---
id: KB-CS-010
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/manufacturing/machinery-and-equipment-certificates
idioma: en
categoria: sector-industria
subcategoria: componentes
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-CS-003, KB-CF-002]
citadoPor: [KB-CS-017, KB-CS-021, KB-IU-001, KB-LG-004, KB-IU-004, KB-IU-006]
---

# Machinery and equipment certificates

_Tracking paperwork attached to a machine rather than a person._

**Responde a:** machinery document control · equipment conformity certificates · periodic machine inspections · work equipment documentation

Machinery documentation has a wrinkle that makes it harder than people's: the machine moves. The same crane is on one site this month and another the next, and its paperwork has to travel with it.

**En corto**

- The case attaches to the equipment, not to the site it is on today.
- Nearly everything expires: inspections, insurance, the operator's training.
- Whoever receives the machine has to be able to check on the spot.

## The three levels to cross-check

| Level | Documents | Expires |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The equipment | Declaration of conformity, manual, marking | No, unless modified |
| Its maintenance | Periodic inspections, latest checks | Yes, and it is the most forgotten |
| Whoever operates it | Specific training, authorisation to use | Yes |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> A machine having its certificate does not authorise anyone to use it. The cross-check between machine and person is where industrial document control fails, and it is exactly the one examined after an accident.

## What changes versus tracking it by site

If the case belongs to the site, every transfer means rebuilding it and the machine arrives with no paperwork. If it belongs to the equipment, it travels with it: assign it to the new site and its documentary status follows, with its dates.

> [!WARNING]
> Hired equipment arrives with the hire company's documentation, expiring on their schedule rather than yours. Mark it the same way: hired equipment with a lapsed inspection is your problem while it is on your site.

> [!NOTE]
> Setting inspections to warn 60 days out leaves time to schedule the downtime. Fifteen does not, and the machine sits idle waiting for a technician.

**Can I have one case per serial number?**

Yes, and that is what lets you follow it between sites.

**What about small equipment?**

Items that neither expire nor need training do not need a case; forcing it fills the system with noise.

**Does it serve for a labour inspection?**

It is exactly the cross-check they ask for: equipment in order and an authorised operator.

## Ejemplos

**A manufacturer tracks machine documentation by site and loses it on every transfer.**

- Moves each machine to its own case, by serial number
- Marks inspections and training with expiry dates

→ The machine arrives at the new site with its documentary status current, and the supervisor checks it from a phone.

**A machine is bought without its documentation.**

- Requests it on the purchase order, before paying

→ It is asked from the only position of leverage.

**An item of plant's documentation sits in a drawer.**

- Captures and stores it with the equipment

→ It is found where the machine is.

**Calendar inspections get forgotten.**

- Records expiries per item of plant

→ The warning arrives before the date.

**A client asks for the machinery certificates.**

- Checks each item's file

→ It is handed over without reassembling anything.

**Equipment is sold and its documentation does not travel with it.**

- Hands over the complete file with the machine

→ The buyer receives what covers it.