Andy,
There is not a requirement under PUWER, they are correct, however 4163 is a CoP which requires this.
It may come down to a contract war.
IMHO you are correct. They must be fitted.
The key operated isolators, are they isolators or key release e-stops?
The probability is a contract war, however, how you as the user will get away with utilising the facililty when it does not comply to the guidance issued to your "industry" by HSE, BSI, & The Dept of Education (or whatever they are called this month) I don't know.
HSE do refer to 4163 somewhere I know they do as I have been involved in this situation from the "outside".
If you want to discuss in depth please PM

Another useful reference is Building Bulletin 81 (BB81) Design and Technology Accomodation in Secondary Schools - A Design Guide.

I've come across this as well and not yet got a solution.

Andy,

Actually, the general feeling in this area is that it is a requirement of PUWER, Regulation 19 "to allow equipment to be made safe under particular circumstances" and "to ensure that re-connection of any energy source to work equipment does not expose any person using the work equipment to any risk to his health or safety." The particular circumstances being the need to ensure the safety of a workshop crammed with pupils uncertain of the safer systems of working with industrial machinery.

If the original contract was by the county council, they would surely be working to a policy that would use these guides as its basis. There may have been sufficient delay in the build process that the new academy had produced a new H&S policy that is not be so comprehensive, that would make life more awkward.

The risk assessments would probably start as CLEAPSS generic ones that would certainly expect emergency stop buttons to give the teacher control if they detect a potentially dangerous situation. They will need to address the possibility of an incident and therefore the need for these stops.

The staff teaching in the area will surely still have to be DATA accredited, in order to demonstrate competence and any inspection of the work area and machinery will be probably be against the requirements of BS4163 leading to improvement works needing to be carried out.

Building Bulletin 81, Part 6 to which reference has been made states
"Each work area containing fixed electrical equipment should also have an emergency-stop system which switches off all circuits supplied via the switch-disconnector in an emergency. The emergency-stop buttons must be readily accessible to the teacher and positioned at a height of 1.5m to ensure clearance of machines and benching; there may be several emergency-stop buttons located at intervals around the room. In view of the increasing use of portable CAM machines, hand power tools and other portable equipment, it is recommended that the emergency-stop system control all socket outlets too, except those serving ICT equipment.
The reset switch should be key-operated to ensure that only authorised persons can reset the power. The contactor in the stop circuit should also provide under-volt release."

A good starting point to undermine their position is to ask for information about the sources of advice that were used in the design process. It is unfortunately all too common for the architect/designer not to have seen any of the guidance - but this then makes it easier to force the necessary changes.

regards,

martin

Alan,
As we both know, you are correct, also, it is not just braking systems that require power that must not be affected by the emergency switching system, any safety related services must also be unaffected.
DC Injection braking is only one that needs consideration.
BTW new machines tend to have inbuilt electromechanical brakes that brake on loss of power anyway.
Paul

Andy,
According to 4163.
The emergency switching system must shut down the socket outlets in the classroom.
There must be a clearly labelled cleaners socket not controlled by the emergency switching system.
It is the safety systems that must not be shut down, for example DC injection braking, however, the machine must be shut down, a quandary, which can be overcome without resorting to batteries, (etc.) that some "specialist" education providers are pushing, trust me I have designed a system to do this.
The LEV must also continue to run, ideally it should not be possible to run the machines without the LEV, and if the emergency switching system is actuated the machine must stop via the DC brake without a supply being present, and the LEV must continue to run until the risk from the contaminant has been removed.
Again this can be done, and I have a solution.

HTH

Paul

Just for everyone's interest the builder has responded saying that they have assessed the rooms and have found two emergancy buttons, the key operated teachers control and the "gas safe" unit and they feel this is sufficient. They have completely failed to answer the issue of BS 4163 and the government guidance of the Design and Technology Association.
The discussions continue.