Guide to guarding standards

Citation

(2003), "Guide to guarding standards", Industrial Robot, Vol. 30 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2003.04930bad.004

Guide to guarding standards

Guide to guarding standards

Keywords: Safety, Robots

Procter Machinery Guarding, the UK’s leading supplier of modular and bespoke machinery guards, is publishing a new free guide to the standards and regulations that relate to guarding. Many machine builders have felt “left in the dark” in the past, having to search for the relevant information from a variety of sources. But now they have a guide that gives them the basics, together with information about how they can find out more on specific topics (Plate 3).

Machinery guarding is essential if a machine is to operate safely, but machine designers are often unaware of the full range of regulations and standards that are applicable. There is no excuse for not complying with all of the relevant standards, but a frequent complaint is that there are so many standards that it is difficult to know which ones apply in a particular case – and that assumes that the designer knows of the standards’ existence!

Plate 3 After years of being “in the dark”, machine builders now have a source of advice about machinery guarding standards, thanks to a new guide published by Procter Machinery Guarding

To help designers who are baffled or who simply wish to confirm that they are taking the right approach, Procter Machinery Guarding is publishing On Your Guard, a new guide to machinery guarding standards. As a leading supplier of machinery guarding, the company is fully aware of the applicable standards in the UK, Europe and beyond, so is ideally positioned to pass on some of this knowledge to machine builders.

On Your Guard explains the importance of guarding and how guards that are well designed can enhance productivity alongside ensuring operator safety. The guide then goes on to explain how machinery guarding relates to the Machinery Directive and CE Marking, before listing the main BS EN standards that apply to guarding.

In addition to pointing designers in the direction of the correct standards, the guide also offers some advice on how to approach the design of guarding and the specification of the access control system. This information will aid the creation of a cost-effective guard design that will provide an adequate level of safety and help to avoid the age-old problem of operators and maintenance personnel attempting to bypass the safety measures.

At the rear of the guide there are useful contact details for a variety of sources of further information, including the HSE, BSI and DTI.

Copies of On Your Guard can be requested free of charge from Procter Machinery Guarding. Tel: 02920 882222; E-mail: jeremy.procter@procterbedwas.co.uk