Maintenance logbook for a lifting appliance: what to record in it

What the regulations say

Article R4323-19 of the French Labour Code provides that orders determine the work equipment for which the employer draws up and keeps up to date a maintenance logbook, to make sure the necessary maintenance operations are carried out. For lifting, this is the order of 2 March 2004 on the maintenance logbook of lifting appliances.

This order requires the head of the establishment to draw up and keep up to date a maintenance logbook for each of the lifting appliances defined in article 2 of the order of 1 March 2004, in order to record all the operations contributing to the maintenance essential to the proper management of lifting appliances until they are scrapped. It came into force one year after its publication in the Journal officiel of 31 March 2004.

INRS recalls this in its brochure ED 6339: for lifting appliances, the employer must draw up and keep up to date a maintenance logbook. For other work equipment, such a logbook is recommended, but not required.

Which appliances are covered, and two special cases

The order covers the lifting appliances of the order of 1 March 2004: machines of which one function is to move a load with a significant change of level. The annex lists in particular mobile and tower cranes, forklifts, mobile elevating work platforms (aerial work platforms), tail lifts, hoists for materials, overhead cranes and earthmoving equipment fitted for handling objects. Lifting accessories (slings, spreader beams) are not covered by the order on the logbook: they have their own periodic inspections. If in doubt, ask your inspection body.

First case: replacing chains, cables or ropes built into the appliance with new ones of the same characteristics is not a dismantling followed by reassembly, provided in particular that the operation is mentioned in the maintenance logbook (order of 1 March 2004, article 21). Second case: for tower cranes, if the in-depth examination of the order of 3 March 2004 follows the manufacturer's instructions, INRS indicates that the results must appear in the logbook.

What the logbook contains

Article 3 of the order of 2 March 2004 distinguishes what is recorded from what is stated for each operation. Recorded are the maintenance operations carried out following the manufacturer's recommendations, and any other inspection, servicing, repair, replacement or modification operation.

For each operation, the logbook states:

Who keeps it, who can ask for it, how long to keep it

The employer draws up the logbook and keeps it up to date. The operations may be carried out by its own teams or by outside companies, whose names are recorded. The logbook is made available to the labour inspectorate, to the prevention officers of the social security bodies, to OPPBTP (the construction industry prevention body) where applicable and to the works council (article R4323-20), as well as to the qualified persons who carry out inspections (order of 1 March 2004, article 3). For hired equipment, INRS specifies that if the user company maintains it, the logbook must be made available.

Operations are recorded until the appliance is scrapped: the logbook follows the machine throughout its service life. Do not confuse it with the retention period of inspection reports: article D4711-3 sets five years for those documents and, in any case, the last two inspections. That rule applies to them, not to the logbook.

Paper or digital: both are possible

The logbook may be kept and stored on any medium, under the conditions of article L8113-6 of the Labour Code (article R4323-21). That article allows, where equivalent control guarantees are maintained, the use of other means, notably computer-based ones. Prévention BTP concludes that the logbook can be on paper or digital.

If you start from a template, such as the equipment maintenance log in PDF, check that it includes the entries from the section "What the logbook contains". Either way, these good practices help on inspection day:

• One logbook per appliance, with the same identification as on the VGP reports
• Entries made the day of the operation, not weeks later
• Quick consultation: the inspector must find the information without searching
• A copy or backup, on paper as well as digital

Maintenance logbook, safety register, VGP report: do not confuse them

These documents are complementary. They do not replace each other. To go further: the equipment maintenance logbook, what is a VGP? and required documents for construction equipment.

Keeping your logbook with Trackary, and what it does not do

Trackary keeps, for each machine, the job history, the work reports, the hour meter and the documents, which can be consulted from the office or from the app on the phone. Servicing and VGP deadlines are configurable, with alerts before the date. Trackary costs €14 excl. VAT per active machine per month (€11 above 50 machines), unlimited users, with a 30-day free trial, no credit card required.

Trackary does not replace the employer's responsibility or the opinion of your inspection body: check that the information required by article 3 of the order is entered. It does not carry out VGP inspections, certifies nothing and does no invoicing. Each appliance can carry a QR label that opens its record.