The European Commission has extended the deadline for the new safety standards to 31 December 2011, providing machine builders with an additional 24 months to meet the new EN ISO 13849-1 and EN/IEC 62061 standards. Rockwell Automation is however encouraging its machine builders to comply with EN ISO 13849-1 as soon as possible.
“Early adopters will not only move ahead of the competition, but also help better protect workers and machinery,” said Adrian van Wyk, business manager, Rockwell Automation. “These new standards provide functional safety guidance that helps improve safety, efficiency and sustainability while reducing development and operational costs.”
EN 954-1, formerly the main standard for the design of safety-related control systems in the ‘machinery safety’ sector, has traditionally been followed for conformity to European Machinery Directive 98/37/EC. Newer standards EN ISO 13849-1 or EN/IEC 62061 – which provide for use of more advanced safety-control systems technologies – are in place, applicable now, and will fully replace EN 954-1 on 31 December 2011.
At that time, the new control system standards will become the only ones accepted under the new European Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. This two-year period should be viewed as a transition period to fully comply with the new standards rather than as an extension of the old standard.
Many global manufacturers already specify compliance with the new standards, and Rockwell Automation is helping customers meet them with technologies, products and the necessary functional safety data. Functional safety data is available in multiple forms, including a data library for use with the SISTEMA calculation tool from the BGIA (Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the German Social Accident Insurance), and a PDF file providing data for manual calculation.
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