Functional Safety for Machinery
The modernisation of industrial production lines or the construction of new machines is very often a strategic decision in order to remain competitive. By targeted use of automatisation technology production cycles can be boosted, the product Quality can be improved and even energy costs can be reduced. When realising a high Equipment availability safety must not be neglected. Operators of production lines and manufacturers of machines must therefore fulfill the requirements of functional safety for the establishment, activities steered by hand, interference suppression, repair and maintenance work for which man and machine interact.
Because of the increased usage of machinery the amount of machine and tool accidents is already very high. 47% of accidents in this category are already today caused by tasks related to machinery. The deadly amount of accidents is 90%. Depending on the application area malfunctions and spurious actions, which lead to an endagerment of people Need to be analysed and eliminated through suitable constructive measures.
By releasing the machinery directive 2006/42/EG, the legislator in Europe has put into affect provisions with which a minimalisation of possible threats is realisable and the requirements of work and product safety can be transfered.
For the layout of automated safety systems (e.g. emergency stop, lighting grids, door controls, overload devices) the state-of-the-art in machinery Technology are defined through the safety standards DIN ISO 13849 and DIN EN 62061.
One of our essential taks is to support manufacturers of machineries with the implementation of requirements according to corresponding guidelines and standards. TÜV NORD offers extensive assessments and certifications of machinery and safety parts according to the machinery directive and the safety Standards DIN ISO 13849 and DIN EN 62061 as a notified body with accreditation through the German Accreditation Board (DAkkS):
- Conduction of risk assessments
- Supprt with the development of safety concepts
- Evaluation and certification of your machinery, respectively machinery parts according to the standards (ISO 13849, IEC 62061) and based on the machinery directive 2006/42/EG
- Trainings for machine safety (ISO 13849, IEC 62061, 2006/42/EG, ISO 25119)
On the one hand, the adherence to the fundamental health and safety requirements is of utmost importance, and it has to get clarified in a legally binding way. On the other hand, the legal guidelines must be fulfilled in order to ensure the legal compliance of equipment and machinery on the market, as well as of their operation.
The requirements and possibilities of implementing functional safety are defined in the predetermined standards EN ISO 13849-1/-2 and EN 62061. The EN ISO 13849-1 describes the Performance Level (PL a bis PL e) to classify the safetywise availability. Therefore the EN 62061 is the customized implementation of the IEC/EN 61508 for the requirements at machinery and classifies the safetywise availability in different Safety Integrity Levels (SIL 1 bis SIL 3).
To clarify further questions and to assemble a Service Portfolio which is tailored to your Needs, you may contact us at any time. We are looking forward to hearing from you!
