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Instruction Manual Requirements: The Clauses Test Houses Read First
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The instructions for use are assessed with the same seriousness as the hardware, because many of the standard requirements are met only if the user does something correctly. A technically excellent instrument with a manual that omits the required warnings does not conform.
What must be there
The intended use and the limits of that use, the rated environmental conditions, the supply requirements, the meaning of every symbol on the rating plate, instructions for cleaning and for replacing fuses or batteries where the user is permitted to do so, and the specific warnings for the hazards the equipment presents. Where the equipment is rated for a measurement category, the manual must state the category and voltage for each input.
What is usually missing
The ambient temperature range for which the safety rating holds, the requirement to connect to a protective earth where applicable, and the warning against using the equipment in a manner not specified by the manufacturer. That last sentence is not boilerplate: it is the clause that preserves the manufacturer position when a user does something outside the intended use.
Language and revision
The manual must be in a language the user can read, and it must match the revision of the hardware. Shipping a manual for the previous revision with a modified instrument is a documentation non-conformance that appears in retail audits far more often than in type testing.
