User Manual

SAFETY
Safety handbook page - 2-
PNSPO
2.0 Safety Basics
The Member States of the European Communities (EC) – this name was changed
when the Treaty establishing the “European Union” (EU) was signed in the Maastricht
On 7. Febr., 1992- unanimously agreed from the very beginning that the safety re-
quirements for numerous products in the Member States (and also in the countries
belonging to the European Economic Area – EEA) have to be harmonised. This
common view point resulted in Article 100a. Article 100a has been replaced by Article
95 of the Treaty of Amsterdam.
This chapter will give an overview on the legal background of safety.
2.1 European Legislation
One of the focal points of the European regulatory work, that was intensified at the end
of the 1980s, was the machinery sector. The relevant EC Directive, the so-called
Machinery Directive, was adopted by the Council and issued in the middle of 1989
and has since been completed by three amendments (91/368/EEC, 93/44/EEC and
93/68/EEC). Meanwhile, the consolidated version 98/37/EC has been issued. As soon
as the outline of the intended Directive became apparent, CEN and CENELEC and
launched a comprehensive and sophisticated programme aimed at developing
standards in support of the Directive.
2.2 CE Certification
CE Mark is a passport for goods in Europe.
The free movement, putting into service and use of machinery must be guaranteed
by the Member States provided that
-
machinery in the sense of “single machinery”, “assemblies of machines”,
“installations” and “interchangeable equipment” is accompanied by the EC
declaration of conformity and bear the CE marking,
- “safety components” are accompanied by the EC declaration of conformity;
CE Marking is not to be fixed to such components,
- “machinery which cannot function independently” and is intended to be part of an
assembly of machines is accompanied by a manufacturers declaration; CE marking
is not to be fixed to such machinery.
- Beside the machine directive it must be considered in addition also other directives
like EMC and LVD for a valid EC declaration.
2.3 Machine Directive
Based on the definition of the term “machinery” in the Machinery Directive, the scope of
this Directive is very large.
However, the Machinery Directive includes a list of machinery and technical products,
such as lifts, cable ways and road vehicles, which are excluded from it, because they
fall within the scope of other Community Directives or competencies.
According to the Machinery Directive the product-group machinery comprises nearly all
stationary, movable, hand-guided and hand-held machinery designed for the
processing, treatment, packaging and moving of material or objects in general.