A machinery maintenance log isn't a form you fill in, it's proof the check actually happened.
In Italy, D.Lgs 81/2008 doesn't prescribe a set template for the log: article 71, paragraph 9, only requires that the results of checks be put in writing, and that at least the last three years be kept on file and available to the supervisory authorities. Everything else — the machine record, the maintenance plan, the history of past work — exists to make that "in writing" something you can actually put your hands on the day it's asked for. Here is what to write on each line, where each machine's plan comes from, and the difference between the check you do yourself and the inspection that belongs to a third-party body.
What the law requires: findings in writing, not a form
The rule that matters is article 71, paragraph 9, of Italy's D.Lgs 81/2008: the results of the checks required under paragraph 8 "must be put in writing", and at least those from the last three years must be kept on file and made available to the supervisory authorities. That's the whole of it: no ministerial template, no stamped and numbered ledger, no imposed format. What has to exist is the written trace of what was checked, when, with what outcome, and by whom.
The decree uses the word "register" only once, in article 71, paragraph 4(b), which calls for keeping and updating the inspection register of work equipment "for which one is required" — that is, for equipment a specific provision imposes it on, not for every machine in the workshop. For everything else the obligation is the one in paragraph 9, which is lighter in form and more demanding in substance: you don't need a form, you need the findings to exist and to be findable.
That's where the freedom on format comes from. A notebook with one page per machine, a binder of job reports, a spreadsheet or a digital log all count equally, as long as every line can be traced back to an identified machine and a named person, and the document backing it up — the technician's job report, the invoice, the inspection report — can be found. Breaches of the article 71 obligations are penalised under article 87 of the same decree.
What has to be in every line
An incomplete log isn't a leaner log: it's a log that proves nothing on the day of an inspection. These are the seven pieces of information a line has to carry, whatever the format.
- The date of the work, not the month: "spring 2026" doesn't say whether it was before or after the breakdown
- The machine identified unambiguously — make, model, serial number — not "the big compressor"
- What kind of activity it is: maintenance from the manual, a periodic check, or an extraordinary check after a breakdown or a repair
- The outcome: pass, pass with conditions, or fail — and if there are conditions, the date they were cleared
- Who carried it out: the person's name or the company's name, and who wrote the line
- The document that proves it, attached to the line: the technician's job report, an inspection report, an invoice, a photo of the hour meter
- The next deadline and the rule it comes from: months since the last piece of work, hours of operation, or whichever comes first
Maintenance, in-house checks and statutory inspection are not the same thing
They are three distinct activities, with different sources, different people carrying them out and different documents. Mixing them up is why so many workshops do more than necessary on one machine and less than required on another.
| Activity | Where it comes from | Who carries it out | What gets put in writing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maintenance | Manufacturer's instructions and maintenance handbook (art. 71(4)) | In-house maintenance technician or external company | Job report or invoice, attached to the line in the log |
| Initial check and after every assembly | Art. 71(8)(a), where safety depends on the installation | A competent person appointed by the employer | Outcome in writing, before the machine is put into service |
| Periodic and extraordinary checks | Art. 71(8)(b): frequency set by the manufacturer or by good-practice standards | A competent person appointed by the employer | Outcome in writing, kept for at least three years (para. 9) |
| Statutory inspection | Art. 71(11) and Allegato VII, only for the equipment it lists | INAIL for the first, then ASL/ARPA or an authorised body | The inspecting body's report, kept with the machine record |
Only the last row has an interval fixed by law, and only for the equipment listed in Allegato VII (Annex VII to D.Lgs 81/2008): mobile elevating work platforms, cranes, lifting equipment rated above 200 kg, pressure equipment and the other families the Annex lists one by one. For every other machine, the frequency comes from the manufacturer's manual and from good-practice standards. The one figure the decree itself sets for the employer's own checks is in Allegato VI, point 3.1.2: wire ropes and chains on lifting equipment, every three months if the manufacturer gives no specific figure.
