Standards and Legislation
The following list shows some of the A and B Standards of relevance. Where they are prefixed BS EN or EN they are
published or approved standards.
Where they are prefixed prEN they have not yet reached the final publication stage. Most of these standards are published
as IEC or ISO international standards (the title numbers may not be the same as the EN version).
EN 292 parts 1 and 2 - Safety of machinery - Basic concepts, general principles for design.
Absolute compulsory reading for all. It is an A standard which outlines all the basic principles including risk assessment,
guarding, interlocking, emergency stops, trip devices, safety distances and much more. It refers the other standards and also
includes the essential safety requirements from the Machinery Directive.
EN 60204-1 - Safety of machinery - Electrical equipment of machines - Part 1 General requirements.
This is a very important standard. It gives general and specific recommendations for safety-related aspects of wiring and
electrical equipment on machines.
EN 1088 - Safety of machinery - Interlocking devices associated with guards - Principles for design and selection.
Gives principles for the design and selection of interlocking devices associated with guards.
In order to verify mechanical switches it refers to EN 60947-5-1 - Low-voltage switchgear - Part 5-1: Control circuit
devices and switching elements - Electromechanical control circuit devices. In order to verify non-mechanical switches it
refers to EN 60947-5-3 - Low-voltage switchgear - Part 5-3: Control circuit devices and switching elements - proximity
devices with defined behaviour under fault conditions.
EN 954 - Safety of machinery - Safety-related parts of control systems - Part 1: General principles for design.
This standard outlines requirements for safety-critical parts of machine control systems and describes five catergories of
performance under fault conditions - B, 1, 2, 3 and 4. It is important to achieve a working knowledge of this document as
its categories are becoming widely used as a common “language” for describing the performance of safety related control
systems (see section 7).
IEC 61508 - Functional safety of electrical/electronic/ programmable electronic safety-related systems.
Sets out a generic approach for systems that are used to perform safety functions. Includes the allocation and verification of
four safety integrity levels (SIL).
Draft IEC 62061 - Functional safety of electrical/electronic/ programmable electronic safety-related systems.
The same outline as IEC 61508 but being drafted as a sector standard specifically for machinery.
EN 953 - Safety of machinery - General requirements for the design and construction of guards.
Gives definitions, descriptions and design requirements for fixed and movable guards.
EN 1037 - Safety of machinery - Isolation and energy dissipation - Prevention of unexpected start-up.
Defines measures aimed at isolating machines from power supplies and dissipating stored energy to prevent unexpected
machine startup and allow safe intervention in danger zones.
BS EN 418 - Safety of machinery - Emergency-stop devices, functional aspects - Principles for design.
Gives design principles and requirements.
EN 1050 - Safety of machinery - Principles for risk assessment.
Outlines the fundamentals of the process of assessing the risks during the life of the machinery. It is a summary and is not
intended to provide a detailed account of methods for analysing hazards and estimating risks.
EN 999 - Safety of machinery - The positioning of protective equipment in respect of approach speeds of parts of the
human body.
Provides methods for designers to calculate the minimum safety distances from a hazard for specific safety devices. In
particular for electro-sensitive devices (e.g. light curtains), pressure-sensitive mats/floors and two-hand controls. It contains
a principle for the positioning of safety devices based on approach speed and machine stopping time which can reasonably
be extrapolated to cover interlocked guard doors without guard locking.
EN 574 - Safety of machinery - Two-hand control devices - Functional aspects - Principles for design.
Provides requirements and guidance on the design and selection of two-hand control devices, including the prevention of
defeat and the avoidance of faults.
EN 294 - Safety of machinery - Safety distances to prevent danger zones being reached by the upper limbs.
Gives data for calculation of safe aperture sixes and positioning for guards, etc.
EN 811 - Safety of machinery - Safety distances to prevent danger zones being reached by the lower limbs.
Gives data for calculation of safe aperture sizes and positioning for guards, etc.
EN 349 - Safety of machinery - Minimum distances to avoid crushing parts of the human body.
Gives data for calculation of safe gaps between moving parts, etc.
IEC 61496 - Safety of machinery - Electro sensitive protective equipment - Parts 1 & 2.
Part 1 gives requirements and test procedures for the control and monitoring aspects for electro sensitive protective
equipment. Subsequent parts deal with aspects particular to the sensing side of the system.
Part 2 give particular requirements for safety light curtains.
EN 1760-1 - Safety of machinery - Pressure-sensitive safety devices - Part 1: Mats and floor.
Gives requirements and test procedures.
prEN 1760-2 Safety of machinery - Pressure-sensitive safety devices - Part 2: Edges and bars.
Gives requirements and test procedures.
A large range of EN type “C” standards is being published to cover specific types or groups of machines.
Legislation
The supply and use of machinery and equipment is covered by a range of European Directives which have been
implemented in EC and EEA countries. For the safety of machinery there are two directives of particular relevance:
1) The Machinery Directive
2) The Use of Work Equipment by Workers at Work Directive
The Machinery Directive
Implemented in the UK as The Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 1992.
This directive covers the supply of new machinery and other equipment including safety components. In most cases it is an
offence to supply relevant equipment unless it complies with the directive. This means that it must satisfy the Essential Health
and Safety Requirements (EHSR) of the directive, a correct conformity assessment must be carried out, and a Declaration
of Conformity must accompany the equipment. Machinery in particular must carry the familiar CE marking which indicates a
claim of conformity for all relevant product directives.
The directive came into full force on 1st January 1995 for machinery and 1st January 1997 for safety components. It is the
responsibility of the manufacturer, importer or end supplier of the equipment to ensure that it is in conformity with this
directive.
The Use of Work Equipment by Workers at Work Directive
Implemented in the UK as The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (often abbreviated to PUWER).
Whereas the Machinery Directive is aimed at suppliers, this directive is aimed at users of machinery. It covers all industrial
sectors and it places general duties on employers together with minimum requirements for the safety of work equipment.
They are of particular relevance to existing pre-Machinery Directive machinery (newer machinery will already conform with
the equivalent requirements of the Machinery Directive).
Any company which has taken a responsible attitude to safety under existing and previous legal requirements should not find
these regulations onerous but it is recommended that a check is made to determine whether any action is required.
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