June 2020

24 n SAFETY June 2020 www.drivesncontrols.com CE marking: how can you tell whether old machines conform? T he Machinery Directive is one of many European Directives that address machinery manufacturers via national implementation in the countries of use. At the European level, the contents of the Directives are identical and are implemented exactly in national law in the countries where they are used. The Machinery Directive addresses manufacturers of machinery and plant and is the crucial set of rules to support manufacturers from the initial phases of development and production of a new machine to its launch on the European Single Market. To fulfil the requirements of the Machinery Directive there are “harmonised standards.” Currently, there are well over 600 such standards in the EU. These standards are identical in all European countries. On the other hand, the operators or end- users of the machine will not – or will only partially – adhere to the Machinery Directive. They have their own set of rules, known as the Industrial Safety Regulations, and for machinery end-users, these regulate the procedures and requirements for putting only working equipment which is safe at the disposal of their employees in their production facilities. For example, in Germany there are various technical regulations governing industrial safety that specify clearly what end-users can and should do, and what they can’t do for the safety and safe operation of their machinery. These technical regulations differ from the harmonised standards in that they apply only nationally. Much specialist knowledge is needed to cover all of the issues associated with the Machinery Directive or the Industrial Safety Regulations. Below, I describe some which commonly arise. CE marking is regulated by the Machinery Directive, of which the main purpose is, at the end of the EC Conformity Assessment Procedure, to certify the machine with a CE mark. The basic instrument for CE marking is risk assessment. Via the risk assessment, all of the risks emanating from the machine are determined, evaluated and reduced to the extent that appears appropriate considering the residual risk originating from the machine. In this phase, the design engineer considers risk-reducing measures, and usually summarises them in a safety design. The protective measures defined here are the use of suitable components, technologies and system integration. Together they give electrical and hardware engineers a blueprint for carrying out their jobs correctly. All the measures taken and implemented are reassessed retrospectively and, if necessary, an iterative process is undertaken. The next step is preparation of the technical documentation. The operating manual is the minimum technical Obtaining safety certification for new machinery is well documented. But what happens when a used machine without a CE Mark is involved? Can it be assessed retrospectively? Christian Bittner, Senior Manager at Pilz Consulting Services explains. Following a retrofit, this ageing eccentric press (left) now meets modern standards (right). As part of the upgrade, the mechanical rotary cam arrangement was replaced by an electronic system supplied by Pilz. Photos: Pilz, Umdasch Group

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