Paper’s Problem 

Too many crane rental and lifting operations still rely on paper forms for essential safety and compliance tasks. Operators fill out inspections on clipboards, supervisors file JSAs in binders, and incident reports often disappear into piles of paperwork. 

This approach isn’t just outdated; it’s dangerous. Paper forms are easy to lose, slow to share, and impossible to escalate in real time. If a safety issue doesn’t reach maintenance or management quickly, the result could be costly downtime or worse, an avoidable accident. 

Industry surveys show this gap clearly. Today, only about 12% of companies report being fully digital across all projects. That leaves the majority of crane operators exposed to paper risks, from lost records to regulatory fines.

Compliance Isn’t Optional 

Daily pre-start checks aren’t a suggestion; they’re legally required in many regions. Customers often won’t even let crews on site without a JSA signed by the whole team. 

If records aren’t properly filled out, signed off, and stored, companies are left wide open: 

• Regulators can issue fines or shut down the job. 

• Customers can remove crews from the site. 

• In the event of an incident, proving compliance through stacks of paper is nearly impossible. 

Cranes don’t give second chances. Safety steps must be part of the work itself, not paperwork lost in the shuffle. 

How Digital Forms in Visual Dispatch Work 

Visual Dispatch was built by crane and rigging experts who know the stakes of compliance, safety, and efficiency. That’s why Forms are integrated directly into the platform so crews can drop the clipboards and keep everything in one place. 

With Forms in Visual Dispatch, teams can: 

• Complete pre-start checks tied to the exact crane or piece of equipment. 

• Capture crew-wide JSA signoffs before the first lift. 

• Use smart fields that expand based on answers, capturing only what matters. 

No chasing paper. No lost records. No uncertainty about whether forms were completed. Everything lives in Visual Dispatch, directly tied to the job. 

Bottom Line 

Paper forms slow crews down, get lost, and increase risk. Digital forms keep safety checks, JSAs, and reports all in one place, easy to fill out, easy to track, and impossible to ignore. For crane and rigging operations, safety and compliance aren’t optional, they’re the job. Digital is the only way to make sure nothing slips through the cracks. 

Ready to see it in action? Book a demo and learn how digital forms fit seamlessly into your operations.