Safety Components

Safety Requirements

1.System of Standards for Machinery Safety

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) prepares international standards for all electrical, electric and related technologies, and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) prepare international standards for all technologies other than electrical and electric technologies (machinery and management). European countries often take the initiative in proposing the standards and establishing them as ISO/IEC international standards.

Accelerated Globalization

1.Europe's EN Standards are produced by CEN/CENELEC.

2.IEC/ISO international standards are implemented without duplicating the efforts of various agreements.

3.Member countries of the WTO/TBT Agreements shall ensure the adoption of international standards as own national standards.

International Standards and Design of Machines and Devices

2.Situation by Country

(1) Europe

● EC Directives and the Machinery Directive

There are approximately 300 EC Directives issued for harmony in Europe. The EC Directives are equivalent to law in 18 countries in Europe. The EC Directive for machinery is called the Machinery Directive. The Machinery Directive (EC Directive 98/37/EC) restricts the export to Europe of machinery without the CE Marking as of January 1, 1995. The Machinery Directive requires that machinery satisfy the three pillars of safety: mechanical safety, electrical safety, and worker safety. Specifically, among other regulations, EN 292 must be satisfied for machinery, EN 60204-1 and IEC 60204-1 for electrical systems, and VBG for accident prevention.

● Low-voltage Directive (LVD)

According to the EC Directive (EC Directive 2006/95/EC), low voltage devices are devices that operate at 50 to 1,000 VAC or 75 to 1,500 VDC. The LVD applies to almost all electrical devices from electrical household appliances and office equipment to industrial electrical machinery. The LVD pertains to electrical safety in the Machinery Directive, along with the EMC Directive.

● EMC Directive

The EC Directive for EMC devices is called the EMC Directive (EC Directive 89/336/EEC and New EMC Directive 2004/108/EC are scheduled to be effective.). EMC stands for "electromagnetic compatibility." When measures have been taken for both electromagnetic interference (EMI) and electromagnetic susceptibility/immunity (EMS), the device is called electromagnetically compatible, which means that EMC measures have been successfully applied.

● CE Marking

The CE Marking is a mark of compliance with the EC Directives. The CE Marking indicates that the product complies with the stipulated level of protection in all relevant EC Directives. Devices labeled with the CE Marking may be imported and exported to Europe without restriction. You might call the CE Marking a “passport” to Europe.

● Relation between the EC Directives, EN Standards, and CE Marking.

As explained above, all relevant EC Directives must be satisfied for a product to be labeled with the CE Marking. EN Standards complement the EC Directives. Satisfying the EN Standards alone, however, does not result in the EC Directives being satisfied. Countermeasures for product liability is mainly required in manuals and catalogs.

● Essential Safety Requirements

These basic requirements are listed in Machinery Directive Appendix I. The Preliminary Observations of the Annex I of Machinery Directive are introduced below.

1.The obligations laid down by the essential health and safety requirements apply only when the corresponding hazard exists for the machinery in question when it is used under the conditions foreseen by the manufacturer. In any event, requirements 1.1.2, 1.7.3 and 1.7.4 apply to all machinery covered by this directive.

2.The essential health and safety requirements laid down in this Directive are mandatory. However, taking into account the state of the art, it may not be possible to meet the objectives set by them. In this case, the machinery must as far as possible be designed and constructed with the purpose of approaching those objectives.

3.The essential health and safety requirements have been grouped according to the hazards which they cover. Machinery presents a series of hazards which maybe indicated under more than one heading in this Annex. The manufacturer is under an obligation to assess the hazards in order to identify all of those which apply to his machine; he must then design and construct it taking account of this assessment.

● European Harmonized Standards

Standards for countries in the European region are unified by CEN and CENELEC. The unified standards are called European Norm (EN) and "EN" is added to the front of the standard numbers. When new EN Standards are established, each country in the region must replace its relevant domestic standard with the EN Standard normally within six months. Applicable standards for products intended are not indicated in the EC Directives. The EN Standards that must apply are published separately in the Official Journal of the European Communities (OJEC). Manufacturers are therefore necessary to determine the design specifications based on the EN Standards published in the OJEC. In addition to official EN Standards, Drafts of European Standards (prEN), Harmonization Documents (HD), European Pre-standards (ENV), and CEN Reports (CR) are also published.