The log proves what you did, not what you had scheduled
The most common mistake is keeping a sheet with the dates of upcoming maintenance and nothing else: on the day of an inspection what's needed is the outcome of the work already carried out, with the date and the name of who did it. The second is shopping for the "mandatory log", convinced an official template exists: article 71, paragraph 9, asks for results in writing and available, not a pre-printed form. The third is the quietest: writing over the date of the last piece of work instead of adding a new line. That erases the history, which is exactly the part the law asks you to keep.
The machine record: what makes the log point to something real
The machine record isn't a compliance step in itself: it's the condition that makes the lines in the log mean anything. Without unambiguous identification — make, model, serial number, year of manufacture — "lathe checked" can't be traced to one specific object, and in a department with three similar machines it can't be traced to anything at all. The record also needs the machine's location (site, department, line) and the name of whoever is responsible for it: the two pieces of information a paper log loses first.
The record is also where the documents that follow the machine through its whole life live: the EC declaration of conformity issued by the manufacturer, the use-and-maintenance manual in Italian, the invoice or purchase contract, any reports from statutory inspections, and the job reports from work carried out. CE marking for new machinery comes from Directive 2006/42/EC, transposed into Italian law by D.Lgs 17/2010; from 20 January 2027 it will be replaced by Regulation (EU) 2023/1230.
Older machines, made available to workers before the Machinery Directive was transposed, don't carry CE marking: article 70, paragraph 2, points them instead to the general safety requirements in Allegato V (Annex V to D.Lgs 81/2008). For these too a maintenance plan exists, it just doesn't come from a recent manual: it's pieced together from whatever manufacturer's guidance can still be tracked down — many manufacturers now let you download it by serial number — and, failing that, from good-practice standards and the judgement of whoever knows the machine.
The maintenance plan comes from the manual, not a generic interval
Take a screw compressor and a vehicle lift, the two machines almost every workshop has. Their plan isn't "once a year": the manual sets out different jobs, on different units of measure — condensate drained every shift, servicing measured in running hours, wire ropes, chains and limit switches checked at whatever frequency the manufacturer sets. These are the four levels that end up in the log.
- 01
Pre-use checks
every shift or every day, if the manual calls for it
whoever operates the machine
- 02
Maintenance by running hours
at the hours the manual specifies, read off the hour meter
in-house maintenance technician or external company
- 03
Calendar-based maintenance
at the months the manual specifies, even if the machine has barely run
in-house maintenance technician or external company
- 04
Checking the safety devices
at the frequency the manufacturer sets
a competent person appointed by the employer
None of these intervals is fixed by an Italian law: they come from the manufacturer's manual, which article 71, paragraph 4, makes the basis of maintenance and which article 71, paragraph 8(b), adopts as the frequency for periodic checks. Before writing a number into your own plan, get the manual for that specific machine: two compressors of the same power can have different service schedules, and oil and seals age even when a machine stands idle.
How long to keep it, and what you need to be able to show
Three years is the floor, not the ceiling: article 71, paragraph 9, says "at least" the last three years. In practice the history is kept for the machine's whole working life, and not out of zeal: it's the only way to show what was done when a fault keeps recurring, when the machine is sold or moved to another site, or when, after an accident, someone asks for the history of work done on that piece of equipment. Reports from statutory periodic inspections travel with the machine, together with its handbook.
There's also a separate obligation for machines that leave the site — equipment taken to a construction site, hired-in equipment, machines moved between production units. Article 71, paragraph 10, requires them to travel with suitable documentation proving that the last check was carried out with a positive outcome: not the whole log, just the document from that last check, which has to travel with the equipment.
On the day of an inspection visit, what matters is that four things can be found together, for the same machine: the list of equipment, the maintenance plan with the source it comes from, the history of work with outcomes and supporting documents, and the reports from statutory inspections where these apply. You don't need a perfect archive; you need to be able to start from the serial number on the nameplate and reach everything else without searching through three different drawers.
Three different documents that almost all get called a "register"
The equipment inspection log comes from article 71 of D.Lgs 81/2008 and covers machinery and work equipment. The fire safety inspection logbook comes from the DM 1 settembre 2021 and covers extinguishers, fire doors, hydrants and other fire-safety equipment. The report from a statutory Allegato VII inspection is a document from the body that carried it out, and it lives together with the machine's handbook. None of the three replaces the others: a workshop needs all three, and it's not a given that the same person will ask for them on the same day.
