8/14/2019 Getting to Grips with the Machinery Directive

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MACHINE BUILDING & AUTOMATION

INDUSTRIALTECHNOLOGY February 20

When the reworked Machinery Directive

comes into force in December, will your

business still be compliant, asks Paul

Laidler, MD of Laidler Associates

T

he Machinery Directive has

been around for a long time.

It was originally implemented

in the UK by the Supply of

Machinery (Safety) Regulations 1992

and the Supply of Machinery (Safety)

(Amendment) Regulations 1994.

Seven years later, proposals for a

Third Amendment to the Machinery

Directive improvements designed to

simplify and clarify the existing one

were published, and in June 2006 the

new Directive was published.

The date on which we should all

be focused, however, is 29 December

2009, as this is when the Directive

becomes enforceable. And unlike

previous amendments, there is no

transitional period for compliance.

This new Directive has some radicalchanges of which machine builders

and users may not yet be aware,

issues that will need to be addressed

quickly if the December compliance

deadline is to be hit.

To assess how your particular

business is to be affected, its useful to

look more closely at what constitutes

a machine under the directive. A

rather dry but comprehensive

definition such as an assembly o

linked parts or components at leas

one of which moves, with the

appropriate actuator, control and

power circuits, joined together for

specific application, in particular fo

the processing, treatment, moving o

packaging of a material, covers mos

applications. Incidentally, machiner

moved by directly applied manua

effort is excluded. The term machinery

also covers an assembly of machines

which are controlled so that they

function as an integral whole, such a

a production line.

Expanded scopeThis would appear to be fairl

straightforward, but reading the Scope

of the Directive soon changes youopinion. The Scope includes term

such as safety components, lifting

accessories and chains, ropes and

webbing. New inclusions furthe

expand the scope to include device

for the lifting of persons with reduced

mobility and construction site hoist

amongst others. It goes without saying

that the physical care and protectio

of employees and customers should

Getting to grips

with the Machinery

Directives third

amendment

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8/14/2019 Getting to Grips with the Machinery Directive

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Machinery Safety

February 2009 INDUSTRIALTECHNOLOGY

be the first consideration when

business owners install and operate

machinery. So its forgivable here to

concentrate on the business

implications of the various and

sometimes quite stringent demands of

the rules and regulations imposed by

the Directive.

So when you ask the question:

Why do we have to comply? its best

to take as a given the answer:

Because if we dont, our employees

may be horribly injured. Instead,

think of the business answer, which is:

Because all of the European directives

are brought into UK law by the issue of

Regulations, which means that if you

dont comply you are committing a

criminal offence punishable by fines

and possibly imprisonment.

Demonstrating complianceBetter, then, to ask: How do we

comply? The quick answer is:

G Demonstrate compliance with the

essential health and safety

requirements

G Carry out the appropriate

conformity assessment procedure

G Draw up and issue the Declaration

of Conformity or Incorporation.

G Apply the CE Mark.

If you are creating a complex

assembly, such as a production line,

by interlinking a series of existing

machines, you are in effect creating

something new so the whole

assembly must comply with the

Directive. Similarly, altering the

function or performance of a machine

or complex assembly is also essentially

creating a new machine, which must

comply.

The new Directive comes into play

for this scenario if you are at the start

of a project building an assembly,

where the finish date is either towards

the end of the year or into the New

Year. If this is the case, you may need

to start the project now using the new

Directive as you will not be able to

produce a final declaration under the

current Directive after December 29th.

A second scenario that will affect

the validity of your companys

compliance is where products have

been series manufactured, having

been CE Marked at the start of the

series production. The Declarations

will no longer be valid so whole

product ranges will need to be

recertified in time for the

changeover of Directives.

MORE INFORMATION:

Enter M425 or visit latest issue stories at

www.industrialtechnology.co.uk for further

details from Laidler Associates

As with all new legislation, this latest

amendment to the Machinery Directive places

a necessary yet still burdensome requirement

on businesses of all sizes and in all sorts of

sectors. At Industrial Technology we are

always keen to hear our readers views, so do

let us know what you think of the latest

changes to the Machinery Directive.

Is it a welcome move, in that anything

that improves health and safety can only be a

good thing if it protects employees AND

enhances your companys reputation? Or is it

simply more red tape? Do you have the

expertise in-house to carry out the necessary

risk assessments and make the changes you

need, or would you prefer to outsource thetask of making sure that youre completely up

to date, properly informed and ultimately

compliant?

We will be covering Machinery Directive

in later issues too, so let us have your

questions and views. Contact us by email via

feedback@itmagazine.uk.com.

Answers to

your questions

More details: Write in 430 on the free information card

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