In this paper we consider computable and guaranteed a posteriori error estimates for boundary value problems for the models of Reissner-Mindlin plates and Timoshenko beams. These estimates are reliable and can be applied to any conforming approximation, regardless of the method used for its computing. We demonstrate this important feature with the paradigm of a popular commercial software package, which is used as a 'black box' solver. Numerical experiments show that the proposed error majorants can be efficiently used for the error control of the quality of numerical approximations computed by this method.Brought to you by | Florida International University Libraries Authenticated Download Date | 5/30/15 7:42 PM