One thing that’s certain about regulations: they’re bound to change. Europe is making significant alterations to one of the primary ruling documents for production equipment, adding requirement that should improve safety while putting more focus on risk assessment.
欧盟的Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC)12月29日生效，更换了长期的机械指令（98/37 / EC）。“这是一个主要的重写，这是一个广泛的宽度超过10年前的重写，”秘书处的经理工业机械TUV Rheinlandof North America Inc., based in Carlsbad, Calif.
He predicts that many suppliers will be caught unprepared when the regulators begin enforcing the new rules that let them impound equipment that doesn’t meet requirements. “Come January, I’m sure there will be a lot of frantic calls when people find out their products are hung up at customs or at a plant where they’re being blocked from starting up,” Heinz says.
可能会增加可能性，因为新的法规要求每位签名国家召开允许其执法。执法人员将寻找文件，确保其符合新要求。与许多规定一样，文书工作将需要一些习惯。新指令要求每份遵从性声明时序列号。这不是繁重的声音。公司可以使用一系列数字，以便他们不必在货件中为每个单位更改它们。
This documentation will of course be associated with a number of new technical requirements. One of the biggest changes comes in safety, where equipment makers must account for foreseeable misuse. “It’s no longer good enough to say ‘don’t do this.’ If people are going to do something, you need to look at it and design to prevent them from doing it," Heinz says.
He cites a cleaning scenario in which a cleaning staff comes in to wash down a machine, taping its safety interlock switches so that doors remain open and the machine could run in an unsafe state with the safety features defeated. That tape often stays in place when equipment is run to dry it, creating a safety hazard and also presents a hazard to the staff cleaning and the equipment.
“在新的法规下，你必须做一些这样的东西，就像在某个地方没有录制的地方找到安全开关，”海因兹说。
另一个技术变化是，当面板附加到保护操作员时，必须使用夹持螺钉保持在螺钉上，确保在屏蔽拆除时它们不会丢失。这可以减少保护结构未被替换的次数，这应该减少伤害。虽然改变螺钉安装座不是一个巨大的挑战，但仍然可以达到巨大的挑战。
“If you know about these small things, you can do something about them. But it gets blown out of proportion if an official says the machine can’t be turned on when the customer is hoping to ramp up production. Something that costs a couple dollars and a few minutes of design time could cost 100 times as much if you have to retrofit a machine in the field," Heinz says.
欧洲监管机构也加强了他们对风险评估的关注。该分析近年来在许多其他欧洲标准中发挥着越来越大的作用。例如，风险评估是两者中的一个主干ISO 13849和IEC 62061standards that recently took effect in European Union countries.
Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC) also requires that risk assessment and safety design be integrated into product design instead of being bolted on when the equipment is nearing its move from design into production. Incorporating safety from the beginning should reduce injuries and make it more difficult for personnel to cut corners in dangerous ways. “There are significant benefits if you do the assessment in the front part of design so that the safety solution is logically integrated into the machine,” Heinz says.
与许多新的法规一样，该指令有一些留出解释空间的领域。Heinz说其中之一是一个要求运营商能够看到拥有损害安全潜力的区域的部分。这可能变得困难，如机器人细胞。
“If the operator can’t see the back side of a robot cell, designers need to reposition the operator or put controls on something like a pendant so the operator can move around,” Heinz says. “The pendant is a good idea, but not if there’s a chance the operator can walk into the robot’s arm movement area.”
虽然许多设备开发人员认为新指令仅适用于新设计，但海因斯指出这些规定适用于欧洲销售的任何设备。“即使您没有在已运送的产品中未更改任何内容，您需要更新您的认证，”Heinz说。
Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC) represents a major change in European safety standards, so it will cast a long shadow across the equipment landscape. Design engineers will need to consider its impact in both old and new designs, or they’re likely to spend a lot more time considering fixes after the equipment has shipped.
For more information regarding safety and the EU Machinery Directive, please email Tim Parmer, safety product consultant, Siemens Industry, attim.parmer@siemens.com.
