Seminar: Efficient CE marking and risk assessment of machines and plants

Day 1: Designing safe machinery - Risk assessment in practice

Introduction and Overview

• Introductory example: Why seemingly good solutions do not always meet the legal requirements.
• Legally required risk assessment: WHO has to do WHAT and WHEN?
• Cooperation between different departments: mechanical engineering, control engineering, technical documentation, etc.
• Safety arises (mostly) in a team: important interfaces to sub-suppliers and customers.
• What does "integration of safety" mean?
• Which standards support safe design? Do these have to be applied?
• Caution when delegating design work or risk assessments to third parties!
• Attention! The design must be based on the law, not (only) on customer requirements!

Systematic risk assessment according to EN ISO 12100

• Risk assessment according to EN ISO 12100 - How the legal requirements are met as efficiently as possible!
• What has to be considered in "reasonably foreseeable misuse" - and what not.
• Figure 1 from EN ISO 12100 as a perfect guide through risk assessment and risk reduction.
• Relationships between EN ISO 12100 and
  • control systems (EN ISO 13849-1)
  • cyber-security
  • artificial intelligence

Technical and design requirements

• Which technical requirements are required by law.
• Strategies for the "inherently safe design".
• Why non-separating protective devices (e.g. light curtains) are not always suitable for achieving the required risk reduction.
• Calculation example for electro-sensitive protective devices (ESPEs).
• What you should pay attention to when selecting protective devices (separating or non-separating).
• When protective devices have to be interlocked - when guard lockings are required.

With the help of several exercises and examples, you will learn the practical approach to pragmatically identifying relevant hazards in the design process, assessing the associated risks and selecting and documenting suitable (and economically justifiable) solutions for risk reduction.

You will find out why design engineers tend to exaggerate safety-related solutions and sometimes result in high costs for their company or customers. Less is often more - but only according to the legally permitted concept!

Day 2: Efficient CE marking according to the Machinery Directive and Machinery Regulation

Response to basic questions

• The two most important points for the efficient implementation of the requirements of the Machinery Directive and Machinery Regulation.
• What are the risks in the event of non-compliance with the Machinery Directive and Machinery Regulation?
• What causes high "CE costs" and how can these be reduced?
• Who signs the declaration of conformity? What are the requirements?
• Does it make sense to install someone "responsible" for the CE marking, e.g. a CE coordinator or CE manager?
• Why these people usually cannot take responsibility for all design details and why the designers remain responsible.
• In which cases the use of external service providers can be worthwhile, for which they can take responsibility and for what not.

Step by step to the CE marking - legally secure and systematic

• Efficient project start: Why it is important to define the "limits of the machine" as early as possible.
• Classification of the product according to the Machinery Directive and Machinery Regulation: machine, partly complete machine, interchangeable equipment, etc.
• When do several independent machines become "assemblies of machinery"?
• Which directives must be observed in addition to the Machinery Directive and Machinery Regulation?
• Harmonized standards: What does "presumption of conformity" mean?
• Short repetition: Risk assessments (details are explained on the first day of the seminar).
• Arrange technical file: Content, language requirements, significance in the event of complaints from authorities and courts.
• Why it is important to also observe the formal requirements (language, form, etc.) of the instructions manual and assembly instructions.

Cooperation between various specialist departments or sub-suppliers

• Inspection obligations when purchasing machines and components
• What sales brochures have to do with product liability.
• Can buyers trust CE?
• Modification of machines: In which cases are you dealing with an “important change / substantial modification” and what does that imply?
• What interfaces exist between the departments or companies involved in a project (especially in industrial plant construction)?

Discussions, exercises and examples enliven the course of the seminar.