| Round-Up of Standards, Guides and Guarding Products |
2007 was a landmark year for machinery safety, with numerous changes in legislation and standards. As well as the new Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 being passed, two of the most important machinery safety standards have been superseded. BS EN 1050, 'Safety of machinery. Principles for risk assessment', has been a mainstay of machinery safety for many years but has now been superseded by BS
EN ISO 14121-1:2007 'Safety of machinery. Risk assessment. Principles.' Changes between the two standards are generally small, but Part 1 of the new standard omits the annex covering 'Methods for analysing hazards and estimating risk'. This is because Part 2 of the new standard, when it is published, will contain 'Practical guidance and examples of methods' - and it should be more extensive and, indeed, more useful than the annex in the old standard. To help people to perform machinery risk assessments, Procter Machine Guarding has revised and updated its Risk Assessment Calculator in line with the requirements of BS EN 14121-1:2007. Another key standard that was superseded in 2007 was BS EN 954-1, 'Safety of machinery, Safety related parts of control systems, General principles for design'. Its replacement is BS EN ISO 13849-1, though there is a transition period until 30 November 2009, enabling a choice to be made as to which standard to work with. There is a useful article on the subject entitled BS EN ISO 13849-1 explained In addition to the above, anyone with responsibility for machinery in educational environments needs to be aware that BS 4163:2007, 'Health and safety for design and technology in schools and similar establishments - Code of practice', has superseded the 2000 version. Throughout the Code of Practice there are references to safeguarding, and there is an article in Procter Machine Safety News that highlights the machine guarding requirements. Procter Machine Guarding has earned a good reputation for the quality of its free guides and utilities that aid compliance with machinery safety standards and regulations. In addition to the Risk Assessment Calculator mentioned above, the following have been redesigned and reissued during 2007 (click on any to download a copy - you must be registered and logged-in to access these free guides) :
The latest addition to this family of publications is a Guide to the New Machinery Directive. This has been produced to help companies prepare for the new Directive that comes into force on 29 December 2009, as it contains numerous significant changes compared with the current Directive, some of which will necessitate a considerable effort if the potential benefits are to be enjoyed. Procter Machine Guarding also launched a number of new products during 2007. In particular, various additions have been made to the economical Satech modular machine guarding system, such as a support post with an integral foot, sheet steel enclosure guarding, and clamps for attaching control boxes or signs to mesh panels. Modular aluminium guarding has also been promoted during 2007. While this type of guarding is not suitable or economical for every type of machine, there is a very useful technical article that explains where and when to use aluminium machine guards. Lastly, Procter Machine Guarding has completely revised its website, which now offers far more to visitors looking for information about machine guarding or machinery safety in general. Thanks to improved navigation, the website makes it easy to find the information required, plus there is now more available than previously - such as downloadable datasheets. Find out more about the new website in this announcement. To discuss any requirements for safeguarding machinery, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or telephone 029 2085 5758.
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