Rank: New forum user 
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Morning all. Im looking for advice for the frequency of emergency stop testing. On our site we have around 400 emergency stop devices, that were previously inspected and tested every 3 months. Our business has decided to change this now to once per year. The justification being time to test being the reason for changing it to yearly. It still complies with PUWER inspections however as these devices stop conveyance and equipment in line of sight, my worry is that the inspection will miss a fault that will lead to injury. With regards to the frequency that the emergency stops are used, some of these are engaged daily/ weekly. Any advice would be appreciated.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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The motivation for reducing the testing frequency may be to reduce the time spent on testing, but the justification for it has to be that this will still adequately manage the risk. That will need some consideration of both the severity of what may happen if they fail, and of how likely testing is to pick up a fault. The history of test results in finding faults would be relevant in that.
If the testing consists of pressing it and seeing that it works, this might be at least partially covered by them actually being used on such a frequent basis (the only thing missing might be a record).
On the other hand, that sounds like terribly frequent use. I would also be asking whether the emergency stops are being misused or if something is wrong in the process for them to be used that often. Are they really (used as) emergency stops or just stop controls?
The equipment manuals may well contain some recommendations on inspection and test frequency which should be the starting point, although you can deviate from this if justified.
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 2 users thanked Kate for this useful post.
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Rank: New forum user
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With regards to frequency of use, we are an incredibly large building with miles of conveyance on site, the emergency stops are often used if there are large product jams, but are also accidentally triggered by knocks etc. With regards to faults found, we are 5 years into doing these tests and are still finding snags with controls abd some conveyance not stopping etc.
I really appreciate your response Kate.
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Rank: Super forum user
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OK. If they are being accidentally set off a lot then there may be an issue with where they are placed or with what goes on around them. It would be worth looking into the causes of this and trying to stop it. I imagine this would be something for your production and quality people to look into and perhaps you can collaborate with them on the whole topic.
If the tests are finding faults then I would be very unhappy about reducing the test frequency! It would be good to graph this up in some way, if this hasn't already been done, to demonstrate the value of the tests.
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2 users thanked Kate for this useful post.
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