Today’s utility services face some of the most significant challenges when it comes to managing maintenance and safety at remote job sites like utility substations and delivery lines. That’s why having some adaptable utility checklist templates for maintenance and substation safety on every service visit is crucial to ensure oversight when off-site.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, in 2023, 147 fatalities occurred in the workplace. They were a direct result of exposure to electricity (for example, arcs, arc-flash, contact, etc). If your team doesn’t want to contribute to those figures in the coming years, it would be advantageous to ensure you have a strong safety plan and reporting system in place. (“Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2023 Caused by Exposure to Electricity or Arc Flash” 2023)
In this guide, we’ll show you some of the utility checklist templates we’ve created specifically for the utilities sector. The best part (aside from you not having to make them yourself) is that with our AI form-builder, Template Genie, you can customize any of our templates literally in seconds. Furthermore, we’ll show you how your team can access and complete these templates in the field, whether in range of a cell signal or not.
Why Standardized Checklists Reduce Incidents and Downtime In The Utility Sector
Standardized checklists reduce incidents and downtime in the utility sector, just like they do in other industries. For example, a study of the effects of safety checklists in medicine found that “The main findings were improved communication, reduced adverse events, better adherence to standard operating procedures, and reduced morbidity and mortality”. (THOMASSEN et al. 2013)
According to OSHA data, 26% of workplace electrical fatalities between 2011 and 2023 were in the electrical occupations specifically. (“ESFI Releases Updated Workplace Safety Statistics – Electrical Safety Foundation International” 2025)
To lower those fatality numbers, the utilities sector should focus on increasing safety, situational awareness, and hazard reporting in the field. A significant aid in this process is standardizing the safety and occupational task checklists you use, ensuring every point is considered and your field teams remain safe. Another considerable help in the process is making those checklists available, easy to complete, and easy for you to manage.
Use Our Utility Checklist Templates Right Now in the 1st Reporting App.
What Templates Are Needed?
We’ll start with a few example templates your teams will likely need and use for safety.
Vehicles and Equipment
- Pre-Use Vehicle Walkaround Safety Inspection Checklist
- Scissorlift Inspection Checklist
- Aerial Lift Safety Checklist
- Ladder Inspection Checklist
Jobsite Risk Assessment
Work/Task Specific
- Lockout / Tagout (LOTO)
- Live-work Permit / Energized Work Permit
- Confined Space Entry Permit
- Hot Work Permit
PPE
For more about PPE, check out our guide.
Incident Templates
Other Templates and Forms
When field reporting, service teams may use any number of other, more task-specific forms, such as those used to document:
- Grounding / Earthing Verification
- Insulator / Conductor Safety
- Substation Inspection / Maintenance
- Line Inspection & Maintenance
- Difficult Access Site-Specific Emergency Procedures
To ensure all practices align with standards such as CAN/ULC-S801 (Canada), OSHA, and NFPA 70E (U.S.), you may need to create specific or custom forms, checklists, or other templates for your field teams, depending on the location of the work. Luckily, the 1st Reporting app has a built-in AI that can not only create entire forms from scratch, but it can also help you customize any form, making implementation easier and exponentially faster.
Master Utility Maintenance Checklist (plant/facility + field assets)
In the templates you’ll find in the 1st Reporting application, you’ll find the Master Utility Maintenance Checklist, as shown above. This checklist can work as your basic maintenance checklist, and using the Template Genie customization is fast and efficient. Tell the Template Genie in plain words how you need to modify the template, and it will help craft exactly what you need, saving you minutes or even hours of manual form or checklist creation and customization.
Substation Inspection Checklist (monthly/quarterly)
Similar to our maintenance checklists, you’ll find Substation Inspection Checklist and other task and site-specific checklists that you can use right away in the 1st Reporting mobile application. Our application works on your desktop, laptop, and all mobile devices. It also has a powerful offline mode, ensuring your teams can still report from their mobile devices even when out of signal range.
How to Use These Checklists in the Field
In our years of helping utilities and other field service teams with field reporting, we’ve identified a standardized process that works well for many teams across more than just the utilities sector.
- Identify scenario
- Choose appropriate forms and checklists for the scenario
- Complete pre-work safety procedures and checklists
- Begin safe work and document progress on appropriate forms
- Complete work and cleanup as needed
- Complete all post-work inspection and documentation procedures.
You’ll notice that in this 6-step procedure, we do not include communicating findings with the office or a similar step. The reason for this is that using the 1st Reporting app enables you to create custom automated notifications to communicate automatically for you and your teams. For example, let’s assume a field team completes a pre-work site hazard analysis.
You can set notifications to alert you or another supervisor at any stage. For example, you might set a notification to alert you when a site hazard analysis is complete, and another if the study finds a problem.
