What Goes Into Your Machinery’s CE Mark?

To find out, start with the EU Machinery Directive, the core safety standard. Directive 2006/42/EC is a revised version of the Machinery Directive, the first version of which was adopted in 1989. The new Machinery Directive has been applicable since December 29, 2009. The Directive has the dual aim of harmonizing the health and safety requirements applicable to machinery on the basis of a high level of protection of health and safety while ensuring the free circulation of machinery... Read More

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A Look at the New, Safer Elevators of the Future

By Kevin Connelly, UL LLC New standard’s codes, methods focus on programmable and electronic safety Having been in industrial automation for my entire career, I am familiar with the safety concerns regarding automated equipment in an industrial environment.  It is understood that the environment is populated by staff familiar with the equipment, educated on the operation of the equipment and designed as such. But for equipment intended for use by and interacted with the general... Read More

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New Compact SINAMICS G120C Inverter: Ideal Solution for Industrial Grade Applications

Siemens Industry, Inc., has introduced the Sinamics G120C, a compact inverter designed for various industrial applications such as pumps, compressors, and fans, as well as mixers, extruders, conveyor belts, and materials handling machines. With a rated power range of 0.75 to 25 hp (0.55 to 18.5 kW), the Sinamics G120C sets new standards in the industry with its compact dimensions, fast commissioning times, simple operation, servicing ease, and highly integrated functionality. The... Read More

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Clip and Save this Must-have list of Key Safety Standards!

A concise rundown on what you need to know for emergency stops, machine guarding, safety PLCs, motor drives and robotics. Understanding the differences of safety standards as it applies to different markets is a key element in developing a product development strategy for different installations and markets. Although in North America, many of the Functional Safety standards are derived from IEC or ISO standards, it’s important to understand how the requirements differ. This... Read More

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How to Tell if You’re Paying Too Much for Safety

10,000 safety PLCs and 360,000 safety network nodes worldwide don’t lie – integrated safety systems reduce long-term ownership cost. Over the past several years, safety has emerged from an afterthought to become an integral component in many industrial systems. Now, machine builders and end users enjoy the benefits of new machine guarding technologies endorsed by international safety standards that bring economical and effective choices to machine safety. Safety is now an... Read More

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Global Harmony for Hazardous Locations – A Success Story

The ongoing ‘hands across the water’ approach to harmonizing and updating U.S. and IEC Zone systems simplifies equipment selection worldwide. The U.S. has long used the area classification system known as the Division system. As is often the case however, other countries have developed their own area classification systems to address hazardous locations safety issues – but that development was mostly independent from the U.S. approach. This independent development resulted... Read More

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Are LOTO, Machine Guarding and OSHA Compliance Interconnected?

Understanding the high level approaches to removing hazardous energy from machinery is vitally important to employee safety and OSHA compliance. This article provides brief introduction into the Lock Out Tag Out approach and Machine Guarding. Is physically opening the main disconnect switch and locking it in the open position, i.e. LOTO (LockOut/TagOut), the only option when servicing machinery? The answer, it would appear, is no. There are codes and standards in the US and overseas... Read More

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How EN/ISO13849-2 Eases Validation for Programmable Safety Control

Understanding the validation requirements in EN/ISO13849-2 are critical in an efficient design process for the development of safety systems. This article provides some important points for both developers of the products or systems and for the validators. As has been well documented, EN/ISO13849 is now taking center stage in the machinery industry due to the implementation of this standard as of January of 2012. Therefore it would be helpful to have a better understanding of... Read More

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Innovative Online Software Speeds Machine Safety Compliance

Learn in five steps the process behind Siemens’ Safety Evaluation Tool to ease your transition to the new ISO 13849-1 machine safety standard. As of the end of 2011, the machine safety standard EN954-1 has been effectively replaced by EN/ISO 13849-1. The new standard addresses the latest technologies not covered by 954-1, imposing new demands on machine manufacturers under the EU Machinery Directive. The replacement occurred because EN 954-1 no longer represented the current... Read More

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Specification of Safety-Integrated Burner Management Systems

By taking the guesswork out of design, Siemens SIMATIC Safety-Integrated BMS provide safe, reliable, and compliant solutions for the process industries. Burner Management Systems (BMS) are one of the most widespread process safety applications. Historically, there has not been much guidance on the use of automation systems for BMS, and industry standards left much to interpretation; this changed with the release of International Society for Automation’s (ISA) technical report... Read More

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