Knowledge base for metalwork and fabrication for when someone on the scaffolding asks how big the gate at Huber’s was.

That’s a good thing to try in the first weeks after go-live. Load the delivery notes, inspection certificates and dealer emails for a completed order and ask which certificates are on file for it. The answer gives file, page and date; if the system finds nothing, it tells you so – and you know on Friday, not at seven on Monday, that you need to request them from the dealer. You’ll already know the distinction that matters here: only a 3.1 inspection certificate under EN 10204 can be traced back to the batch; a 2.2 test report only covers non-specific testing. A few real sheets will show whether your scans are legible enough for this.

The declaration of performance is issued by you, not by the system: for load-bearing steel components EN 1090-1 requires it together with CE marking, and from execution class EXC2 your factory production control (FPC) must be certified. Where the system helps is in pulling things together – the FPC certificate and its date, the valid welder qualifications, the material certificates, last year’s declaration of performance for a similar component as a template, each with its source. From these it can produce a draft as a Word or PDF file. You check it, sign it and send it. How useful such a draft is with your documents is something to test in the first weeks after go-live, on a component you know well.

There’s no reminder function – the system answers when you ask and sends nothing on its own. If the certificates under ÖNORM EN ISO 9606-1 (the Austrian edition of the European standard) are in your documents as scans, you can ask which welder holds which qualification, what date it carries and when the welding coordinator last confirmed it; the answer shows the source. That is exactly what validity depends on: without the six-monthly confirmation that the welder has actually been welding within the scope of the qualification, the certificate lapses before the printed date; depending on the route chosen, it is extended after two or three years. Reminders stay wherever you keep them today.

The duty lies with the employer at the workplace – that is, your customer: under § 8 AM-VO (the Austrian Work Equipment Ordinance), power-operated doors and gates must be inspected at least once every calendar year and no more than 15 months apart. The customer can bring in other suitably qualified people for this – you, for instance; if they use their own staff, a person as defined in § 7(3) or (4) AM-VO must be involved at least every fourth year. You can ask when someone from your company was last there, which drive and which safety device are fitted and what was replaced. The answer draws on the inspection record, the order and the photo and names the file each time; if one of them is missing, the system tells you so.