By using custom notification triggers and conditions in the 1st Reporting app, you have complete control over creating automated and customized reports, notifications, alerts, workflows, tasks, and multiple-staged workflow management.
Utility Checklists: Templates, Variants, and Customization
It was mentioned earlier that you can use the 1st Reporting application to customize templates, notifications, and even workflows. However, to fully grasp the power of the combined features, it’s noteworthy to see how they can work together to create a powerful and semi-automated safety standard operating procedure, documenting every step.
- Form Customization – In the 1st Reporting application, you can use the built-in artificial intelligence to help create forms, checklists, and templates in seconds. Furthermore, you can also use it to customize templates. Although you still have complete manual control, the form customizer AI, such as Template Genie, is a highly effective way to create new forms quickly.
- Custom Notifications and Alerts – You can create custom triggered notifications and alerts in the 1st Reporting application. You also have control over the trigger conditions, making it a highly flexible and customizable notification system. Set notifications for any form, any step of any form or checklist, and for form start, modification, completion, submission, and more. With complete customizability, you control the communications and can make highly effective notifications built right into your reporting processes.
- Custom Task Management – Set up and dispatch tasks to your field teams. Include forms and checklists to ensure they complete the proper forms for their tasks. Furthermore, you control the deadlines and notifications, which you can set to warn team members of upcoming or occurring task deadlines.
- Custom Workflow Management – Here’s where things get interesting – you can create custom workflows in the 1st Reporting application that include forms, checklists, notifications, tasks, and other elements. That means you can now fully automate tasks such as substation pre-work safety inspections, equipment inspections, and incident management. Set the triggers, set the tasks, attach the forms and other templates, and more.
To gain a comprehensive understanding and learn more about the 1st Reporting application for utilities field reporting, we invite you to schedule a demo with our field reporting specialists. They will guide you through the application’s features and demonstrate how it addresses field reporting challenges.
How do standardized checklists actually reduce safety incidents in utility work?
Standardized checklists make sure nothing gets missed, even on complex or high-pressure jobs. By guiding crews through proven safety steps every time, they help reduce human error, improve communication, and ultimately lower the risk of accidents or downtime.
Can my teams use these checklists offline at remote substations or job sites?
Yes. The 1st Reporting app is designed for field work and includes a powerful offline mode. Your teams can complete checklists and forms without a signal, and everything syncs automatically once they’re back online.
What’s the difference between a job safety analysis (JSA) and a hazard assessment checklist?
A JSA focuses on breaking down a specific task into steps and identifying risks at each stage. A hazard assessment, on the other hand, looks at the overall environment or site to identify potential dangers. Both are valuable, and many teams use them together for complete coverage.
How customizable are the templates for our specific compliance standards (OSHA, NFPA 70E, CAN/ULC-S801, etc.)?
Every template can be tailored in seconds with our AI form builder, Template Genie. You can easily align checklists with your regional or industry standards, whether that’s OSHA, NFPA, or Canadian safety codes. The process is fast, simple, and ensures compliance without extra work.
Do checklists really save time, or do they add paperwork?
When done right, checklists save time by creating consistency and reducing rework. With automated notifications, pre-built templates, and digital reporting, they become a tool for efficiency rather than extra paperwork. Most teams find they complete jobs faster and with fewer errors.
More Utility Sector Resources
- The Most Trusted Utilities Reporting Software for Field & Infrastructure Management
- How Utility Managers Can Streamline Operations: Reporting, Scheduling & Asset Management Software Integration
- Reporting Solutions: Enhancing Utility Services with Public Forms
- Real-Time Utilities Reporting for Improving Response Times
- GPS and Location Data: Powering Efficient Utility Field Operations
- Stay Compliant with NR 10, NR 15 & NR 35 — All-in-One Vegetation Management Software for Utility Teams
- Streamlining Emergency Response Reporting for Utility Crews
References
- “Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2023 Caused by Exposure to Electricity or Arc Flash.” 2023. Nfpa.org. 2023. https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/research/nfpa-research/fire-statistical-reports/fatal-occupational-injuries-caused-by-exposure-to-electricity-or-arc-flash?.
- “ESFI Releases Updated Workplace Safety Statistics – Electrical Safety Foundation International.” 2025. Electrical Safety Foundation International. April 2025. https://www.esfi.org/news/esfi-releases-updated-workplace-safety-statistics-3/.
- THOMASSEN, Ø, A. STORESUND, E. SØFTELAND, and G. BRATTEBØ. 2013. “The Effects of Safety Checklists in Medicine: A Systematic Review.” Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica 58 (1): 5–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/aas.12207.
Try Our Utility Checklist Templates in the 1st Reporting App.
