Electronic forklift checklist: an app, or built into the truck?
A checklist app puts the daily check on a phone. The Start-Manager SM301 puts it on the truck, and the truck will not start until it is done. It is $865.00CA$1,233.75 a truck with no monthly fee.
Three ways to do the daily check
Paper, an app and a unit on the truck all ask the operator the same questions. They differ in what happens when the operator does not answer them.
Pricing is in US dollars.Prices in Canadian dollars are estimates; orders are charged in US dollars. Does not include freight, taxes, duty or installation. Full price includes cost of hardware, licensing fees, full use of US based web portal (smPortal) & tools (smConsole, smHealth, etc.)
An app can ask for the check. It cannot make the truck wait for it.
OSHA requires every forklift to be examined before it is placed in service, at least daily, and after each shift where trucks run around the clock. That rule is 29 CFR 1910.178(q)(7). Paper and apps both leave it to the operator to do the check before turning the key.
The SM301 is wired in place of the key. It asks the questions on its own screen and will not let the truck start until they are answered. If a question fails, the truck can stay locked until a supervisor releases it.
For how to set a program up, see How to implement an effective ‘daily safety check program’ for your equipment.
Has to be completed before the truck starts
8 standard sets of questions, which you can change in the web portal
A lockout after a failed check, until a supervisor releases the truck
Answered under the operator’s own code, card or fob
Every check in the web portal, with reports sent by email on a schedule
No phone or tablet on the truck
Which one fits
An app is the quicker way to stop using paper. A unit on the truck is the way to be sure the check happens.
The SM301 fits if
The check has to be done, not just be available
You also want to control who can start each truck
Operators should not need a phone on the truck
You would rather pay once for each truck than every month for each user
After an accident you need to know who was on the truck
An app fits if
You inspect many kinds of things, not only vehicles
You have 10 users or fewer and want to start free
Nothing can be wired into the trucks
You want to start today with the phones you already have
An app charges for each user. The SM301 is bought for each truck.
So which costs less depends on how many of each you have. Take 20 operators sharing 8 trucks, with the app on its paid plan.
Billed monthly it is $29.00CA$41.36 a user. The phones or tablets are not in these figures. With 10 users or fewer, the same app is free.
In this example the app costs less in the first year and the SM301 costs less from the second. Mounting brackets, freight, tax and installation are not in these figures.
Try one truck: the Introductory OfferFor every price side by side, see what forklift access control costs.
Questions about electronic checklists
What does OSHA require?
Every forklift has to be examined before it is placed in service, at least daily, and after each shift where trucks run around the clock. That is 29 CFR 1910.178(q)(7). A truck found to be unsafe has to be taken out of service until it is repaired.
Can an operator just press pass on every question?
Yes. No checklist, on paper, in an app or on the truck, can make someone look at the tires. What the SM301 changes is that the check cannot be skipped or filled in later: it is answered on the truck, under the operator’s own code or card, before the truck will start, and it lands in the web portal with their name on it.
Can we change the questions?
Yes. The SM301 comes with 8 standard question sets of 7, 11 or 14 questions, for engine and electric forklifts, powered pallet trucks, scissor lifts, utility vehicles, stationary machinery, overhead cranes, and backhoes and skid steers. You change them in the web portal, and the check can be set by shift.
Does the operator need a phone?
No. The questions are on the SM301’s screen and are answered on its keypad. Supervisors use the web portal in a browser.
Does it need Wi-Fi all the time?
No. The SM301 connects whenever it is in range of your Wi-Fi and sends everything it has collected since the last time. It keeps the checks in its own storage until then, so nothing is lost.
Can we use an app and the SM301 together?
Yes, nothing stops you. An app can go on handling the inspections that are not about starting a truck, while the SM301 handles the trucks.
Is there a monthly fee?
No. smPortal, smConsole and smHealth have no fees with the purchase of an SM301. Report data is kept for 3 months; unlimited storage for the life of the unit is a one-time $125.00CA$178.29. The one thing with a monthly fee is smIntegration, the optional link to your own software, and sales quotes that.
Does it work on my trucks?
The SM301 works with all makes and models of forklifts, powered pallet trucks, scissor lifts, utility vehicles, stationary machinery and overhead cranes. It is usually wired into the key switch harness, replacing the key.
Want to see a check stop a truck?
Call us 1-800-674-9320, book an online demo, or ask for a quote for your fleet.
Start-Manager’s prices are the ones on this website. The app prices are the free and paid plans of one widely used checklist app, read from its own pricing page on 15 October 2026. They will change, and other apps charge differently, so check before you decide.