Form library · Facilities and maintenance
A surface inspection of manhole and inspection chamber covers, done without lifting a cover or entering a chamber. Add each cover with its location, what uses it, the drain and who is likely responsible, then check the cover for cracks and missing pieces, whether it sits level, the frame and surround, and any standing water, silt or sewage staining. Record the result, how a dangerous cover was made safe and photos from above. The form counts covers needing repair and dangerous covers, and ends with an optional Walk Cam route, who it was reported to and actions. Every question is listed below, and you can fill the live form in on this page.
Ready to use from the form library, and every question is yours to edit. Trial from £1, cancel any time.
Try it on your phone
Try it on this phone
Fill in the manhole inspection on your phone now
See how the manhole inspection looks on your phone
Scan the code with your phone camera. It opens the real form, no sign-up needed.
Open the live example and fill it in, just as your team would on site. No sign-up needed.
See it on this phoneEvery question is editable. Add this form to your account, then change the wording, add or remove questions and options, and make it fit your own jobs.
A surface manhole inspection checks where each cover is and what traffic uses it, the cover for cracks, breaks and missing pieces, whether it rocks or sits proud, the frame and the paving or tarmac around it, and signs of blockage such as standing water, silt or sewage staining. It is done from above. HSE INDG258 lists sewers and enclosed drains as confined spaces and says the first duty is to avoid entry, so lifting a cover or going into a chamber needs the right competence, equipment and controls.
Last updated . Facts checked by the SiteSurvey team on 17 October 2026 against HSE INDG258: confined spaces, a brief guide to working safely, Defra: water customers no longer liable for sewerage repairs (private sewer transfer, 2011) and HSE: protecting the public from construction work.
Answer a few questions and watch it adapt. Your answers are not saved, and any photos you add are deleted within the hour.
Open the completed example to see fictional readings, notes, photos and calculations. Choose Blank form to try entering your own answers.
Want to see one filled in? See a completed manhole inspection report (PDF), made by SiteSurvey from a fictional site visit.
Walk Cam route · four guided clips
Film each cover from above with its location in frame: cracks, gaps, sinking around the frame and signs of blockage.
Record the site, cover location and what passes over it. Film from the surface only. The four AI-generated clips illustrate one route, not a real site.
Show where the cover is in relation to the building, path or road, and any traffic or pedestrian use over it.
A manhole cover is shown in a block-paved car park near a building entrance.
Film the cover from above: cracks, missing pieces, rocking or a gap around it. Do not lift it.
The cast iron cover has a cracked corner and a visible gap at one edge.
Show the frame and the paving or tarmac around it for sinking, cracking or loose blocks.
Block paving around the frame has sunk and cracked.
Look for standing water, silt or sewage staining around the cover. Never open or enter the chamber for the clip.
Silt and water staining surround the cover after rain.
A fictional six-page example with the four points, twelve stills from the clips, observations, follow-up actions and the limits of a visual record.
View the visual evidence (PDF) ↗ · Download the full sample report
Video shows the surface condition of the cover and surround. It does not show the chamber or the drain, and nobody should lift a cover or enter a manhole without the right competence and controls. Example footage was generated in Google Flow and the observations are scripted; no real site is shown. Walk Cam works inside any form in the app. How Walk Cam works · All visual inspections
A surface inspection of manhole and inspection chamber covers: location and use, cover, seating, frame and surround, signs of blockage or flooding, who is responsible, risk, photos and actions. No covers lifted. 3 sections and 56 questions. Follow-up questions and guidance appear only when an answer calls for them, so the person on site never sees the ones that do not apply.
This is a starting point, not a fixed form. Once it is in your SiteSurvey account you can reword any question, add or remove questions, sections and answer options, and add your own logo, so it fits the way your team works and the jobs you do.
Add this form to a project in SiteSurvey and it fills in what the project already knows, so nobody on site retypes it and every form on the job uses the same names. Anything filled in can still be changed.
From your site or estate maintenance policy, or the highway authority's for covers in a road or footway. The form compares each cover with it; it does not set a level.
Record estimated current conditions and add what you observe on site.
For example Car park, Rear yard or Footpath by block B
Stand at the cover and tap Mark current location, so the repair crew or the water company finds the same cover. Mark current location works on web forms today; the app version is on its way.
Inside the frame. Photograph the cover from straight above with something of known size lying flat beside it, such as an A4 sheet (297 mm long), and measure from the photo. Check with a tape before ordering a replacement.
The largest step up or down at the edge of the frame, with a straight edge and rule.
Optional. Film the four guided points on the SiteSurvey app; each clip keeps its spoken note.
Set by the site owner or duty holder.
A surface condition record only. It is not a confined space entry permit, a CCTV drain survey, a structural assessment of the chamber or a load rating for the cover.
Cover condition and how it was made safe
Describe what can be seen from above without lifting the cover. Say how a dangerous cover was made safe and who it was reported to.
Cover corner cracked off and the cover rocks under load. Bay coned off and a barrier placed over it; reported to the centre manager.
Fictional example of record wording. Use the actual evidence and approved arrangements for your job; this is not a completed report or an instruction to carry out the work.
A completed manhole inspection report, made by SiteSurvey from a fictional site visit: every answer, the photos, the guidance that applied and the sign-off, ready to send as a PDF.
Not as part of this check. HSE says poisonous gas can build up in sewers and manholes, and the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 put avoiding entry first, for example by doing the work from outside. Lifting covers and working in chambers should be planned by someone competent with a safe system of work and emergency arrangements.
In England, since 1 October 2011, private sewers shared by two or more properties and lateral drains outside a property's grounds have been the water and sewerage company's responsibility. A drain serving one property within its own grounds stays the owner's. The form records the likely owner for each cover.
Treat it as dangerous: keep people and vehicles off it with barriers or cones, record how it was made safe and report it. HSE's guidance on protecting the public says people can be injured falling into manholes and that barriers or covers are needed.
No. It records what traffic uses the cover, such as pedestrians, car park vehicles or road traffic, so a supplier or engineer can choose the right replacement.
An optional step on the SiteSurvey app: four short guided clips of the cover location, the cover, the frame and surround, and signs of blockage, each with a spoken note. None of them needs the cover lifted.
Estates and facilities teams, retail park and car park managers, housing associations, schools and drainage contractors doing a first look before a CCTV survey.
Related templates
A drainage installation record linking drawings, pipe and chamber observations, levels, concealed-work evidence, approved test references and defects.
A CCTV drain survey record linking pipe runs, access points, footage, chainage, observed defects, survey limits and recommendations for further review.
A confined space assessment recording the task, alternatives to entry, specified hazards, controls, safe-system references and rescue planning requirements.
Add it from the form library in one click, change any question, and every completed form becomes a branded PDF report.
Start your trial →