Logistics and supply chain forms

What do logistics and supply chain forms cover?

A distribution operation runs on a chain of handovers: goods arrive, are stored, picked, checked, loaded and driven to the customer. Each handover is a point where something can be missed, and each one is where a written check earns its keep. If a pallet goes out short, a vehicle breaks down or a stock adjustment cannot be explained, the record from that handover is the first thing anyone asks for.

The forms here follow that chain. In the warehouse, a warehouse safety checklist, pallet racking inspection, pallet inspection, conveyor belt inspection and dock leveller inspection. For vehicles, a forklift and vehicle inspection checklist, HGV daily check sheet, trailer inspection, vehicle inspection checklist and vehicle handover form. For goods, a stock take template, loading and unloading checklist and container inspection checklist.

Delivery notes and damage reports, which installers and removal firms use too, are in general forms.

Each form records the result of every check, keeps unresolved items visible with an owner and a due date, and ends with a decision and a signature. Fail answers are flagged as findings, so a defect or a discrepancy cannot be ticked past.

Vehicle maintenance records for goods vehicle operators

If you hold a goods vehicle operator's licence, GOV.UK is clear that you must keep your vehicles safe and in good condition at all times, and that you are still responsible for their condition when someone else maintains them. If a contractor does the work, you must give the traffic commissioner a copy of the maintenance contract.

Records must cover every safety inspection and all maintenance, whoever carries it out, and you must keep them for at least 15 months. Drivers must also do a walkaround check before driving a vehicle for the first time each day. The vehicle maintenance log keeps the inspection and service history, the defects put right and the signed declaration together; the daily check itself belongs on an HGV daily walkaround check.

Vehicle details

Registration or fleet number, the maintenance schedule it follows, and the odometer or hour-meter reading at each entry.

What was inspected and by whom

The work done, who did it, the date, and the job or invoice reference.

Results and defects

What was found, and whether any further work or evidence is still outstanding.

Defects put right

GOV.UK says records you keep yourself must include a declaration that any defects have been properly fixed.

Source: GOV.UK: being a goods vehicle operator, maintaining your vehicles.

Warehouse safety: vehicles, people and manual handling

HSE's warehousing guidance names manual handling as the main cause of reportable accidents in road freight, with back injuries the most common result. Roll cages come up often, especially when they are badly loaded, unsecured or pushed over uneven delivery surfaces.

Vehicle movements are the other big risk. HSE says they need careful management, that visiting drivers add to the risk, and that where pedestrians and vehicles must share a route they should be separated by physical barriers where reasonably practicable. Busy periods such as shift changes are when accidents are more likely.

Handling equipment needs its own checks. Forklifts, pallet trucks and racking are work equipment, so they must be kept in good repair and taken out of use when they are not safe. The pallet truck inspection checklist records the pre-use check and the do-not-use decision. For lift trucks, racking and the warehouse as a whole, use the vehicle and forklift pre-use check, pallet racking inspection and warehouse safety inspection. Machinery, electrical and plant checks are in health and safety.

Sources: HSE: warehousing and storage and regulation 5 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (maintenance).

Planning journeys and assessing drivers

HSE's guidance on driving for work starts with a simple question: is the journey necessary? If it is, plan a route that suits the vehicle, check for restrictions such as low bridges, and work out journey times that allow safe driving within the speed limit. Company policy should not put drivers under pressure to hit a fixed arrival time.

Fatigue gets particular attention. HSE notes that sleep-related incidents are most likely between 2am and 6am and between 2pm and 4pm, and points to the Highway Code advice of a 15-minute break every two hours. Drivers should not be pressed to travel in exceptionally difficult weather, and should be supported if they cancel a journey because of it.

Training is a legal duty: employers must give employees adequate training for health and safety, when they start and when the risks change. HSE recommends a central register showing each driver's training, needs and the vehicles they are competent to operate, reviewed when vehicles or ways of working change. The driver assessment checklist records what was assessed and the outcome; the journey management plan records route stages, check-ins and what happens if a driver misses one.

Sources: HSE: plan and manage journeys and HSE: workplace transport, initial driver training.

How to inspect a shipping container

Freight containers in international use carry a safety approval plate under the International Convention for Safe Containers (CSC), and they must be examined under an approved scheme. HSE explains that under a periodic examination scheme the first examination must be within five years of manufacture and then at intervals of no more than 30 months; under a continuous scheme the interval between examinations must also not exceed 30 months. Check the plate before you load or accept a container.

The container inspection checklist follows the familiar 7-point approach: front wall, left side, right side, floor, ceiling or roof, inside and outside of the doors (including locking bars and seal), and the outside and undercarriage. Photograph the seal number and any damage, holes or signs of tampering before the doors are closed.

Source: HSE: freight containers (safety approval plates and examination schemes).

Stock takes, loading and handover

Stock errors rarely come from one big mistake. They build up from adjustments nobody approved, receipts that do not match the order, and returns that never get booked back. The stock take template records each count against the system figure, the variance, any recount and who signed it off, so the difference is explained rather than written off.

On the dock, the loading and unloading checklist covers the vehicle, the load and the people around it before anything moves. If something arrives damaged at the other end, the delivery damage report picks up the story.