Posted By Nick Higginson Jane, Not an expert on this by any means, but aside from the CE marking issue, surely Section 6 of HSWA74 applies i.e. duties on suppliers, manufacturers, designers etc. There is also a british standard relating to machinery safeguarding, and of course Regulation 11 of PUWER. Regards, Nick

Posted By Clive Richardson Hi Jane. Basically if the machine seems unsafe then it must not be put into production until it is made safe regardless of what ever marking it has on it. The machine should/must satisfy the Essetial Health and Safety requirements relating to the design and construction of machinery (annexe 1 of the machinery directive). At the design stage the manufacturers should apply EN 1050 (principals of risk assessment), and then the subsequent standards for guarding and safety systems which I believe are EN 292-1, 292-2, 953, 954-1 and 954-2 (although I am sure someone will be kind enough to correct me if I am wrong). The CE mark is no guarantee of safety, all it signifies is that certain standards have been applied and it is allowed free movement within the European Ecconomic Area. Look at regs. 6,10 and 11 of PUWER 98. I have no attachments with Pilz, but contact Susan Hayward, training administrator 01536 462223 and get on the Machine Safety Interactive Workshop, its an excellent course. Regards Clive Richardson MIOSH

Posted By Jim Walker I wrote this off-line before I saw Clive and Jims responses, so some is a repeat of what they have stated Having been involved in equipment safety for more years than I care to remember, I'm not really surprised you have found CE marked equipment that you believe to be unsafe. In theory anything CE marked is safe; in practice the supplier has most likely just slapped a label on it and is hoping for the best. With few exceptions, the CE mark means, " in the opinion of the manufacturer, this equipment complies with all relevant directives". Some of these seem to have a risk assessment that says "what can we get away with" – as most things are bought on price alone, we the consumers are partly responsible for this attitude. The CE mark is of only the same worth as the integrity of the person who applied it – never thrust the mark. Always risk assess the equipment and reject if you are not happy. Any reasonable supplier will help with a risk assessment; any that cannot or will not, should immediately arouse suspicion. The enforcing body in the UK is local trading standards; generally speaking it does not seem to work – I guess because they are under resourced. I suggest you call them in and threaten the supplier too. See what happens Note that guards are only one control method for ensuring people do not come into contact with hazardous parts of machinery. Standards PD 5304 was originally BS 5304, but became “redundant” when superseded by Euronorms (themselves based on IEC standards). ‘5304 was considered so useful that an unprecedented step was made to re-issue it as a Published Document; it’s relevance in UK H&S law is debatable. Machinery standards (one does not do all) include: BS EN1050: 1997 Safety of machinery – Principles of risk assessment BS EN294: 1992 Safety of machinery – Safety distances BS EN61032: 1997 Protection of persons by enclosures – Probes for verification EN 292 parts 1 &2 Design principles Then there is presumably the electrical side - BS EN 60204:1992