Daily Equipment Inspection Checklist

1. Set up the header. Enter your company name and logo once. Then the machine or equipment number, the type, the date, the hour meter reading, and who did the inspection.
2. Shape the checklist. It starts with 16 items from a contractor’s paper form. Remove what does not apply and add what your machines carry. The list is saved in your browser.
3. Mark every item. Tap Good, Needs Service, or N/A on each row and add a note where it helps. All good fills only the rows you have not marked. Every row needs a mark before the PDF builds.
4. Download or print blank. Download the filled PDF for the machine, or print a blank landscape form with five machine columns for the clipboard. Tap Next machine to clear the marks and keep the checklist.

OSHA’s construction rules for equipment are in 29 CFR 1926 Subpart O. Which section applies depends on the machine.

• Motor vehicles on the job. Section 1926.601 covers vehicles that operate within an off-highway jobsite, not open to public traffic. Paragraph (b)(14) says every vehicle in use is checked at the beginning of each shift: service brakes, the parking brake, emergency brakes, tires, horn, steering, coupling devices, seat belts, operating controls, and safety devices. Lights, reflectors, wipers, defrosters, and fire extinguishers count too where the vehicle needs them. All defects are corrected before the vehicle is placed in service.
• Earthmoving equipment. Section 1926.602 covers scrapers, loaders, crawler or wheel tractors, bulldozers, off-highway trucks, graders, and similar equipment, and 1926.601 says it does not apply to them. 1926.602 sets what the machine must have: seat belts, service brakes that stop and hold it fully loaded, a horn on machines that run in both directions, kept working, and a reverse alarm, or someone signaling, when the view to the rear is blocked.
• Every contractor. Section 1926.20(b)(2) requires frequent and regular inspections of job sites, materials, and equipment by competent persons the employer designates.
• The first aid kit. Section 1926.50(d)(2) has the employer check the kit before it goes out on each job and at least weekly on each job, so used items get replaced.

• There is no official OSHA form. The 16 items here come from a contractor’s paper sheet, not from a regulation. Build the list from the machine’s operation and maintenance manual and the rules above.
• 1926.601(b)(14) does not say to write it down. It requires the check and the repair. A signed sheet is still the easiest way to show the check was done.
• The earthmoving rules have no start-of-shift check. The per-shift list in 1926.601 does not cover the earthmoving equipment in 1926.602, and 1926.602(a) sets none of its own. The general duty to inspect equipment in 1926.20(b)(2) still applies. Forklifts and other industrial trucks are different: 1926.602(c)(1)(vi) holds them to the inspection requirements of ANSI B56.1-1969.

• Mines, including sand and gravel pits (MSHA). 30 CFR Part 56 covers surface metal and nonmetal mines. A contractor working on mine property is covered too: the 1979 MSHA and OSHA agreement counts an independent contractor doing services or construction at a mine as an operator. A borrow pit dug for fill, off mine property and not related to mining, falls under OSHA, not MSHA. Section 56.14100 has the equipment operator inspect self-propelled mobile equipment before it goes into operation on that shift. Equipment with a defect that makes it hazardous to run is taken out of service or tagged. Safety defects that are not fixed right away are reported to and recorded by the mine operator, and the record is kept until the defect is corrected.
• Dump trucks on the road (FMCSA). The federal motor carrier rules cover trucks rated 10,001 lb or more that run in interstate commerce (49 CFR 390.3, 390.5). A truck that stays in one state falls under that state’s rules. States in FMCSA’s safety grant program keep those compatible with the federal rules, with limited variances, such as exempting in-state trucks under 26,001 lb (350.303, 350.305). Check your state.
• What the truck rules require. 49 CFR 396.13 has the driver be satisfied the truck is in safe operating condition before driving. Section 396.11 has the driver write a report at the end of each day’s work on each vehicle. No report is needed when no defect is found or reported, reports are kept three months, and a carrier running only one commercial motor vehicle is exempt from that section. Before the truck runs again, the carrier repairs any listed defect likely to affect safe operation and certifies on the report that it was repaired or that no repair was needed. The report may be made and kept electronically under 49 CFR 390.32; since March 23, 2026, 396.11 says so outright.

1. Mark it and say what is wrong. “Hoses/Belts, Needs Service, weeping at the boom cylinder” tells the mechanic where to look.
2. Keep it from running if it is unsafe. Under 1926.20(b)(3), equipment that does not comply with the construction standards is tagged or has its controls locked so it cannot be used, or it is removed from where it operates.
3. Fix it before it goes back in service. That is the 1926.601(b)(14) rule for motor vehicles, and a sound rule for any machine.

Every statement above about what a rule requires comes from the regulation or agreement text below, checked on 2026-10-22. The default items come from a real contractor’s paper inspection form, not from a regulation, and nothing on the checklist has a default mark. The hour meter is optional; left blank, the PDF says Not recorded.

• OSHA Trenching & Excavation Safety Checklist. The competent person’s daily trench inspection.
• Daily Field Report Generator. Crew, equipment hours, weather, and work performed for the day.
• Equipment Hourly Rate Calculator. What to charge per hour for each machine.