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Machinery Safety

Risk Assessement and Risk Reduction of Machines

GT Engineering is specialised in the risk Assessement and risk Reduction of Machines, Production Lines and Processes. They performed several risk Analysis of Continuous Casting Machines, Rolling Mills, and Electric Arc Furnaces. We work very close with Transfer Machine Manufacturers and, in general, Assembly Machine Producers. We have experience in very different Industries: from Textile to Laser Cutting to Sputtering processes used in the semiconductor sector. We regularly participate to the Technical Commettes liased with CENELEC and CEN, responsible for publication of the main Machinery Safety Technical Standards.
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The importance of layout analysis in risk assessment
EN ISO 11161 is the reference standard regarding the safety of the Integrated Machinery System (which henceforth in the article will be simply called IMS). The...
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The concept of SPAN-OF-CONTROL
The standard ISO 11161 of May 2007 introduces the concept of span of control, which identifies the predetermined portion of a machine under control of a specifi...
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TABRA: A task baded approach to assess the risk in Machinery Safety
When applying ISO 12100 we tend to focus on the hazards that result form situations an operator or the maintenance team can incur to, while in North America the...
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FMEA, FMECA and FMEDA, what are the differences?
THE DOUBT: The terms FMEA and FMECA may be common among component manufacturers, however the term FMEDA is only known in case the manufacturer has safety compo...
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ISO 3691-4 : 2020
ISO 3691-4:2020 is the type-C standard of driverless industrial trucks. Examples of driverless industrial trucks (trucks of ISO 5053-1) can also be known as: &l...
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The Naked Machinery
When doing a risk assessment of a Machinery, regardless whether you are using ISO 12100 or B11.0, you need to use the concept of the naked machinery. If you ar...
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Is it mandatory to give the Instruction Handbook of a machinery in papery format?
THE DOUBT By working everyday together with manufacturers of machineries, we get frequentily asked the question "is it mandatory to give to our customer t...
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How an ISO standard is developed?
A new ISO standard has to go through six maturity stages: (10) PROPOSAL STAGE: we are at the very beginning: the very first document is called new work item pr...
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Is it permissible to install the switch disconnector on the door of an industrial control panel?
THE DOUBT When analysing switchboards, we sometimes notice that the main disconnector-switch is installed directly on the door of the switchboard, instead of o...
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Type A, B and C Standards
Harmonized standards play an important role in the EU Legislation for the CE Marking of Machineries. ISO classifies the 800+ International technical standards h...
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Use of type B Residual Current Device
There is often confusion as to whether or not type B residual current devices are required to protect lines in which variable speed drives are used to control a...

Machinery Safety is probably the main leverage that can reduce the number of deaths and injuries in the work place.
In the European Union machinery is a contribuing factor in more then 300.000 injuries involving more than 3 days off work, according to data (2008) from the European Commission. In China, 30% of Injuries treated in hospital emergency departments are machinery related (data from 2011).
Annually there are 65.000 injuries involving days away from work in USA (2012) and 15.000 injuries in Canada. Finally in Australia, in 2013, there have been 3.500 hospitalisations from machiery-related injuries.

Machinery safety is best applied during the concept phase of the Machine Development. That is why the most effective legislations identify the manufacturer as the main player that guarantees the safety of its product: those are the Machinery Directive and the Australian Occupational Health and Safety law.

In other terms, the importance of inherently safe design was recognised by a series of public policies and professional initiatives in North America, Europe and Australa, based upon the premise that one of the most effective ways to prevent work-related deaths and injuries is to design out hazards at the source.

Machinery safety is best applied during the concept phase of the Machine Development. That is why the most effective legislations identify the manufacturer as the main player that guarantees the safety of its product: those are the Machinery Directive and the Australian Occupational Health and Safety law.

In other terms, the importance of inherently safe design was recognised by a series of public policies and professional initiatives in North America, Europe and Australa, based upon the premise that one of the most effective ways to prevent work-related deaths and injuries is to design out hazards at the source.

The main principle of the Machinery Directive and the base concept of EN 12100 is the “Principles of safety integration“.

(a) Machinery must be designed and constructed so that it is fitted for its function, and can be operated, adjusted and maintained without putting persons at risk when these operations are carried out under the conditions foreseen but also taking into account any reasonably foreseeable misuse thereof.
The aim of measures taken must be to eliminate any risk throughout the foreseeable lifetime of the machinery including the phases of transport, assembly, dismantling, disabling and scrapping.
(b) In selecting the most appropriate methods, the manufacturer or his authorised representative must apply the following principles, in the order given:
— eliminate or reduce risks as far as possible (inherently safe machinery design and construction),
— take the necessary protective measures in relation to risks that cannot be eliminated,
— inform users of the residual risks due to any shortcomings of the protective measures adopted, indicate whether any particular training is required and specify any need to provide personal protective equipment.

GT Engineering - P.iva 03176130981

via Gutenberg 14 - 25020 PONCARALE (BS)

Tel. 030 3581045 - info@gt-engineering.it