Paper, generic apps, or Asset360?
An honest comparison. Paper is free and familiar; generic checklist apps digitise the form. Here's exactly where each one stops — and what that gap costs when something goes wrong.
The check happens, every shift
Paper: Unverifiable. Books get signed from the mess room, or at week-end from memory.
Generic app: Form is digital, but nothing confirms who filled it in or at which machine.
Asset360: Started by scanning the QR label on the truck, tied to an operator PIN — time-stamped, attributed, per shift.
Skipping items
Paper: Nothing stops a full column of ticks in ten seconds.
Generic app: Most tools let you configure required fields — if someone sets them up.
Asset360: Nothing can be skipped. Every item is pass, advisory or fail, and a fail prompts a photo.
What happens on a critical fault
Paper: A note in a book nobody reads until the truck fails for real.
Generic app: The form records it. The truck keeps working.
Asset360: The truck locks out immediately, a work order is raised and the supervisor is notified.
Operator authorisation
Paper: None. Anyone with keys drives.
Generic app: Not their job — checklist apps don't know about licences.
Asset360: Lapsed licence or wrong truck category is blocked at PIN entry, before the truck moves.
LOLER thorough-examination dates
Paper: A wall calendar, if that.
Generic app: Not covered.
Asset360: Tracked per truck with reminders before dates lapse.
When the HSE asks for records
Paper: Find the books. Hope March isn't missing.
Generic app: Export CSVs and assemble something presentable.
Asset360: One-click export: checks, defects, lockouts, examinations — the full trail per truck.
Cost
Paper: “Free” — plus the supervisor hours spent chasing, filing and reconstructing records.
Generic app: Per-user pricing that punishes every extra operator.
Asset360: Plans from £50/month for up to 5 assets, unlimited operators.
What does paper actually cost you?
Paper looks free until you count the supervisor hours behind it. Set your fleet size and your own cost assumption — the maths is yours to check.
Your operation
Your estimate of paper plus the supervisor time spent chasing, filing and reconstructing checks. Adjust it to your numbers.
The maths
Estimated annual difference
£1,260
in favour of Asset360, on these assumptions — plus the records paper can't produce when the HSE asks.
Priced by fleet size — unlimited operators on every plan. Figures are an estimate to support your own assessment, not a guarantee.
The form is a fifth of the job.
Digitising the checklist fixes legibility, not safety. The value is in what happens around the form: the truck that locks itself out, the licence that gets checked before the keys turn, the LOLER date that never lapses quietly, and the export an inspector accepts. That's the part paper can't do and generic tools weren't built for.
Common questions
Are paper forklift check sheets still legal?
Yes — the law requires that checks happen and that you can demonstrate it; it doesn't mandate a format. The problem with paper is evidential: an unattributed tick in a book is weak evidence that a proper walk-around happened, and books go missing exactly when they're needed.
Why not just use a generic checklist app?
Generic tools digitise the form, which is a real improvement on paper. What they don't do is know about forklifts: no lockout when a critical item fails, no licence or truck-category enforcement, no load-vs-capacity check, no LOLER examination tracking. The form is maybe a fifth of the compliance job.
How long does switching from paper take?
Most fleets are live in a day: add trucks and operators, print the QR labels, stick them on. There's no hardware and no migration project — and you can pilot one site free for 30 days before rolling out.
New to the regulations? Start with the daily forklift check or the PUWER guide.