The ute, the trailer and the plant on one pre-start
A tradie’s vehicle carries a trailer, a load and sometimes plant. The pre-start covers all of it before the day starts: tyres, lights, the coupling and safety chains, load restraint, and the generator or compressor on the back. It works with no signal on a site, and the record lands in the WHS file when the phone finds signal again.
Why it matters for trades fleets
The WHS Act treats a vehicle used for work as a workplace and plant. The business must maintain safe plant and have it inspected by a competent person. This applies to light vehicles, trailers and the plant they carry.
Site principals ask for pre-starts. Tipper, concrete and excavation fleets are the segment where prosecutions have occurred, and a principal contractor will ask to see your daily record before you work on their site.
If your business consigns, loads or schedules heavy vehicles, Chain of Responsibility applies to you as well. A clean record of your own fleet helps you show a system of work.
Escudo Fleet is designed with the Master Code and the Vehicles as a Workplace guide in mind.
Summarised from public sources on 13 October 2026. Not legal advice. Check the current rule with your regulator or adviser.
What gets checked
Vehicle
- Tyres, lights and indicators
- Windscreen, mirrors and wipers
- Warning lights on the dash
- Fluid leaks
- Odometer and fuel level
Trailer and load
- Coupling engaged and safety chains crossed
- Trailer lights and plug
- Trailer tyres and bearings
- Load restrained as your procedure describes
- Ladder racks and tie-downs
Plant carried
- Generator, compressor or pump engine hours
- Guards fitted
- Test and tag dates
- Fire extinguisher and first aid dates
A typical pre-start: Trades ute and trailer pre-start
All starter templatesStarter templates carry your items in your wording. Readings with limits are left blank for you to set from the manufacturer or your procedure: we never invent a limit.
The fuel angle
A fuel card in a glovebox is an invitation. Every fill arrives with a stamped photo or from the card import, and a vehicle card used on another vehicle is flagged.
Jerry cans for plant are recorded as fills against the plant item, so generator fuel does not look like a ute that drinks.
Consumption per vehicle and per person by month, with alerts for a fill over the tank, no distance since the last fill and after-hours fills.
How fuel tracking worksWhat is kept
- Daily pre-start per vehicle with trailer and plant on the same record
- Defects with photos, who found them and who cleared them
- Equipment register with test and tag and service dates
- Services by distance, hours or date for vehicles and plant
- Export as a PDF pack for a principal contractor or a WHS inspector
Every record is kept while your account is open. Everything exports as PDF or spreadsheet, and the record is yours.
Starter templates
- Pool car pre-start (before every trip, car)
- SUV and 4WD pre-start (before every trip, SUV or 4WD)
- Electric van or car pre-start (before every trip, van)
- Weekly light vehicle check (weekly, car)
- Van pre-start (before every trip, van)
- Trades ute and trailer pre-start (before every trip, ute)
- Light truck pre-start (before every trip, light truck)
- Tipper pre-start (before every trip, tipper)
- Tilt tray and tow truck pre-start (before every trip, tilt tray or tow truck)
- Crane truck pre-start (before every trip, crane truck)
- Concrete agitator pre-start (before every trip, concrete agitator)
- Water cart pre-start (before every trip, tanker)
- Dog trailer and drawbar coupling check (when needed, trailer)
- Vacuum truck pre-start (before every trip, vacuum truck)
- Ride-on mower pre-start (before use, ride-on mower)
- Tractor pre-start (before use, tractor)
- Plant pre-start (before use, plant)
- Forklift pre-start (LPG or diesel) (before use, forklift)
- Electric forklift pre-start (before use, forklift)
- Scissor lift pre-start (before use, elevating work platform)
- Boom lift pre-start (before use, elevating work platform)
- Telehandler pre-start (before use, telehandler)
- Excavator pre-start (before use, excavator)
- Skid steer loader pre-start (before use, skid steer loader)
- Haul truck pre-start (before use, haul truck)
- Articulated dump truck pre-start (before use, articulated dump truck)
- Wheel loader pre-start (before use, wheel loader)
- Dozer pre-start (before use, dozer)
- Grader pre-start (before use, grader)
- Blasthole drill pre-start (before use, blasthole drill)
- Excavator or shovel pre-start (mine and quarry) (before use, excavator)
- Water cart pre-start (fire role) (before every trip, tanker)
- Fuel and lube service truck pre-start (before every trip, tanker)
- Mobile crane pre-start (before every trip, crane truck)
- Integrated tool carrier or EWP pre-start (before use, elevating work platform)
- Lighting tower or generator check (daily, trailer)
- Dynamic service brake test (monthly, any vehicle)
- Load restraint check (when needed, any vehicle)
- Monthly vehicle inspection (supervisor) (monthly, any vehicle)
- Post-trip check (after every trip, any vehicle)
- Box or plant trailer walkaround (before every trip, trailer)
- Van pre-start walkaround (before every trip, van)
- Ute or car pre-start walkaround (before every trip, ute)
The rules, in plain words
- HVNL and Chain of Responsibility: The primary duty, executive due diligence and what changed on 1 August 2026.
Have the record a site principal asks for
Create your fleet, paste your registrations, print the tags and send a driver the link. Fourteen days free, no card and no hardware.