Every machine, crane, forklift, conveyor and pressure vessel has its own inspection regime: daily, monthly, annual and detailed. The intervals are not set by the employer at its own discretion — for most equipment they are prescribed by dedicated rulebooks, and the inspections are carried out by an independent legal entity. Equipment without a valid report must not operate.
Which equipment is subject to periodic testing
The general rule comes from the Occupational Safety and Health Act: the employer must keep work equipment in sound condition and verify its condition and safety through periodic inspections and testing, carried out in the manner and at the intervals prescribed by the act the employer adopts, or by the manufacturer's instructions, technical regulations and standards (Article 33(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, Official Gazette of RM no. 92/2007 as subsequently amended).
Dedicated regulations for specific equipment groups build on this general rule.
Cranes and industrial conveyors. The Rulebook on the use of cranes and industrial conveyors (Official Gazette of RM no. 32/2009) divides technical equipment into four groups (Article 2):
- group 1 — overhead cranes (bridge cranes), gantry and semi-gantry cranes, mobile and fixed jib cranes, and column or tower cranes;
- group 2 — mobile cranes, cranes mounted on vehicles for loading and unloading, and cranes for lifting persons above 2 m;
- group 3 — cranes for vehicle maintenance and servicing, all other cranes with steel rope or chain, compound pulleys and winches, mechanisms for lifting and/or pulling loads, and forklifts;
- group 4 — all types of conveyor for continuous transport of loads (belt, plate, scraper and similar).
Pressure equipment. The Rulebook on the use of pressure equipment (Official Gazette of RM no. 32/2009) covers steam boilers and their installations, pressure vessels and their installations, pressure equipment plants, trunk oil and gas pipelines, and filling installations (Article 2). Equipment is classified as low-hazard and high-hazard, with different inspection regimes.
Other equipment. For presses, compressors and similar equipment not covered by a dedicated rulebook, the general rule of Article 33 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act applies: intervals are set by the employer in its own act, or taken from the manufacturer's instructions, technical regulations and standards. A common misunderstanding is worth clearing up here — the old Rulebook on periodic testing of work tools and devices (Official Gazette of the SFRY no. 26/1967), which covered presses and compressors and to which practice still often refers, has been repealed by Article 12 of the Rulebook on minimum occupational safety and health requirements for employees exposed to risks from chemical agents (Official Gazette of RM no. 46/2010).
That does not abolish the obligation — on the contrary, it shifts it to the employer: it must set intervals in its own act and document them. A reasonable basis for those intervals is the manufacturer's instructions, the applicable EN standards and the conclusions of the risk assessment.
Statutory intervals
| Equipment / type of inspection | Interval | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| All work equipment — inspection before first use, after reconstruction or breakdown, and after relocation from one place to another | Before being put into service, or immediately after the event | OSH Act Art. 33(2) |
| Regular maintenance of cranes and conveyors | At least once every three months | Rulebook 32/2009 Art. 20 |
| Daily inspection (by the operator) | Before work begins | Rulebook 32/2009 Art. 23 |
| Monthly inspection (by the responsible person) | At least once a month | Rulebook 32/2009 Art. 24 |
| Annual condition inspection | At least once a year | Rulebook 32/2009 Art. 25 |
| First technical inspection (new equipment, after significant modification, after repair following an accident) | Before being put into service | Rulebook 32/2009 Art. 34 |
| Annual technical inspection — group 1 cranes only | Within one year of the previous one | Rulebook 32/2009 Art. 35 |
| Detailed technical inspection — group 1 | Every three years; every two years if annual operating time exceeds 3,000 hours and relative loading exceeds 56% | Rulebook 32/2009 Art. 36 |
| Detailed technical inspection — groups 2 and 3 (mobile cranes, forklifts, pulleys, winches) | Every three years; every two years if the equipment is more than nine years old | Rulebook 32/2009 Art. 36 |
| Detailed technical inspection — group 4 (conveyors) | Every two years | Rulebook 32/2009 Art. 36 |
| Detailed technical inspection on change of location | On every change of location | Rulebook 32/2009 Art. 36 |
| High-hazard pressure equipment (categories 1–4) | External examination every 2 years, internal examination every 5 years, integrity check every 10 years | Pressure Equipment Rulebook, Annex 2 |
| Fired pressure equipment (steam boilers, pressure cookers) | External examination every 1 year, internal every 3 years, integrity every 9 years | Pressure Equipment Rulebook, Annex 2 |
| High-hazard piping systems | External examination every 5 years, integrity check every 5 years | Pressure Equipment Rulebook, Annex 2 |
| High-hazard trunk oil and gas pipelines | External, internal and integrity — every 5 years each | Pressure Equipment Rulebook, Annex 3 |
| Low-hazard pressure equipment | Per the manufacturer's instructions; documentation to be available to the Inspectorate | Pressure Equipment Rulebook Art. 6 |
| Presses, compressors and other equipment with no dedicated regulation | Per intervals from the manufacturer's instructions, technical regulations and standards, or per the employer's act; in their absence — before first use, after reconstruction or breakdown, and after relocation | OSH Act Art. 33(1) and (2) |
For high-hazard pressure equipment the schedule of periodic testing is agreed between the user and the chosen independent legal entity and must be drawn up within six months of the equipment being put into service, and submitted for inspection and revision to the State Technical Inspectorate (Article 9). If the user and the independent legal entity do not agree on the intervals, the interval set by the independent legal entity prevails (Article 10).
