Read the reports together, not one at a time. The same fan coil failing every quarter, outlet temperatures drifting down month after month, or a drain that needs jetting twice a year are the patterns that justify a replacement or a change of schedule. Raise a work order for each action, close it with a photo of the finished repair, and update the asset register when equipment is replaced.

Every form in this library can be edited to match your sites, your contract or your SFG20 schedule, and you can build your own in the form builder. Open any form page to see every question and try the form live before you use it. For installation and handover paperwork on new work, see the construction and handover forms.