Chapter 3

European Harmonised Standards

Contents
3.0
Background to the European harmonised standards
3.1

Identification

3.3

An American view

3.4

List of standards

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3.2
Classification
3.2.1
A standards
3.2.1.1
EN 414
3.2.1.2
EN 292-1/2
3.2.1.3
EN 1050
3.2.2
B standards
3.2.3
C standards

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3.0 Background to the European harmonised standards

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The standards prepared by the European standardisation bodies CEN

and CENELEC are common to all European community and EFTA
countries. These standards were introduced in order to help
machinery manufacturers conform to the requirements of the
regulations. Generally speaking, the authorities will assume that any
machine manufactured to conform to the published European
standards will comply with the Essential Health and Safety
Requirements covered by those standards.

3.1 Identification
Standards may have a number of different prefixes:
jwg
prEN
EN

62

BS EN

European Harmonised
Standards

jwg
The joint working group prefix is normally followed by a number.
A joint working group meets to evolve a new or updated standard
and consists of a team of experts with an interest in the subject,
for example, development engineers for product-related
information, representatives of the standards institutions, health
and safety executives.

prEN
This stands for provisional euronorm and is a draft European
standard. This is a standard issued for comment before
ratification.

EN
The euronorm is the official European standard.
BS EN
The BS prefix in front of the euronorm number denotes that the
British Standards Institution has reviewed the EN standard and
has made any grammatical changes necessary to avoid
confusion.
Please note that this guide does not show the BS prefix, referring
solely to the euronorm description.

3.2 Classification
The standards have to be classified into three sections: A, B and C.
3.2.1 A standards
The A standards apply to all machinery and provide essential
information for all machine builders. There are three A standards that
relate to machine safety:

EN 292 Parts 1 and 2

EN 1050.
3.2.1.1 EN 414
Entitled Safety of machinery. Rules for the drafting and presentation
of safety standards. This is effectively the standard for standards,
and evolved so that there could be conformity in the way standards
are written.
3.2.1.2 EN 292 Parts 1 and 2
Entitled Safety of machinery. Basic concepts, general principles for
design. This standard defines the concepts of machine safety and
specifies the general principles and techniques to help machine
designers achieve safety.
3.2.1.3 EN 1050
Entitled Safety of machinery. Principles for risk assessment. This
standard describes how to assess the risk of injury or damage to
health, so that appropriate safety measures can be selected.

European Harmonised
Standards

EN 414

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3.2.2 B standards
B standards are subdivided into two sections:
Group B1 covers safety aspects for design, e.g. electrical
equipment, safety distances, safety-related controls. These
standards always apply.

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Group B2 covers safety components and devices, e.g. light

curtains, mechanical guards, pressure mats and two-hand
controls. These standards are applied when required.
3.2.3 C standards
These standards identify specific types or groups of machinery and
inform manufacturers and users about the specific safety precautions
they should take and safety devices they should use.

3.3 An American view

OSHA 1910.217(b)(13) Control Reliability

The control system shall be constructed so that a failure within the
system does not prevent the normal stopping action from being
applied to the equipment when required, but does prevent initiation
of a successive stroke until the failure is corrected. The failure shall
be detectable by a simple test, or indicated by the control system.
This requirement does not apply to those elements of the control
system which have no effect on the protection against point of
operation injuries.
ANSI B11.19-1990 Section 2.12 Definitions
Control reliability is defined as a method of ensuring the integrity
of the performance of guards, devices or control systems.
ANSI B11.19-1990 Section 5.5.1 Control Reliability
When required by the performance requirements of the
safeguarding, the device system or interface shall be designed,
constructed and installed so that a single component within the
device, interface or system shall not prevent the normal stopping
action from taking place, but shall prevent a successive machine
cycle. This requirement does not apply to those components

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Other world-wide standards bodies such as IEC, ISO and,

significantly, the American national standards body ANSI, are now
reaching agreement with CEN and CENELEC in order to reach
common, world-wide standards. The European requirement is
already very similar to that required by the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI), as the following extracts from the Control
Reliability Regulations show:

whose function does not affect the safe operation of the machine
tool. Further reference is made in ANSI B11.19 Section 11.1.1
(1996).
ANSI B11.20-1990 Section 6.13 Control Component Failure
Protection

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The control system shall be designed, constructed and installed

so that a single control component failure within the system does
not prevent the stopping action from taking place, but will prevent
successive system cycles until the failure has been corrected.
This requirement only applies to those components whose failure
can result in a hazardous condition.

3.4 List of standards

The following table lists some of the main standards supporting the
Machinery Directive.
Description
Rubber and plastics machines. Injection moulding
machines. Safety requirements.

EN 292-1

Safety of machinery. Basic concepts, general

principles for design. Basic terminology,
methodology.

EN 292-2

Safety of machinery. Basic concepts, general

principles for design. Technical principles and
specification.

EN 294

Safety of machinery. Safety distances to prevent

danger zones being reached by the upper limbs.

EN 349

Safety of machinery. Minimum gaps to avoid

crushing of parts of the human body.

EN 414

Safety of machinery. Rules for the drafting and

presentation of safety standards.

EN 418

Safety of machinery. Emergency stop equipment,

functional aspects. Principles for design.

EN 422

Rubber and plastics. Machines. Safety. Blow

moulding machines intended for the production of
hollow articles. Requirements for the design and
construction.

EN 457

Safety of machinery. Auditory danger signals.

General requirements, design and testing.