Technical inspection and periodic testing are also carried out before pressure equipment is returned to service where it has been out of use for more than a year, has been relocated, or has undergone significant modification (Article 16).
Who may carry out the testing
Technical inspection and periodic testing are carried out by an independent legal entity meeting the conditions of the Technical Inspection Act (Official Gazette of RM no. 88/2008) and holding a decision confirming compliance with those conditions, with a unique identification number assigned by the State Technical Inspectorate (Articles 40 and 56 of Rulebook 32/2009).
The conditions are not formalities. An independent legal entity for cranes and conveyors must permanently employ at least three staff involved in the process: one with higher education in mechanical or electrical engineering and at least five years' experience as the activity holder, one with higher education and at least three years' experience as an operative, and one with at least four-year secondary mechanical or electrical education and three years' experience (Article 52). It must additionally own or have access to specific measuring equipment — devices for measuring lengths, force, deflection, geometric deviations, stress in the load-bearing structure, insulation resistance and electric shock protection, illuminance, travel speed and pressure in hydraulic installations (Article 55).
A crucial restriction: the independent legal entity, its responsible persons and its specialist staff must not be the manufacturer, trader, designer, installer or servicer of the same equipment (Article 51). The servicer who maintains the crane may not inspect its own work.
Specialist occupational safety activities — including regular testing and control of work equipment — additionally require a licence from the Ministry of Economy and Labour (Article 45 of the OSH Act, competence transferred by Official Gazette of RNM no. 74/2025).
What the technical report contains
For the checks and testing carried out, the independent legal entity draws up a technical report, which must be written in the Macedonian language and its Cyrillic script and contain (Articles 47 and 50 of Rulebook 32/2009):
- the place, date and number of the report;
- the name and registered office of the independent legal entity, with the stamp and signature of the authorised person;
- details of the applicant and of the manufacturer, or the person who placed the equipment on the market;
- the type and purpose of the technical equipment, its location and/or identification number;
- a brief description and technical characteristics, with type designations and serial numbers of the main components and safety devices;
- details of the checks and testing carried out and the date of performance, with the names of the persons who carried them out;
- details of identified defects and failures to meet safety requirements;
- a conclusion with reasons explaining why a positive or negative conclusion was given.
For pressure equipment, the independent legal entity prepares the report within seven days of the activities being carried out and delivers it to the user; where the report is positive it marks the equipment with its own indelible mark showing a clearly indicated date, and where negative it also notifies the Inspectorate (Articles 8 and 21).
For cranes and conveyors, for group 1 and 2 equipment the owner must also notify the Inspectorate of the technical inspections carried out, enclosing the technical report, the notarised statement of the contract concluded with an independent legal entity, and the inspection schedule (Article 38).
What happens if you have no report
The consequences are specific and follow one after another.
The equipment must come out of service. Technical equipment on which no technical inspection has been carried out is disconnected or taken out of service by the owner (Article 39 of Rulebook 32/2009). The Occupational Safety and Health Act says the same from the other direction: the employer must not put into service work equipment that has not been inspected and tested for safe operation, nor may an employee use such equipment (Article 33(3)).
The deadlines for remedying defects are short. The applicant must remedy identified defects within a deadline set by the independent legal entity, and that deadline must not exceed 60 days; once it expires, the application must be renewed (Article 48).
Fines. If the employer fails to carry out periodic inspections and testing of the working environment and equipment, fails to keep work equipment in sound condition through periodic inspections at the established intervals, or puts into service equipment not tested for safe operation, the fine is EUR 500 to 1,000 in denar equivalent for a micro and small employer that is a legal entity, EUR 1,000 to 2,000 for a medium one and EUR 3,000 to 4,000 for a large one. For the responsible person within the legal entity the fine is EUR 300, 400 or 500 depending on size (Article 58 of the OSH Act). If the fine is paid within eight days of the offence payment order, half the amount is payable (Article 54).
Prohibition on work. Where the inspector establishes an immediate danger, a decision prohibits work entirely or on part of the equipment, part of the plant or the whole technological process (Article 49(2)). On repetition of the same offence within one year, a prohibition on work in the work premises for 15 days follows (Article 54(3)).
How we can help
Opusproekt performs testing of work equipment and machinery, and the reports are prepared so that they slot directly into the risk assessment and into the records the inspector asks for. If you are not sure which equipment falls due and when, send us a list of the machines and we will prepare an inspection calendar for you. Request a quote or take a look at our measuring equipment.
This article is informational and does not replace professional advice. Regulations change — last updated: August 2026.
This article is informational and does not replace professional advice.
