Manage inspections, incidents, work permits, and compliance
Health, Safety & Environment module
Manage workplace safety through templates, inspections, incidents, and work permits.
Enable HSE in Settings > Modules.
Create inspection checklists
Define items to check during inspections with specific field types.
A template saved as a draft is listed and can be edited, but nothing uses it: it is not offered when you create an inspection and it is never used as a work permit checklist. Once it has been reviewed, open it and click “Activate”. For a permit checklist, the page tells you which checklist it will replace.
To take a checklist out of service without deleting it, edit it and switch on “Draft”.
Mark templates as 'Regulatory' with the compliance code (OSHA, ISO, etc.).
Schedule and conduct safety checks
Inspections are based on templates and record findings per item.
A completion date can never be in the future. Up to 7 days back it needs nothing more than editing inspections; further back it needs the HSE "Backdate" permission, which administrators can remove from a role. Every completion shows who recorded it and when, so a control entered late stays distinguishable from one recorded on the day.
Open an inspection and use Print checklist. You get a PDF of the whole check list: the reference, the equipment, the dates and the person responsible, then every check point in order. Any check point you have not answered yet prints as an empty box — tick boxes for pass/fail or yes/no answers, one box per choice for a list, a ruled line for free text or a reading — so the sheet can be completed by hand at the machine. Answers already recorded are printed as they stand, and a signature and date block sits at the bottom. The button is available on every plan and to anyone who can view the inspection: it is a read of your own data.
A recurring inspection only creates its next occurrence when that occurrence comes due, so if you carry out a check well ahead of schedule there is nothing yet to complete and the "Complete" button is not shown. On a recurring inspection whose current round is finished, use "Record a performed control" instead: enter the date the check was actually carried out and the register gains a new dated entry, while the next due date is recalculated from that date. The previous control is never overwritten — a regulatory register records the dates of every check, so each one has to remain readable. You land on the new entry so you can fill in the checklist and attach the report. If the current round is still open, complete it with the real date instead; if the series was cancelled, reactivate it first.
Always take photos during inspections for compliance.
Report and investigate incidents
Document safety incidents with investigation workflow. You can attach photos and documents (of the hazard, damage, or scene) when reporting an incident and from the incident page.
Scanned injury report forms, witness statements and photos of a person can be marked confidential on the incident page. A confidential file is hidden from anyone whose role is not allowed to view confidential records — they see only how many files were withheld, never the file names — and it is left out of the PDF those users export. It also stops being reachable by direct link. This needs the “Restrict confidential injury fields” setting (Settings → System) plus the “View confidential HSE records” permission.
Mark the file, not just the field: a scanned injury report carries the same names and medical details as the confidential fields, so hiding one without the other protects nothing.
Use Download Report on the incident page to save a PDF copy — handy for HR files, insurers, or regulators.
Report immediately, even without all details. Update later.
If fixing the incident requires scheduled maintenance work, create a corrective work order directly from the incident page — it stays linked so you can track the repair.
Prevent recurrence
Specific tasks assigned to address incident root causes.
Focus on root causes, not symptoms.
Authorize hazardous work
Permits authorize dangerous work with safety requirements.
Approval stages are set in Company Settings > Workflows > Work Permits. The preset "Work permit — joint Safety + Area sign-off" gives a Safety review then the area manager (the manager of the permit’s location) before activation, and the same pair again before closure.
Company Settings > HSE catalog holds the hazards, precautions, PPE and emergency procedures that are ticked on a permit instead of retyped. Link the measures to a hazard once, and they follow it onto every permit.
Build each checklist once as an HSE template (HSE > Templates) with the category "Permit — pre-work checklist" or "Permit — post-work checklist", and choose the permit type it applies to (or all types).
A permit-to-work form differs by site and by regulator, so you define the fields rather than us guessing. Company settings > Custom fields > Work permit.
Attach proof of insurance and employee certifications to the permit, each with an expiry date and a reminder. An expired certificate is worse than none — everyone believes they are covered — so the reminder reaches you before the contractor arrives, not after.
Press Export at the top of the Work Permits screen to download the register as CSV or Excel. The file contains exactly what the filters on screen are showing, so filter first and export second. Permits cannot be imported: a permit is an approval backed by a signature trail, and a file that could create approved permits would defeat what the register is kept for.
An administrator chooses which fields every permit must have, in Company Settings > Forms & Workflows > Work permit form. Title, Permit Type, Valid From and Valid Until are always required. Until a choice is saved, Location and Asset are required.
Set clear validity periods. Permits should expire automatically.
Every permit has a type: General, Hot Work, Confined Space, Working at Height, Electrical, Excavation or Chemical. The type decides which checklists and which approval stages apply to it, so it can no longer be changed once the permit has been submitted.
Permits are not a separate, disconnected register — they connect directly to work orders.
Keep every SDS at hand: on screen, on the phone and on a QR code
The SDS library keeps the safety data sheet of every hazardous product you use, with its GHS pictograms, signal word and hazard statements, where it is stored and when it is due for review. Every employee can read it, in the web app and on the phone. Adding and editing sheets is included from the Starter plan.
Chemical inventory exports one row per sheet (product, supplier, signal word, pictograms, hazard statements, CAS numbers, locations, revision and review dates) as an Excel or CSV file. It gives you the list of hazardous chemicals present on site that hazard communication rules ask you to keep.
In the FreeMaint app, More › Safety data sheets lists every sheet with its pictograms. Search by product, supplier, CAS number or H code, open a sheet, then open the PDF itself. A QR station scanned with the in-app scanner opens its page.
Each sheet carries the revision date printed on it and a next review date, by default 3 years after the revision. FreeMaint reminds the person who added it, and by default the admins and managers, before it is due, and the library shows which sheets are overdue or due within 30 days. When the supplier sends a new version, use New revision: the previous file stays in the history.
In the QR stations tab, create a QR code for a location (a chemical store, a workshop) or for the whole site, then download and print it. Anyone who scans it, including temps, contractors and inspectors, reads the safety data sheets of that place and its sub-locations without an account. Revoking a station disables its printed QR code immediately.
OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1200(g) and REACH article 35 require safety data sheets to be readily accessible to workers in their work area. A QR station on each chemical store, together with the mobile app, helps you provide that access during every shift.
Link a sheet to the inventory items that are this product (“Inventory items” field of the sheet). Every work order that plans or uses one of those items then shows the sheet next to the part, with its pictograms: in the work order form, on the work order page and in the mobile app. A tap opens the sheet. Nothing has to be linked again on each work order.
Monitor compliance
Real-time safety compliance overview.
Review daily. Address overdue items immediately.
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