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Standard
EN 201

Standard

Description

EN 547-1

Safety of machinery. Human body measurements,

etc. Part 1: principles for determining the dimensions
required for openings for whole body access into
machinery.

EN 547-2

Safety of machinery. Human body measurements,

etc. Part 2: principles for determining the dimensions
required for access openings.

EN 563

Safety of machinery. Temperatures of touchable

surfaces. Ergonomics data to establish temperature
limit values for hot surfaces.

EN 574

Safety of machinery. Two-hand controls.

EN 614

Safety of machinery. Ergonomic design principles.

EN 614-1

Safety of machinery. Ergonomic design principles.

Part 1: terminology and general principles.

EN 626

Safety of machinery. Reduction of risks to health

from hazardous substances emitted by machinery.

EN 626-1

Safety of machinery. Reduction of risks to health

from hazardous substances emitted by machinery.
Principles and specifications for machinery
manufacturers.

EN 626-2

Safety of machinery. Reduction of risk to health

from hazardous substances emitted by machinery.
Methodology leading to verification procedures.

EN 689

Workplace atmospheres. Guidance for the

assessment of exposure by inhalation to chemical
agents for comparison with limit values and
measurement strategy.

EN 692

Mechanical presses. Safety.

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Standards

Description

prEN 693

Hydraulic presses. Safety.

EN 811

Safety of machinery. Safety distances to prevent

danger zones being reached by the lower limbs.

EN 842

Safety of machinery. Visual danger signals.

General requirements, design and testing.

EN 894-1

Safety of machinery. Ergonomic requirements for

the design of displays and control actuators.
General principles for human interactions with
control and display actuators.

EN 894-2

Safety of machinery. Ergonomic requirements for

the design of displays and control actuators.
Displays.

EN 894-3

Safety of machinery. Ergonomic requirements for

the design of displays and control actuators.
Control actuators.

EN 953

Safety of machinery. Guards. General

requirements for the design and construction of fixed
and movable guards.

EN 954-1

Safety of machinery. Safety related parts of control

systems. Part 1: general principles for design.

prEN 954-2

Safety of machinery. Safety related parts of control

systems. Validation.

EN 981

Safety of machinery. System of auditory and visual

danger and information signals.

EN 982

Safety of machinery. Safety requirements for fluid

power systems and their components. Hydraulics.

EN 983

Safety of machinery. Safety requirements for fluid

power systems and their components. Pneumatics.

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Standard

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Standard

Description

prEN 999

Safety of machinery. Hand/arm speed. Approach

speed of parts of the body for the positioning of
safety devices.

prEN 1005-1

Safety of machinery. Human physical performance.

Part one: terms and definitions.

prEN 1005-2

Safety of machinery. Human physical performance.

Part two: manual handling of objects associated to
machinery.

prEN 1005-3

Safety of machinery. Human physical performance.

Part three: recommended force limits for machinery
operation.

prEN 1030-1

Hand-arm vibration. Guidelines for vibration hazard

reduction. Part 1: engineering methods by design of
machinery.

EN 1032

Mechanical vibration. Testing of mobile machinery

in order to determine the whole-body vibration
emission value. General requirements.

EN 1037

Safety of machinery. Prevention of unexpected

start-up.

EN 1050

Safety of machinery. Principles for risk assessment.

EN 1088

Safety of machinery. Interlocking devices associated with guards. Principles for design and selection.

EN 1093-1

Safety of machinery. Evaluation of the emission of

airborne hazardous substances. Part one: selection
of test methods.

Description

EN 1093-3

Safety of machinery. Evaluation of the emission of

airborne hazardous substances. Part three:
emission rate of a real specified pollutant. Bench
test method using the real pollutant.

EN 1093-4

Safety of machinery. Evaluation of the emission of

airborne hazardous substances. Part four: capture
efficiency of an exhaust system. Tracer method.

EN 1127-1

Explosive atmospheres. Explosion prevention and

protection. Basic concepts and methodology.

EN 1299

Mechanical vibration and shock. Vibration isolation

of machines. Information for the application of
source isolation.

prEN 12622

Hydraulic press brakes. Safety.

prEN 31690-1 Acoustics. Noise control. Guidelines for the design

of low-noise workplaces. Part 1: noise control
strategies.
prEN 50099-1 Safety of machinery. Indicating, marking and
actuating principles. Part 1: visual, audible and
tactile signals.
prEN 50099-2 Safety of machinery. Indicating, marking and
actuating principles. Part 2: marking principles.
prEN 50100-1 Safety of machinery. Electrosensitive protective
devices. Part 1: general requirements and tests.
prEN 50178

Electronic equipment for use in power installations.

prEN 50179

Power installations exceeding 1 kV AC.

EN 60073

Basic and safety principles for man-machine

interface, marking and identification. Coding
principles for indication devices and actuators.

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Standard

Standard

Description

EN 60204-1

Safety of machinery. Electrical equipment of

machines. Specification for general requirements.

EN 61069-1

Industrial-process measurement and control.

Evaluation of system properties for the purpose of
system assessment. General considerations and
methodology.

EN 61310-1

IEC 1310-1: Safety of machinery. Indication,

marking and actuation. Part 1: requirements for
visual, auditory and tactile signals.

EN 61310-2

IEC 1310-2: Safety of machinery. Indication,

marking actuation. Part 2: requirements for
marking.

EN 61496-1

Safety of machinery. Electrosensitive protective

equipment. General requirements and tests.

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