New standards for safety distances in mechanical engineering

Safety clearances are getting more important when it comes to designing machines. The increasing degree of automation, as well as the goal of manufactures to design machines more compact, highers up new potential hazards - in short: people are subject to a higher density of hazards and at the same time, closer distances to protective devices like covers, protective fences etc. are appearing.

In order to enable machine designers to create guardings, which protects people from mechanical hazards in commercial as well as in public enviroments, two standards offer a well-founded foundation:

• EN ISO 13857: Safety of machinery - Safety distances to prevent hazard zones being reached by lower limbs
• EN ISO 13854: Safety of machinery - Minimum gaps to avoid (EN 349) crushing of parts of the human body

Important dates for the application of these standards

Finding correct requirement profiles, calculating and applying safety distances in relation to people of different heights and different ages are particularly important in the design phase of machines. Through the continuous addition, merging and internationalization of these segment standards, the selection of limit values ​​or similar, getting more and more simplified for designers. Maintaining an overview of which standards are up to date at which point in time or which one triggers presumption of conformity for the relevant EU directives can be a bit of a hassle for designers….

Figure 1 shows the date history and the merging of the standards, including the specification of which standards are currently listed in the Official Journal (OJ) of the EU and therefore trigger presumption of conformity in relation to the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC.

ATTENTION: EN ISO 13857:2019 and EN ISO 13854:2019 are not yet subject to the presumption of conformity based on the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. The corresponding implementation decision with details of the transition periods of the EU Commission is pending. Stay up2date – follow us on LinkedIn to get the latest informations!
 

EN ISO 13857:2019

It replaces the previously used EN ISO 13857:2008, which is currently still harmonised to the MD 2006/42/EC and thus it triggers the presumption of conformity.

Scope of the standard:
“This document specifies values for safety distances against reaching of mechanical hazardous areas; for commercial and public areas. The safety clearances are suitable for protective constructions. It also contains information about distances that prevents free access through lower limbs." – Quote (freely translated) EN ISO 13857:2019

Datas shown in this standard relates to following age / application groups of people:  

• 3 – 13 years     (upper limbs)
• ≥ 14 years        (upper and lower limbs)

Following points are not considered in this standard:

• Values / measures to prevent access through lower limbs (children 0-13 years) 
• Distance values to protect against harms which occurs through machine emissions (radiation, exceeding noise, dust, heat sources etc.)
• Measures to avoid reaching hazardous areas that can be caused by climbing over (see EN ISO 14120)

ATTENTION: 
“Because safety distances depend on size, some extremely tall people may still be able to reach hazardous areas even though the requirements of this document are reached. Compliance with the requirements in this document prevents access to the hazardous area.“ -  Quote (freely translated) EN ISO 13857:2019
 

Changes compared to EN ISO 13857:2008

“This second edition replaces the first edition (ISO 13857: 2008), which has been technically revised. The main change compared to the previous edition is that the document has been made easier to read and is more in line with ISO 12100: 2010 ” - Quote (freely translated) EN ISO 13857:2019

In general, it can be said that the standard was mainly revised editorially - changes to the important data such as dimensions for safety distances, access or intervention sizes have not changed.

The following essential topic was added as a separate main point (4.4) in the standard:

         Consideration of whole body access

• The following opening sizes allow access to the whole body and is not allowed to being applied without any additional protective measures:
  • Slit shaped                             ≥ 180mm 
  • Square or circular shaped     ≥ 240mm

This is only an extract from point 4.4; the core information mentioned above was already noted in the respective tables of the old edition EN ISO 13857: 2008 - with the addition of this point, only a new clarification was added to ensure better clarity.
 

EN ISO 13854:2019

It replaces the previously used EN 349:1993+A1:2008, which was harmonised to the MD 2006/42/EC and triggered the presumption of conformity until 2022-09-03.

Scope of the standard:
"This document enables the user (e.g. standard setters, machine designers) to avoid hazards at crushing points. It specifies minimum distances depending on parts of the human body and is applicable if an appropriate level of safety can be achieved through this procedure. This document is just applicable to the risks of crushing hazards and is not applicable to other possible hazards, e.g. B. Pushing, shearing, pulling in. "- Quote (freely translated) EN ISO 13854:2019

Changes compared to EN 349:1993+A1:2008

• Editorial revision; Data and values were not changed.
• Merging EN 349 and ISO 13854 into EN ISO 13854 (internationalization)
   

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Posted on: 08.05.2020