This guide is informational material: it does not replace the standards cited, the manufacturer's manual or the judgement of a qualified technician. ToriSet organises deadlines and documents; it does not certify compliance.
The same log, kept in two different ways.
What article 71 asks for — findings in writing, traceable to a machine, retrievable for at least three years — can come from a spreadsheet just as much as from a log built for the job. What changes is what's left once the work is done.
The use-and-maintenance handbook in the office drawer, and the photocopy nobody can find
The manual's PDF attached to the machine record, with make, model, serial number and site
One date per machine on a sheet, written over at every new piece of work
The full history: every job with its date, outcome, who did it and the job report attached
You recalculate the next deadline yourself, in months or by checking the hour meter
ToriSet calculates it from the last piece of work: by month, by hours of use, or whichever comes first
The reminder is a sticky note on the board, or the workshop foreman's memory
An email 30, 14, 7 and 1 day before, to you and to whoever needs to do the work
What we get asked most.
Is a machinery maintenance log mandatory in Italy?
What's mandatory is putting the results of checks in writing: Italy's D.Lgs 81/2008, article 71, paragraph 9, requires them to be recorded in writing and requires at least the last three years to be kept on file and available to the supervisory authorities. The decree names an "inspection register" in the strict sense in article 71, paragraph 4(b), but only for equipment where a specific provision requires one. In practice: every machine needs a written trace of the work done on it, and you choose the format.
What must the equipment inspection log contain?
For every job: the date, the machine identified by make, model and serial number, the type of activity — maintenance from the manual, a periodic check, an extraordinary check — the outcome, who carried it out, and the document that proves it (job report, inspection report, invoice). Alongside that you need the next deadline and the rule it comes from: months since the last piece of work, hours of operation, or whichever comes first. The law doesn't impose a form: it requires these details to exist in writing and to be findable when asked for.
How long does the maintenance log have to be kept?
Article 71, paragraph 9, sets the floor: at least the results from the last three years, kept on file and available to the supervisory authorities. It's a minimum, not a limit. In practice the history is kept for the machine's whole working life, because it's the only way to reconstruct what was done when a fault keeps recurring, when the machine is sold, or after an accident. Reports from statutory periodic inspections stay together with the equipment's handbook.
Can the log be a spreadsheet, or does it have to be on paper?
The law requires the results of checks to be put in writing and kept available to the supervisory authorities, without saying on what medium: paper, a spreadsheet and a digital log all count equally. What matters is that all the information is there, that every line can be traced to an identified machine and a named person, and that the supporting documents can be found. The practical difference is in the history: on a sheet, the date of the last piece of work is usually written over, which erases exactly the part that has to be kept.
What's the difference between the check I do myself and a statutory inspection?
The periodic check is the employer's own responsibility (article 71, paragraph 8): the frequency comes from the manufacturer's instructions or from good-practice standards, it's carried out by a competent person — in-house or external — and the outcome stays in writing in your own log. The statutory inspection (article 71, paragraph 11) only applies to the equipment listed in Allegato VII (Annex VII to D.Lgs 81/2008), follows the interval the Annex itself sets, is carried out the first time by INAIL (Italy's workplace-injury insurance body) and afterwards by the ASL or ARPA (regional health and environment authorities) or an authorised body, and is paid for by the employer. It produces a report from the inspecting body: a separate document from the log, which the log simply refers back to.
Does ToriSet keep the machinery log for me?
ToriSet helps you keep it: every machine gets its own record with serial number, site, photos, manual and attached documents; every job stays in the history with its date, outcome, the name of whoever did it and the job report attached; the next deadline is calculated from the last piece of work — by month, by hours of use, or whichever comes first — and the reminder arrives by email 30, 14, 7 and 1 day beforehand to whoever needs to act. The checks and inspections themselves remain the responsibility of whoever carries them out, and the log required under article 71 remains the employer's own obligation.
Related guides
See them allThree years of findings, machine by machine.
On a sheet the line gets written over and the history disappears. Keep every machine in one record with its manual, its plan and its job reports: deadlines are calculated from the last piece of work, and reminders reach whoever needs to act.
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