Two documents. Both cleared review. One machine that cannot pass its own health check.
From December, a defective manual is a defective product.
CorridorIQ assesses whether a manufacturer's instruction set would hold up, and reports it to the party carrying the loss. One product family, five days, a rating and a findings register.
HB40-MM-002Revision 4
Maintenance manual, technical data
Platen force400 kN
System operating pressure250 bar
Reservoir capacity180 litres
Reviewed in isolation: passes
HB40-HC-004Revision 2
Health check guide, check 7
MethodGauge at test point
Pass criterion230 bar ± 10
Reviewed in isolation: passes
Critical finding
A machine set correctly to the manual fails its own health check. An engineer who adjusts it to pass has set the relief valve twenty bar below stated operating pressure. Neither document is wrong. They are wrong together.
Exposureheld, not made
The manufacturer writes the document. Somebody else carries it.
From 9 December 2026, inadequate instructions make a product defective, and that liability cannot be limited by contract. The parties who priced the risk have no way to see inside it.
Brokers
Placing product liability for manufacturers, with no view of the document exposure inside the risk.
Authorised representatives
Carrying the obligation for non-EU principals, usually with no documentation capability at all.
Solicitors
Instructed after a claim, needing to know whether the instruction set was defensible.
Importers
Inheriting manufacturer obligations at the point of placing on the market, frequently unaware of it.
3 of 8 findingsshown here
A contradiction should be a query, not a discovery.
Every value, interval, term and claim in the set becomes a row carrying its source. Two rows with the same name and different values sit next to each other. Nobody has to notice anything.
Parameter register, extract Kelfield HB40 baling press — demonstration set
| Parameter | Value | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platen force | 400 kN | MM-002 §3 | Clear |
| System operating pressure | 250 bar | MM-002 §3 | Critical |
| System pressure, acceptance | 230 ± 10 bar | HC-004 Ck 7 | Critical |
| Interlock test interval | 6 months | MM-002 §7 | Major |
| Interlock test interval | 12 months | HC-004 Ck 2 | Major |
| Accumulator pre-charge | — | No source | Critical |
Eight findings were returned across three documents. All eight sit between documents. Within each document, none was found.
Timelinethree dates
Three dates, and only one of them is being talked about.
Product Liability Directive (EU) 2024/2853. Liability cannot be excluded or limited by contract. Disclosure obligations apply in proceedings. What changes
Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230. Replaces Directive 2006/42/EC. Four of the seven grounds of formal non-compliance are documentation failures. What changes
AI Act, Annex I. Technical documentation must exist before market placement and be retained for ten years.
Two routesassess, then rebuild
Find out what the set carries. Then fix what it carries.
Documentation risk assessment
One manufacturer, one product family. Five days, desk-based. A rating, a findings register, and a determination of who carries the manufacturer obligation.
Technical documentation
Manuals, maintenance documents, health check guides, installation guides and datasheets, authored from drawings and engineer input. Remediation after an assessment, or new documentation from the start.
Send one product family. We will tell you what sits between the documents.
A non-disclosure agreement is in place before any technical material is received.
- The manufacturer and the product family involved
- Which documents exist, and which are referred to but not held
- Whether this is pre-bind, renewal, a risk improvement condition, or a claim
- Your timescale