Machine guarding compliance is back in the spotlight after a UK cement manufacturer was fined £1 million when inspectors found dangerous parts of its production machinery left unguarded, despite suitable safeguards being available on site. The case was heard at Bristol Magistrates’ Court under Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Guarding compliance is rarely a one time task. Guards get removed for servicing, repairs get rushed under production pressure, and without a system to confirm they are reinstated, risk builds quietly until an inspection, or an incident, exposes it.

For manufacturing and industrial sites, the real challenge is proof. Many operations still track guarding checks on paper or in spreadsheets scattered across shifts and supervisors, making it difficult to show a consistent history of inspections, defects and corrective actions.

This is where a digital compliance platform changes the picture. FlexManager’s Asset Inspections and Asset Maintenance tools let manufacturers schedule guarding checks, log defects the moment they appear, and track corrective actions through to close out, all visible from one dashboard. Risk assessments flag overdue checks before they become an enforcement issue, and reporting gives management real time visibility across every site.

So the question worth asking is this: could your team produce a complete guarding inspection history for every machine on the floor today, if an inspector asked? If not, book a demo at and see how asset inspection and maintenance tracking closes that gap.