Last updated on August 23rd, 2022 at 04:29 pm

CSA Z432 Public Review is open. If you are a user, a builder of machinery, or an evaluator of machinery, this is your opportunity to see the draft of this important standard and to make comments to help the Technical Committee improve the standard on your behalf.
Note: The start of the public review period was briefly delayed but is open as of 2022-03-11. The delay has extended the closing date to 2022-05-09.
What is “public review”?
The public review process is used by standards development organizations like CSA and ISO to give the public a chance to read and comment upon a document before it is published. For anyone whose business or work may be directly impacted by the new document, this is an important chance to see what is coming and to have input into the development process. Comments made during the public review are passed back to the technical committee responsible for the document for resolution.
What is CSA Z432?
CSA Z432, Safeguarding of Machinery, is the basic standard for the safety of machinery in Canada for most types of machinery. The first edition was published in 1994, with this fourth edition representing the continued improvement of the third edition published in 2016. I’ve discussed CSA Z432 frequently in past posts.
Only Power Presses and Industrial Robots are covered separately in their own machinery safety standards. There are some other standards for man lifts mobile elevating work platforms, and cranes; however, these are outside the OHS group for standards development within CSA.
What does Z432 cover?
If you build machines, modify, repair, or rebuild used machines for the Canadian market, or use machines in your business, this standard should be part of your working library. Regulators across Canada refer to CSA Z432 as the basis for compliance with Provincial and Territorial regulations. Engineers reviewing machines use CSA Z432 as the guide to safe machine design, referencing the standard in their reports and proposed modifications.
CSA Z432 provides guidance on important topics, like:
- Risk Assessment
- Risk reduction through the application of the Hierarchy of Controls
- Guard design requirements
- Safeguarding device application requirements, and
- Instructions and information for use
- Administrative control measures
- Use of PPE
- Training requirements
- Safe use of industrial lasers and laser systems
What has been revised?
New in this edition are:
- revised flow to make reading the document easier
- extensively revised and expanded requirements for emergency stop functions and devices
- shrouding of emergency stop devices to prevent inadvertent actuation
- improved harmonization with ISO 13849-1 for functional safety
- restoration of some figures related to the installation of pull-cord emergency stop devices that were in the 2004 edition but were removed in the 2016 edition
- restoration of figures related to the types of guards and the installation requirements for safeguarding devices
- much more!
Accessing the Public Review Draft
Be Aware: You only have 60 days! The CSA Z432 public review period ends on 2020-05-09.
You must register on CSA’s Public Review system to access the public review copy. Registration is free and allows you to get read-only access to the drafts of all new standards that CSA is preparing to publish. The time you take to read and comment on new standards is very valuable to the Technical Committees, as it helps correct text that may lead to misunderstandings or where confusion may exist and to add material where it is needed.
See the Draft. Once logged in, you will have to search for the document using the site search tool.
The public review period opened on 2022-03-11 and runs for 60 days, closing on 2022-05-09, so don’t delay!
If you need more information, please contact Andrea Holbeche at CSA Group.
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