Posted By Martin Taylor Looking for help on guidance and standards. One of my colleagues is modifying a rotating assembly jig to turn it from a manual rotation to a powered rotation. To describe the jig it is approximately 2m long and mounted in bearings on the top of 2 support posts at either side. The jig can be rotated + 45 degrees - 45 degrees by releasing the brake (foot pedal) and using a handle to turn forward or back. Following a nasty accident when an operator got his foot caught under the pedal action has been taken to modify the design and it has been decided to trial a powered rotate with a motor gearbox - the rotate speed is quite slow 1 full revolution in 8 seconds and the movement is initiated by a manual press of a button. The designers have done a good job of eliminating any trap hazards and minimising risks to the operators. I have some reservations though about the clearance between the side of the rotating jig and the support posts. It is 50mm and a person could push his arm through (with pleanty of clearance). What I am looking for is guidance on what the maximum clearance should be and what document I should reference. I am sure somebody must be able to help - look forwards to hearing from you all regards MT

Posted By Keith Egerton Don't refer to BS5304, the old British Standard on machine guarding - it got wthdrawn years ago. From memory the current series of British Standards is BS292 for general safety requirements, then refer to the BS294 series for specific guidance on safety distances etc. Even these might be out of date, as I've moved away from machinery safety over the past few years. There is also BSEN1050 (or whatever the current version is), for specific guidance on machinery based risk assessments. British Standards now are wither Type 'A' standards - generic machinery standards such BS292, Type B1 and B2 which refer to specific classes/types of machinery, Type C which relate to specific components and devices (also specific safety devices) You will also need to consider the Supply of Machinery Regulations, if you have altered the existing machine to such an extent you may need to get it 'CE' marked and show that it meets the requirements of the essential health and safety requirements of that legislation. A Technical File and Declaration of Conformity may also be required. As I say I'm a little rusty on machinery standards, but I think these comments are still generally correct.

Posted By Jonathan Breeze I understood that whilst obsolescent (whatever that means but it's not the same as obsolete) BS 5304 was still in use as a practical hands on way of calculating safe distances for guarding because nothing better had been produced. It had therefore been given the designation BS PD 5304. Having read EN292, it seems to be mostly platitudes that give a warm fuzzy feeling but that provides no actual useful guidance on the safe distances between bars or mesh on guarding. BS PD 5304, however gives actual hands on measurements (e.g. no gaps greater than 6mm to prevent fingertips being pushed through a guard etc.) I cannot speak for EN294 as I've not read it. Can anyone (from BSI maybe) clarify this issue for me as the situation may have changed since I last looked? Thanks

Posted By Jonathan Breeze Thanks for that info Keith, so in summary you now have to buy several standards at an approx price of £120 rather than just the one at £20 and even then the info is to be found in a footnote which you may miss and it's exactly the same as it always was. Keeps somone in a job I suppose.

Posted By D. Hilton Martin You should reference BS EN 349 ‘Minimum Gaps to avoid crushing parts of the Human Body ‘. With regard to your specific question relating to the risk of crush injury to the arms, The minimum distance prescribed to avoid crushing is that of 120 mm. In addition, bear in mind that the provision of powered movement to the jig has resulted in a substantial modification to the equipment in question, therefore you should carry out a conformity assessment exercise against the requirements of the Machinery Directive 98/37/EC and on completion provide a Declaration of Conformity to the Directive and affix a CE Mark. A word of caution, to achieve this you will have to take into account a number of additional standards e.g. EN 292, EN 953, EN 1037, EN 954, EN 418 and EN 1050. Regards Darren Hilton MIOSH, MIIRSM

Posted By Keith Egerton No 349 does not replace BS5304 as such - BS5304 has been replaced by a whole series of other standards, as listed in my postings and other postings in this thread. As previous, the idea is now that there are very general standards such as BS292, which are very 'woolley' general requirements which can be applied to just about any machine, then type B1/B2 which apply to classes of machines, then Type C which apply to specific components/devices etc. The theory is that you should apply Type C standards before Type B, Type B before Type A etc. However this is not always possible due to the fact specific standards for specific components/devices etc have probably not been written by BS etc. I think you need to contact BS for a list/catalogue of current standards related to machinery/engineering safety. Again, as I said in my 1st post and as others have said, it sounds like you will need to CE mark the machine you have modified, and show that it meets the Essentail Health and Safety Requirements of the Supply of Machinery Regs. There is a free leaflet on the HSE web site about these regulations.

Posted By melba toast ive been in the pentium security management game for a number of years now mate, and i belive that the best way to ensure safety on the pentium is by pre selecting the module capacity program, any thoughts?