---
title: "Material resources"
url: "https://docs.4hse.com/material-resources"
description: "What workplaces, equipment, substances and PPE are in 4HSE, how they are organised by office and what they connect to."
---

# Material resources

**Material resources** are the things people work with in an office: the places, the machines, the products, the protective equipment. Each one is registered individually because safety is managed on each one: a piece of equipment needs maintenance, a workplace needs assessing, a PPE item needs delivering.

Every resource belongs to an [office](/company-offices-and-workers/) and is found in the office’s **Material resources** menu.

## The four types

[Section titled “The four types”](#the-four-types)

Type

What it is

Examples

**Workplaces**

a place in the office

an office room, a laboratory, a warehouse

**Equipment**

a machine, a plant, a vehicle

a forklift, scaffolding, a fire extinguisher

**Substances**

a product used in the work

a solvent, a detergent, a gas

**PPE**

a piece of personal protective equipment

a helmet, a pair of gloves, an FFP3 mask

In the menu, **Workplaces** are the places of the office. They are not the same as **Work phases**, which describe activities (see [Risk assessment](/risk-assessment/)).

Workplaces, equipment and substances share the same structure: a list, a detail record and the same linked tabs. PPE, instead, has two levels.

## PPE: registry and inventory

[Section titled “PPE: registry and inventory”](#ppe-registry-and-inventory)

-   The **PPE registry** (the **PPE** item) describes the device: _Safety helmet_, category II, head protection.
-   The **PPE inventory** records the pieces of that device actually available: a batch with vendor, model, due date and initial quantity.

A PPE in the registry can have several inventory entries. The current quantity is not entered: 4HSE calculates it by subtracting the pieces recorded on the delivery certificates from the initial quantity (see [PPE delivery](/ppe-delivery/)).

## A resource connects to the rest of the office

[Section titled “A resource connects to the rest of the office”](#a-resource-connects-to-the-rest-of-the-office)

The record of a resource gathers what concerns it:

-   **Attributes**: extra data with a unit of measure, for example load capacity or power;
-   **People**: the workers who use it or work in it;
-   **Requests**: the actions the resource requires, for example a maintenance plan or a procedure;
-   **Certificates**: the certificates issued for the resource;
-   **Event**: the events that involved it;
-   **Attachments**: the resource’s files.

Outside the record, workplaces, equipment and substances are linked to [work phases](/risk-assessment/create-a-work-phase), where they feed into the risk assessment. Equipment, workplaces and PPE can be recipients of a [maintenance plan](/maintenance/); equipment, workplaces, substances and PPE can be recipients of a [procedure](/procedures/).

## Procedures

[Section titled “Procedures”](#procedures)

-   [Add a workplace, equipment or a substance](/material-resources/add-a-resource)
-   [Add a PPE to the registry](/material-resources/add-a-ppe)
-   [Inventory a PPE](/material-resources/inventory-a-ppe)
-   [Add an attribute](/material-resources/attributes)
-   [Generate the verification QR code](/material-resources/generate-the-qr)
-   [Print a resource badge](/material-resources/print-the-badge)
-   [The public verification page](/material-resources/public-verification)

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