Machinery Directive

Machinery Directive 

Machinery Directive & Machine Safety

Machinery DirectiveThe Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC applies to most machinery (an assembly of linked parts or components, at least one of which moves, joined together for a specific application). The Machinery Directive is not just about guarding and moving parts, it is a full ‘product safety’ Directive that requires many other types of test or assessment.

ExVeritas has  significant experience of European and International Machinery Safety requirements, and has specific experience with applying the Machinery Directive to oil tools and process equipment. We have been conducting Machinery Directive assessments for nearly 20 years, and have a vast wealth of knowledge. We have successfully CE Marked thousands of Machines against the Machinery Directive including top drives, pipe handling equipment, shale gas equipment, pulverisers and most types of drilling equipment. Our experience with this type of equipment means we can expedite assessments and lower the cost of compliance.
We can produce assessments, tests and reports that will demonstrate that your machine has either been produced in conformity with the relevant standards or meets the Essential Health and Safety Requirements (EHSRs) that apply to it.
It should be noted that it is commonly necessary to apply the Machinery Directive to equipment that is only electrical in nature if that equipment is providing safety related functions for a machine (for example, a panel providing speed control or emergency stop buttons for a machine must be CE Marked against the Machinery Directive)

Machinery Directive Services Machinery Directive

  • Design reviews of product designs and formation of compliance strategies.
  • Inspections, risk assessments & testing to ensure compliance with the applicable standards or EHSRs.
  • Technical Files including risk assessment reports and other documentation required to demonstrate product conformity.

Our Machinery Directive and machine safety testing includes thermal imaging for temperature assessment, physical and electrical measurement (load) and the measurement of noise. In addition to general machine safety assessments and the Machinery Directive, we offer all of the additional tests and assessments that are frequently required for machine safety. These include:

  • The Electrical safety of Machines: Machinery Directive safety assessments are frequently on electrical equipment (such as motors) or safety systems (such as emergency stops), we have Chartered Electrical Engineers for the electrical safety assessments and a full electrical safety test laboratory.
  • Machinery Directive Safety Systems: BS EN 62061 is a sector standard to IEC 61508, written specifically for the machinery sector.  It takes a quantitative risk-based approach similar to that found in IEC 61508, which requires more work than the qualitative ‘risk graph’ that was in the former Standard EN 954-1. We have full in house functional safety and SIL specialists to conduct EN 62061 type analysis.
  • Internal Explosive Atmospheres: We are explosive atmosphere safety experts and specialise in machines that can have an internal explosive atmosphere which can be completely assessed under the Machinery Directive(external atmospheres such as leaks are dealt with under the ATEX Directive)

Contact us to find out how best apply the Machinery Directive to your product.