Machinery Safety 101 » Functional Safety

IEC/TR 62061-1 Reviewed

Doug Nix — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:30:08 +0000

Why You Need to Spend More Cash on Yet Another Document Standards organizations publish documents in a fairly continuous stream, so for those of us tasked with staying current with a large number of standards (say, more than 10), the publication of another new standard or Technical Report isn’t news – it’s business as usual. [...]

Five things most machine builders do incorrectly

Doug Nix — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 21:02:50 +0000

Five things that most machine builders fail to do. With a Sixth Bonus failure!

Safety is Good Business

Doug Nix — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:00:34 +0000

In this excellent article from Rockwell Automation's The Journal, Mike Miller and Wayne Solberg explain how EN ISO 13849-1 and EN IEC 62061 mesh for machine builders. Well worth the read in my opinion! The Journal: Safety is Good Business - Marshall & Solberg

Interlock Architectures – Pt. 2: Category 1

Doug Nix — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:30:20 +0000

This article expands on the first in the series "Interlock Architectures – Pt. 1: What do those categories really mean?". Learn about the basic circuit architectures that underlie all safety interlock systems under ISO 13849-1, and CSA Z432 and ANSI RIA R15.06.

Interlock Architectures – Pt. 1: What do those categories really mean?

Doug Nix — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:30:34 +0000

In 1995 CEN published an important standard for machine builders - EN 954-1, Safety of Machinery - Safety Related Parts of Control Systems - Part 1: General Principles for Design. This standard set the stage for defining control reliability in machinery safeguarding systems, introducing the Reliability categories that have become ubiquitous. So what do these categories mean, and how are they applied under the latest machinery standard, ISO 13849-1?

EN ISO 13849-1 Mandatory Implementation Date CONFIRMED!

Doug Nix — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:48:06 +0000

The European Commission confirms the mandatory implementation date for EN ISO 13849-1:2008 in the Official Journal of the European Commission.

Update on EN ISO 13849-1 Mandatory Implementation Date

Doug Nix — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:52:39 +0000

The machinery world continues to wait for the European Commission to reveal the new Mandatory Implementation Date for EN ISO 13849-1.

EN 954-1 / ISO 13849-1:2008 Mandatory Implementation Date Change

Doug Nix — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:00:59 +0000

The EC Machinery Working Group announces the extension of the mandatory implementation date for EN ISO 13849-1:2008.

More flip-flopping on EN 954-1?

Doug Nix — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:19:02 +0000

In recent posts I've been discussing the changes in the use of EN 954-1, Safety of Machinery – Safety Related Parts of Control Systems. Part 1: General Principles for Design. The EU originally announced that this standard was to be withdrawn on 31-Dec-09, being replaced by EN ISO 13849-1. As you may know, there are significant differences in these two standards. A later announcement from the European Commission repealed

EU changes direction on EN ISO 13849-1

Doug Nix — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:24:39 +0000

Update on EN ISO 13849-1 mandatory implementation date.