Understanding the system
Playground inspection intervals and due dates
How the next inspection is counted per item and per level, and what should move the interval up or down.
Updated
Short answer
The next inspection is counted from the last completed one at the same level, plus that level's interval, per piece of equipment. Lekko starts at 7, 75 and 365 days, which are the app's defaults and not figures from the standard. EN 1176-7 expects the owner to set the first two intervals from how hard the site is used.
How to do it in Lekko
The next inspection for a piece of equipment is calculated from the last completed inspection at the same level, plus the interval for that level. If your routine visual interval is 7 days and the last routine visual inspection was 6 days ago, the next one falls due tomorrow.
The values Lekko starts with are:
- Routine visual inspection: every 7 days
- Operational inspection: every 75 days
- Annual main inspection: every 365 days
These are the app's starting values, not figures from the standard. EN 1176-7 expects the owner to set the first two intervals from how hard the site is used — so treat them as a default to change, not as an answer.
You adjust the intervals under Settings, in the tab for inspections, under reminders. There you control both how often each level should be carried out and how far ahead of the due date you want to be warned — which is what decides when the status goes from green to amber.
New equipment does not become overdue straight away. When a level has not been carried out yet, the next due date is counted from the day the equipment was registered, so it has the whole interval before the first inspection falls due.
Background
What should move the interval
- How hard the site is used. A day-care yard and a courtyard with three children sit at opposite ends of the scale.
- Materials and environment. Timber near the coast wears faster than steel inland.
- Moving parts. Swings, roundabouts and cableways need looking at more often than a fixed frame.
- Vandalism. Being close to a school, a bus stop or a bar pushes the interval down.
- The manufacturer's own instructions. Where they set a closer interval, they are the ones that apply.
Due dates are counted per piece of equipment and per level, not as one date for the whole playground. A swing installed in March does not share an anniversary with the rest, and a list that pretends otherwise will be wrong about one of them.
The defaults in the app are a starting point somebody has to replace with a decision. An interval nobody wrote down is not an interval — it is an assumption, and it cannot be shown to anybody afterwards.
Lekko builds on EN 1176 and EN 1177. It says that the equipment has been checked against those standards — not that any national requirement has been met. What makes the standard binding is national law, and that differs across the countries this market covers, so we do not claim to know what applies where you are.
Sources
This article gives a practical account of the requirements. It does not reproduce the standards EN 1176 and EN 1177, and it does not replace the annual main inspection by a competent person. If you are unsure what applies to your playground, ask a competent person or the relevant authority in your own country.
Less fuss. Lekko remembers.
Ready-made checklists built from EN 1176 and EN 1177, a reminder before every inspection, and a report you can hand over in one click.