Machinery Safety

Laws and Regulations

• EU Machinery Directive
  • Guide to the application of the Machinery Directive

Standards

Types of standards

• Type A standards (basic safety standards) giving basic concepts, principles for design and general aspects that can be applied to machinery.
• Type B standards (generic safety standards) dealing with one safety aspect or one type of safeguard that can be used across a wide range of machinery:
  • Type B1 standards on particular safety aspects (e.g., safety distances, surface temperature, noise)
  • Type B2 standards on safeguards (e.g., two-hand controls, interlocking devices, pressure-sensitive devices, guards)
• Type C standards (machine safety standards) dealing with detailed safety requirements for a particular machine or group of machines.

Some important standards

• ISO 12100 (2010): "Safety of machinery - General principles for design - Risk assessment and risk reduction"
• ISO/TR 14121-2 (2012): "Safety of machinery - Risk assessment - Part 2: Practical guidance and examples of methods"
• IEC 62061 (2005): "Safety of machinery - Functional safety of safety-related electrical, electronic and programmable electronic control systems"
• ISO 13849-1 (2006): "Safety of machinery - Safety-related parts of control systems - Part 1: General principles for design"
• ISO 13849-2 (2008): "Safety of machinery - Safety-related parts of control systems - Part 2: Validation"