● Product Liability

The General Product Safety Directive and Product Liability Directive are complementary regulations but their scope is not identical. The Product Liability Directive applies to virtually all products, while the General Product Safety Directive applies only to new, used, and reconditioned products intended for or used by consumers. Both regulations, however, include areas of uncertainty. Therefore, to be especially careful, a manufacturer must compare the individual provisions of all directives that apply to its product.

Structure of Standards Related to Machinery Safety

(2) The United States of America

● Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) passed in 1970 to provide safe and healthy working conditions. Part 1910 of the 29th Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) gives specific standards. Subpart O of Part 1910 sets standards for machinery and machine guarding, and divides into Part1910.211 to Part 1910.219.

Part1910.212 covers general requirements for all machines. The main points in Part1910.212 are given below.

Paragraph (a)(1)

One or more methods of machine guarding shall be provided to protect the operator and other employees in the machine area from hazards such as those created by point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips, and sparks. Examples of guarding methods are barrier guards, two-hand tripping devices, electronic safety devices, etc.

Paragraph (a)(3)(ii)

The point of operation of machines whose operation exposes an employee to injury shall be guarded.The guarding device shall be in conformity with any appropriate standards, therefore, or, in the absence of applicable specific standards, shall be so designed and constructed as to prevent the operator from having any part of his body in the danger zone during the operating cycle.

● American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

ANSI is an independent standards organization in the USA. It does not create any standards by itself, but rather approves and registers US standards created in various fields. For example, in 1976 ANSI approved the Underwriters Laboratories (UL), which was established by the fire insurance industry. Manufacturers of industrial robots in Japan and many other countries worldwide use the requirements for safety of industrial robots and robotic systems given in ANSI/RIA R15.06, which forms the basis of ISO 10218. ANSI/B11.19 safety standards for machine tools were established in 2003 and have become important standards.

1. Safety of Machine Tools

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) collaborates in creating ANSI Standards, which are often adopted as ANSI B Standards. The main safety standards for machine tools are stipulated by ANSI B11.

US Standards (B11 Standards)

ANSI B11.19 (Safeguarding when Referenced by the Other B11 Machine Tool Safety Standards - Performance Criteria for the Design, Construction, Care, and Operation) sets standards for barrier guards often referenced by other ANSI B11 standards. The main points in B11.19 are given on the next paragraph.

Purposes for Using Safety Equipment

To ensure the safety of operators, safety and protective equipment is designed to prevent any hazardous machine motion or stop the machine when the operator's hand or other body part enters the hazard zone. The following items are demanded of safety and protective equipment.

1. Interlocked Protective Device

A protective barrier must be installed that is equipped with an interlock function that prevents the machine from operating unless the hazard is eliminated.

Safety related systems must be provided with a safety function that prevents the machine from starting due to a single failure.

Interlock equipment must be equipped with a tamper resistant function.

2. Presence-sensing Device

A device equipped with a function that detects the operator's hand or other body part, and outputs a signal to prevent any hazardous machine motion or to stop the machine.

The device must have a single failure detection function.

When mounted in a location that requires adjustment of the operating conditions, a blanking function must be provided.

3. Safety Mat

The Safety Mat is a device that detects the presence of an operator who steps on it, and prevents any hazardous machine motion.

The device must have a single failure detection function.

2. Safety of Industrial Robots

Safety items demanded of industrial robots by U.S. standards (ANSI/RIA R15.06)Applicable scope (Section 1)

Robot here refers to industrial robots and industrial robot systems.

Date of ANSI standard implementationThe standard has been implemented for industrial robots since June 2001.
The standard has been implemented for industrial robot systems since June 2002.

Robot production, modification, re-assembly (Section 4)

Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) countermeasures for electrical devices

Safety circuit designs (according to risk reduction category)

Emergency stop buttons shall be shaped to fit the palm of the hand, or mushroom shaped, and shall be red on a yellow background.

Enabling devices
3-position switches

Safety and protective device performance (Section 5)

Safety and protective devices
Light Curtains, Safety Mats, two-handed operating devices
Area scanning safeguarding devices RF/capacitance safeguarding devices

Installation of robot and robot systems (Section 6)

Software or devices that are to be used with safety devices must be approved by an NRTL (U.S. Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory).

Safeguarding of personnel (Sections 7, 8, 9, 10)

Requirements for reducing risk due to risk assessment
Requirements for robot risk reduction and design according to safety categories R1, R2 (A, B, C), R3 (A, B), and R4. (These risk reduction categories differ from those of the ISO13849-1 international standards.)

