How CertFlow kept a working-at-height sub-contract for Sky Height Safety moving.

Most of our work is direct: a duty holder calls, we attend, we examine the lifting or access equipment and the report of thorough examination follows. Every so often, though, the phone rings from another firm that needs a competent person to cover a job. This is a note on one of those — a working-at-height sub-contract we picked up for Sky Height Safety — and, more to the point, how we handled the paperwork with CertFlow.

The brief

Sky Height Safety had a client with a large stock of personal fall-protection and working-at-height equipment due for its statutory thorough examination. Their own diary was full, the inspection window was tight, and the site needed everything back in service quickly. They brought us in as a sub-contractor to carry out the examinations under their job, to their client's standard.

The equipment in front of us was the usual working-at-height mix:

• Full-body harnesses, work-positioning and restraint belts.
• Energy-absorbing lanyards, fall-arrest blocks and self-retracting lifelines.
• Anchor devices, connectors, karabiners and eye bolts.
• Rope-access and man-riding kit that also falls under LOLER as lifting equipment.

Under the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and, where the kit is used to support a person as a load, LOLER 1998, every item needs a documented examination by a competent person before it goes back to the workforce. On a job like this the inspection itself is only half the task — the other half is producing clean, traceable certificates that Sky Height Safety could hand straight to their client.

Where CertFlow came in

When you are sub-contracting, the reporting has to be right first time. It carries another company's name in front of their client, it has to reconcile item-by-item against an asset register, and it cannot sit on a laptop back at the office for three days. That is exactly the problem CertFlow is built for.

We ran the whole job through it from the tailgate of the van:

• Asset register up front. Each harness, lanyard and anchor was logged with its make, model, serial number and unique ID, so nothing could be examined twice or missed.
• Examination on the tablet. As we worked through each item, the result, defects and next-due date went straight into CertFlow against that asset — no scribbled notes to decipher later.
• Certificates generated on site. The moment an item passed or was quarantined, its report of thorough examination was ready as a PDF, correctly formatted and numbered.
• Handover the same day. The full pack went to Sky Height Safety before we left, with the equipment history stored so the next inspection cycle is already teed up.

The equipment was back in service the same day, and Sky Height Safety had a complete, audit-ready certificate pack before we'd packed the van.

Why it mattered on this job

Working-at-height gear is life-safety equipment — there is no room for a certificate that is missing a serial number or a next-inspection date. Doing the reporting digitally, as we examined each item, meant the record and the kit never drifted apart. When you are the sub-contractor, that traceability is also what protects the relationship: the firm that brought you in can stand behind the paperwork without re-checking it.

It is the same reason we lean on CertFlow for our own direct LOLER and PUWER work. Same-day digital reporting isn't a nice-to-have on statutory inspection — it's the difference between equipment being idle and equipment being back in productive, compliant use.

Working with us

If you run access, rescue or lifting equipment and need a competent person for thorough examination — directly, or as sub-contract cover for your own team — we can help. We cover Glasgow, Edinburgh and central Scotland, and every job comes back reported and traceable, not stuck in a notebook.

Get in touch at enquiries@scottinspectionservices.co.uk or 0333 772 4704. You can see more about Sky Height Safety at skyheightsafety.com and the certification software we use at certflow.co.uk.