MHW Magazine News and stories from the Materials Handling Industry
SICK UK will run seminars throughout 2009
NEW machinery safety regulations come into force in December 2009 and there's not much time left for engineers to prepare for the change. Details and provisions of the new BS EN 13849 and BS EN 62061 regulations are complex and SICK UK will host a series of hands-on safety standards workshops throughout the year to help engineers to tackle the new regime.
“The best way to get to grips with the new standards is actually applying them in a factory floor environment. The seminars are designed to provide a thorough review of the practical steps necessary to identify and achieve the requirements, ” comments Seb Strutt, Safety Product Manager of SICK.
EN 62061 and EN IS0 13849-1 will become the core standards for the design, implementation and validation of machinery-related control systems, in place of EN 954.
“While consultants write white papers on computer controlled and integrated layers of safety, and conferences produce programmes on the detail of the new legislation, sub-clause by sub-clause, the engineer has to implement it at a machine and plant level,” Seb Strutt adds.
“Our experience, in attending conferences and seminars in the UK and Europe, is that theory is best reinforced by practical examples. Working through real examples allows the wider and broader implications of the regulations to fall into place and make sense.
“Engineers need to acquire a working knowledge of the basics, a practical toolkit, so that you have the methodology you need to apply the regulations day to day. That's what the workshop programme is designed to do.”
The one day workshop offered by SICK introduces engineers to the two safety control standards and gives a working understanding of their content and application. Unique worksheets with action cues will keep the overview of each standard within easy reach and worked examples help make complicated issues digestible.
Delegates will require some knowledge of safety related control systems and the course is specifically relevant to Control Engineers, Maintenance Engineers, Design Engineers and Project Managers.
SICK has also produced the definitive “Six steps to a safe machine” publication which, step by step, introduces the Laws and Directives, Risk Assessment, Safe Design, Protective Measures, Residual Risk, Overall Validation and Placing onto the Market.
