FAQ | Inspection

One frequent question we receive from stage owners has to do with the inspection and recertification of their Stageline equipment. If you’re a stage-owner, then you probably know you need to have your stage inspected by a competent authority every 24 months. You also know that we can provide an inspection valid for one year—but did you know that if you’ve had your stage inspected within the last 24 months, you can buy a second certificate of inspection valid for a year?

This can get a little confusing for everyone, don’t worry. Let’s break it down to get a clearer picture of it.

INSPECTION

First, there’s your stage inspection. Any stage owner should be eager to have their stage inspected at least every 24 months. It’s a comparatively low-cost procedure and requires you to commit to a relatively small amount of time, but the payoff is huge. Your stage is an major investment and inspection extends its life while allowing you to get more out of renting it. Best of all, you’ll never have to worry about your maintenance needs: you’ll know exactly how your stage is doing, which will make your events safer and your business more profitable.

You can naturally find a competent local authority to carry out your stage inspection, but as with nearly everything else, you can always call Stageline.—and you should, because no one knows the products we manufacture as well as we do. If you have more than one Stageline stage, that’s easy—we’ll just inspect them all on the same trip.

Our inspection is the standard going-over we give every Stageline stage, which means it involves both visual inspection and functional testing, a point-by-point verification checklist, and a written report, considering a variety of inspection points. We’ll inspect your hydraulics, your structure, your mechanical components, your stage structure, your unit’s efficiency, and any aesthetic wear.

Once we’ve finished the inspection, we’ll issue you a detailed report with pictures and recommendations for what needs to be done next.

These recommendations are on a descending scale of three:

For problems that affect the immediate safety and functionality of the stage, we’ll mark those 1, meaning that they must be fixed before we can renew the certification of your unit.
If we find issues that are about to grow more serious, we’ll mark those a 2, meaning you need to take action before the problem in question gets worse.
For cosmetic failures that do not affect the safety or functioning of the stage—such as a scratch or a small hole—we’ll mark that a 3, meaning we suggest you make repairs.

However, once you’ve resolved any critical #1 issues, we will issue you certification you can provide to any state/county/municipality that requests you prove your stage is safe and functional. Not to mention easier to book, and therefore worth more money to you. Certification sets you apart from the competition.

24 MONTHS

The longest a stage can go without inspection is 24 months, for pretty obvious reasons: within 24 months, a problem that was only beginning to emerge can, untreated, become serious. Even that little cosmetic hole in the floor that didn’t worry anyone two years ago can begin to grow in that time. Two years is the longest you can leave a stage without beginning to worry that small problems might become big ones.

ONE YEAR

However, when we issue you a certificate of engineering inspection, those documents expire annually. What that means is that if you get your stage inspected in June, then by January of next year, the certificate will no longer be valid. While not all US states or provinces require a certificate stamped for the ongoing year, some do, which means you’ll need an up-to-date certificate.

The good news is that you don’t have to have a current inspection in order to get current certification—provided it’s within the 24 months following your last inspection. If you were inspected last June and your certification expired in January, we can sell you a second year’s certification for this year as well—but after that, your 24 months will be up, and it will be time for another inspection.

IT’S SIMPLE

The easiest way to work through the certification process is as follows: give us a call and set up an inspection visit. We’ll come to town and go over your unit with a fine-toothed comb, at the end of which we’ll give you a one-year certification if no ‘critical’ or once any critical points resolved. Once that certification expires, give us another call, and we’ll sell you a second year’s. At the end of the second year, repeat.

There’s nothing flashy about upkeep, but every sensible stage-owner understands they’ll get out of their stage what they put into it. Regular inspections and certification don’t just pave the way to uncomplicated dealings with local governments: they guarantee you the peace of mind that your stage is safe for you, your crew, your talent, and your audience. There’s no stronger argument for regular inspections than the guarantee of continued safety, and we know you care about that—because you bought a Stageline stage.