The UK Conservative Party win last week has finally drawn an end to the ongoing uncertainty created by the Brexit referendum and the dithering that followed the UK Parliament. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has declared that the UK will exit by the end of January 2020. For non-EU manufacturers of machinery, what impact will this…
Read MoreEU Machinery Directive Public Review
If you ship machinery products to the EU the Machinery Directive affects you. You have a chance to contribute to the review of this document.
Read MoreQ & A: Category 2 and Testing Intervals
During the Free Safety Talks that we did with Schmersal Canada and Franklin Empire, we had a “hot question” come up regarding Category 2 architecture and the testing interval requirement. The definition of Category 2 in 6.2.5 does not include any mention of a minimum testing rate, but 4.5.4 “Simplified procedure for estimating the quantifiable aspects of PL”…
Read MoreFive reasons you should attend our Free Safety Talks
Reason #1 – Free Safety Talks You can’t argue with Free Stuff! Last week we partnered with Schmersal Canada and Franklin Empire to put on three days of Free Safety Talks. We had full houses in all three locations, Windsor, London and Cambridge, with nearly 60 people participating. We had two great presenters who helped…
Read MoreCSA Z432 Safeguarding of Machinery – 3rd Edition
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…
Read MoreEC Machinery Working Group meets
From our friends at MachineBuilding.net. It is now more than a year since the new Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC) came into force, but the situation is still fairly fluid in some respects. The EC Machinery Working Group meets regularly to discuss matters relating to the Directive and corresponding standards; the last meeting took place on 21/22 December.…
Read MoreRetained fastenings for fixed guards
If you are building machinery that will be CE marked or is subject to the EU Machinery Directive, you need to read this article at MachineBuilding.net This article reviews some of the retained fastenings that are available for use on fixed machine guards, as required by the new Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC and the guarding standard…
Read MoreReader Question: Multiple E‑Stops and Resets
I had an interesting question come in from a reader today that is relevant to many situations: “When you have multiple E‑Stop buttons I have often gotten into an argument that says you can have a reset beside each one. I was taught that you were required to have a single point of reset. Who is correct?” — Michael Barb,…
Read MoreBSI Publishes New Guide to Machinery Safety
BSI publishes a new guide on the application of 2006/42/EC and the PUWER regs. If you are UK based or export to the UK market you need this guide.
Read MoreInterlocked gate testing
Did you know that interlocked gates require stopping performance testing?
Machinery needs to be able to stop in the time it takes a person to open the guard and reach the hazard. If the distance from the guard opening to the hazard is short enough that a person can reach the danger point before the hazard can be controlled, the guard is useless. The resulting situation may be worse
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