Most operators first hear about a ten year inspection when a hire company, an insurer or a principal contractor asks for the paperwork. By then the machine is usually already due, and the conversation becomes urgent for the wrong reasons.
What the standard actually requires
AS/NZS 1418.10 sets out the design and inspection requirements for elevating work platforms. The short version is that once a unit reaches ten years from date of manufacture, it needs a major inspection before it can continue in service, and that inspection has to be carried out by a competent person against the manufacturer criteria.
This is not a service. It is a structured teardown and assessment.
What gets checked
- Structural members, welds and pivot points, including crack testing where the manufacturer specifies it
- Hydraulic cylinders, hoses, valves and the emergency lowering system
- Electrical systems, interlocks, limit switches and emergency stops
- Load-bearing components, chains, ropes and attachment points
- Control functions tested through their full range, loaded and unloaded
- Decals, rating plates and operator documentation
A major inspection is a condition assessment against the manufacturer criteria, not a tidy-up before an audit.
Who can sign it off
A competent person with the training, experience and equipment to assess the specific machine type. In practice that means a technician who works on this class of equipment regularly and has access to the manufacturer inspection criteria. Our licensed specialists carry out inspections to AS/NZS 1418.10 across scissor lifts, boom lifts and telehandlers.
What it costs to skip
- The machine cannot legally be used on a compliant site, which usually means it cannot be used at all
- Insurers can decline a claim where inspection records are missing
- Principal contractors increasingly audit plant documentation before mobilisation
- Deferred structural issues get more expensive, not less
Planning it properly
Book the inspection before the anniversary, not after. Pull the date of manufacture from the rating plate rather than from your purchase date, since a unit bought second hand is often older than the paperwork suggests. If you run several units, map their dates once and you will never be caught out by a surprise.
If you are not sure where your fleet sits, our team can review your plant list and tell you what falls due in the next twelve months.
