VGP and inspections of rented equipment: who does what between rental company and user?

The principle: the user remains responsible, the rental company does the VGP

The French Labour Code (Code du travail) gives periodic general inspections (vérifications générales périodiques, VGP) to the employer, who carries them out or has them carried out (article R4323-23). For lifting equipment, the order of 1 March 2004 (arrêté du 1er mars 2004) states that they are the responsibility of the head of the establishment where the appliances are put into service or used (article 1). INRS (the French national occupational safety institute) sums it up: the company using a lifting appliance or accessory is responsible for the proper performance of the regulatory inspections.

In reality, the hirer only has the machine for a few days or months and can hardly follow its history. INRS therefore notes that it is "generally accepted" that periodic inspections of rented equipment are carried out by the rental company. This does not release the user: it must make sure the reports are supplied and that the inspections have been done. Prévention BTP (the French construction-industry safety body) takes the same line: monitoring and scheduling the inspections fall to the rental company.

No text says who pays for a VGP, or who organises it when it falls due during the hire. The rental contract decides: read it before you sign.

On delivery: documents to ask for and checks to make

For a rented lifting appliance, article 15 of the order of 1 March 2004 requires the head of the user establishment to check with the rental company that the commissioning inspections and the VGPs have been done. To that end, the appliance carries, or has close by, the manufacturer's instructions, copies of the reports of the first commissioning and of the latest VGP, and the VGP history.

Receiving a rented machine means putting it into service in your establishment. For a second-hand lifting appliance rented without a special support (aerial platform, forklift, mobile crane), the inspection is limited to the suitability examination (examen d'adéquation), the assembly examination where relevant and functional tests, provided the appliance has had its VGPs regularly since its first hire by that rental company (article 15-II). A tower crane erected section by section, which needs a support, falls under the general rule, with load tests (INRS ED 6339, factsheet 1). Likewise, a lattice-boom mobile crane that has to be assembled on site goes through a return-to-service inspection in practice (INRS ED 6339, factsheet 4).

On delivery, Prévention BTP advises you to:

1. Walk round the machine and test the safety devices.
2. Collect the rental agreement, the instructions and access to the load chart.
3. Collect the maintenance logbook and the latest VGP report if the equipment is covered, then read the report: date, findings, reservations cleared.
4. Collect the certificate of conformity valid on the day of hire.
5. Then carry out the suitability examination, which falls to the user company, followed by the pre-use check: see checking an aerial platform before use.

Lifting equipment and other machines: what changes

The commissioning rules and article 15 only cover lifting appliances and accessories. For a ride-on mini excavator that does not lift loads, the order of 5 March 1993 provides for a single inspection: the VGP, carried out "less than twelve months before their use". If it is equipped for lifting, it also falls under the 2004 order: the details are on the page VGP intervals.

The VGP falls due during a long hire

The interval is a maximum: an aerial platform must have its VGP every 6 months, whatever contract is running. So note the due date as soon as the machine arrives. If it falls during the hire, agree the date and place with the rental company, since the text names neither who organises it nor who pays.

For a lifting appliance, the order requires the head of establishment to make the appliance available to the inspector, with operating staff, safe access and, if there are tests, the necessary loads (article 3). A provisional report is handed over at the end; the final report arrives within four weeks. Once the due date has passed without an inspection, the machine is no longer up to date: do not put it back to work before the VGP.

Return to service is a different matter. It is required in particular after a change of configuration, a major repair of an essential component or an accident caused by its failure (article 20). An aerial platform or forklift moving to another site is exempt if, in the same configuration, it has had its commissioning inspection and a VGP less than 6 months old.

Safety register, maintenance logbook and end of hire

The VGP result is entered in the safety register (registre de sécurité, article R4323-25), and the 2004 order requires the head of establishment to enter inspection results without delay (article 3). For a rented machine, keep in your register the result of the suitability examination and of the commissioning tests, with the copy of the latest VGP report supplied by the rental company. When the inspection is done by an outside person, the report is attached to the register (article R4323-26). Reports are kept for five years and, at the very least, the last two (article D4711-3). The register may be kept on any medium (article R4323-27).

The maintenance logbook (carnet de maintenance) follows the lifting appliance. Circular DRT of 24 March 2005 accepts that the rental company keeps it if it continues to maintain the appliance; the user must then be able to produce a copy or allow it to be consulted. If the user maintains the rented machine itself, INRS states that the logbook must also be made available to it.

The return is a matter for the contract. The DREETS Pays de la Loire (regional labour authority) advises rental companies to set out in it delivery, acceptance, return, maintenance, repairs and inspections. On return, both sides should record the condition, the hours, any faults and any impact damage. And if a report raises findings on a machine that has just been rented, INRS advises contacting the rental company before making any modification.

For the rental company: track each machine and hand over a clean file

A rental company must be able to say, machine by machine, when the last VGP took place, whether the reservations have been cleared and when the next one is due, including for a machine that has been with a customer for six months. It must also be able to send the file without digging through its binders.

Trackary keeps a record for each machine, with its documents, configurable VGP due dates and alerts, the Compliance screen (up to date, due soon, overdue, missing), faults reported from the field with photos, and the history of jobs. The compliance file produces the register as a PDF for one machine or a selection, with the inspection reports attached as a ZIP. You send it to the customer through a time-limited share link, and you can see whether it has been opened. 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 carries out neither the VGP nor the suitability examination, and certifies nothing. It replaces neither the inspection body, nor the rental company's responsibility, nor that of the employer who uses the machine.