Canada’s Participation in ISO TC 270 In February of 2016, Canada formed the SCC Mirror Committee (SMC) to ISO TC 270, Rubber and Plastics Machinery. This international technical committee is currently developing ISO 20430, the first international plastic injection moulding machine standard. Until the publication of ISO 20430, two standards have been fighting for dominance: EN 201, Plastics and […]
The CSA Z1002 TC Needs to Know: Love it, Hate it, Tweak it? We need to know: Do you Love CSA Z1002? Hate CSA Z1002? Does it need some tweaking? We have a survey so you can let us know! The First of Its Kind In 2012, CSA published the first OHS Risk Assessment Standard of its kind: […]
CSA Z1006 Management of Work in Confined Spaces is now available for Public Review. As new standards are developed, and existing standards are revised, they are made available for public review and comment. If you are interested in Confined Space Entry, and would like an opportunity to review the proposed changes to the standard, read […]
It’s now been more than 30 years since I first learned about standards, in the form of the Ontario Electrical Code. I was studying electricity and electronics in high school, and Steve Struk, the Electricity Teacher at Erindale Secondary School in Mississauga, introduced us to the rules. My first encounter with international standards was 25 years ago, when I was tasked […]
If you build machinery for the Canadian market, or if you modify equipment in Canadian workplaces, you will be familiar with CSA Z432, Safeguarding of Machinery. This standard has been around since 1992, with the last major revision published in 2004. CSA has reconvened the Technical Committee responsible for this important standard to revise the […]
How compliance efforts go wrong Clients call me when they have problems. They sent some product to a certification body, some tests were done, and the product failed. Now what? Usually, the delivery date for the certified product is approaching quickly, and no time is available to react. Delivery is delayed, and the customer is upset. […]
I’ve written about the Hierarchy of Controls in past posts, but I’ve focused on the ‘engineering’ side of the control equation: Physical changes to machine design to eliminate hazards, and mechanical or electrical control systems that can reduce risk. The first two levels of the Hierarchy, Elimination/Substitution and Engineering Controls, are typically more challenging to […]
31-December-2011 marks a key milestone for machine builders marketing their products in the European Union, the EEA and many of the Candidate States. Functional Safety takes a positive step forward with the mandatory application of EN ISO 13849 – 1 and ‑2. As of 1‑January-2012, the safety-related parts of the control systems on all machinery bearing a CE Mark will be […]
I’ve written quite a bit recently on the topic of circuit architectures under ISO 13849 – 1, and one of my readers noticed an inconsistency between the text of the standard and Figure 5, the diagram that shows how the categories can span one or more Performance Levels. If you look at Category 2 in Figure 5, you will notice […]
Working in a field that is standards heavy, I often get questions from clients and students about the origin of standards. Recently I heard a discussion on CBC radio talking about the origins of musical notation, and I realized that this is probably one of the earliest examples of standardization. Here’s the story as I understand it. In the early days […]