Safeguarding devices (Section 11)

mplementation methods according to Safety and protective devices (Section 5).

Maintenance of robot and robot systems (Section 12)

Establishing continuous safe operation programs

Testing and start-up of robot and robot systems (Section 13)

Testing and start-up procedures

Safety training of personnel (Section 14)

Training programs

Appendix (A to E)

B Safety distances and direct circuit-opening mechanism switches

C Risk assessment

OMRON safety components can be used when constructing safety-related systems conforming with the requirements of ANSI B11.19 and ANSI/RIA R15.06.

(3) Japan

● JIS

The regulations and standards of individual countries must be brought in line with international standards to remove trade barriers and thus ensure free trade worldwide. To that end, Japan accepted the terms of the World Trade Organization (WTO), becoming a member and signatory to the WTO Agreement as well as the TBT Agreement (Technical Barrier Treatment). In 1995, Japan declared its commitment to a system of global cooperation. Growing pressure to adopt international standards triggered a complete overhaul of the JIS standards, which were enacted under the Industrial Standardization Law, to bring them in line with the framework of the international IEC and ISO standards.The new JIS standards will be shifted to the hierarchical system comprised of type A (basic safety standards), type B (generic safety standards) and type C (machine safety standards) standards so that Japanese standards will conform to international standards.

(As of April 2007)

● Guidelines for Comprehensive Machinery Safety Standards

In June 2001, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare issued the Guidelines for Comprehensive Safety Standards of Machinery in response to the basic safety standards provided in ISO 12100. These Guidelines stipulate the procedure for manufacturers to use in reducing safety risks and achieve designs that take safety into consideration in the manufacture of production equipment and machinery, and also request that users provide safety measures when they introduce and use the equipment and machinery.
In other words, the measures that ensure safety in machinery include measures that manufacturers build-in at the design stage and measures that users must take when using the machinery. However, the Guidelines also clarify the fact that the measures that manufacturers build-in at the design stage must naturally precede the measures taken by the users.
The following diagram shows the flow of achieving machinery safety based on the information in the Guidelines for Comprehensive Machinery Safety Standards.

Safety Procedure for Machinery

(4) China

● GB

Chinese national standards (GB: Guojia Biaozhun)

Standards for electrical equipment are produced based on IEC
standards.

Structure of National Standards

Electric wires and cables
Electric circuit switches, electronic equipment for
protection or connection use

Low-voltage electrical equipment

・・・etc.

● CCC

CCC: China Compulsory Certification mark system

Upon its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001,
China integrated its former Certification System for Imported Items and Certification System for Items
Distributed within China, and issued the New Compulsory Certification System on December 3, 2001, which took effect on May 1, 2002.
On August 1, 2003 it became prohibited to import or sell products that were not certified under the new certification system. The first list of products to be subject to the New Compulsory Certification System consisted of 132 products in 19 groups.
These products were required to display the China Compulsory Certification (CCC) mark.

(5) South Korea

● KS

South Korea became a WTO member and signatory to the TBT Agreement (Technical Barrier Treatment) in 1995, the year the WTO was created, and declared its commitment to a system of global cooperation. As a result, the Korean Industrial standards (KS) were established by the Industrial Standardization Law as part of an overall obligation to employ international standards, and are in line with the framework of the international IEC and ISO standards.

● S-mark

The S-mark is a voluntary certification system established in November 1997 by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) to reduce the occurrence of work-related accidents. The S-mark is granted for products that have been examined by KOSHA and are deemed to satisfy standards based on the Industrial Safety Maintenance Law, Article 34, item 2, for product safety, product reliability, and the quality control capabilities of the manufacturer.Some OMRON safety components have received certification from KOSHA.

(6) Australia

● Australian Standards numbers

Machine standards are created based on ISO standards, and electrical standards are created based on IEC standards.

(7) International Standards Relationships

*1.ISO/TR 12100-1: 1992, ISO/TR 12100-2

*2.Self-declaration is allowed for general machines in the Machinery Directive.

*3.UL and CSA are mutual certification systems.

*4.As of April 2006. Certification is not required for the field of industrial machinery.

*5.S-mark certification requires Labor Department approval of safety certification regulations in addition to standards compliance.