Safety in Automation Industry

Question: Discuss about theSafety in Automation Industry. Answer: Introduction The EU safety directives are the legislative laws and directive that are applicable to all the member state of the European counties. The application of the EU safety directives helps in outlining the essential and minimum safety requirements required for the particular product. Gouldson and Murphy (2013) claimed that the EU directives helps in providing the policies and objectives that helps in focusing on the health and safety at the work environment. This work aims to analyze the various directives that have been set by the European Union for maintaining the safety standards of the automation industry and its machinery which doesnt only help in maintained standard products but helps in giving the staffs a better environment to work in. Review of Current EU Safety Directives Directives are the official or the authoritative instructions that are provided for the safety and the upkeep of the workers in the factory. The treaty that have been formulated is has to be followed by the member nation which ensures safety and health at the place of the work. The directives that are set by EU serve the base guideline and the member countries can adopt stricter rules to ensure better environment (Osha.europa.eu 2016). The industrial machinery and automation system is one of the major sectors in the engineering industry. Rademaeker et al. (2014) claimed that the industrial machinery is composed of several of assembled components that are required to joined together. So the machinery directives set the basic requirements for the manufacturers dealers of the equipments and the machineries and the importers who want to place their equipments in the EU markets. European Directives Industrial Machinery Machinery or the machines are the important part of the plants and involves one or more moving components which are assembled to serve some specific purpose or application. The machineries operate with the power derived from alternate mean against the previously used human of the animal forces (Hse.gov.uk 2016). There have been various standards that have been laid out by the EU which offers advantages like free movement of the machineries and better environment for the workers of the plants. Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC is one of the significant machinery legislation that governs the harmonization of the safety and health requirements for EU level machinery. According to food safety department, this particular directive helps in promoting the machinery movement within a particular market and ensures the maximum safety of the workers of the factory and the citizen of the EU (Food Safety 2016). This directive is relatively new and hence is designed to promote harmonization among the standards through the standards for safety and health. The authorization is applicable only for the machinery that is placed for the first time in the market. Low Voltage Directive 2014/35/EU The low voltage directives were well set and adopted by the EU even before the global directives were set and serve as the single market directive for the EU. Since the directives are broader and for the regulation of the safety, it is accepted in all the countries of the EU, it should be understood that the directives are not any standard but are the guidelines for production of the safe products. The directive takes cares of the electrical equipments which fall under certain range that are new to the market (Maynard 2015). The directive ensures high level of security of the user of the products and ensures fair competition in the market. Safety Standards Safety standards are the benchmarks that are formulated by the government or the authorizing body for safety of both the product and the user of the product. The safety standards of the place ensure the various chemical, environmental and the physical hazards that are existent in the factory. Hence to ensure the safety various protections like clothing, practices, hygiene, equipments etc. Basic Safety Standards I.S. EN ISO 12100:2010 The main aim of this standard is to provide, manufacturers and the designers of the machinery, the framework and the needed guidance for the development of the safe machinery based on the usage. The standard has three basic types. Type A is the basic standards concerning the safety, and gives concepts, designs, and the general aspect which can be used for manufacturing the machinery. Type B is more generic compared to the previous type and deal with only one type of parameter in various machinery, like temperature or interlocking, etc. Type C is the safety standards for the machines which details the safety of the machinery or the facility (Fryman and Matthias 2012). Machinery Standards The standardization is the act of creating a basic benchmark for the maintenance of the uniformity of the various factors and the parameters in a process. In case of the machine standards the framework acts as the basis of maintaining the desired uniform output and the safety so that the machinery doesnt create harm to the environment and the staffs working on them (Chinniah 2015). The following frameworks act as a mean of developing eh desired standard for the machines. 2.2.2.1 I.S. EN ISO 13849-1/2 These guidelines regarding the automatic machines provide the basic principles for designing and integrating the parts into the system that are related to the control system and hence contains both the hardware and the software components. Since system deals with the basic framework and the design guideline, it doesnt incorporate the performance level for the safety (Matsumoto and Iida 2014). The ISO 13849 provides the guidelines for and the requirements for the PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices). 2.2.2.2 I.S. EN 62061, I.S. EN 60204 EN 60261 is meant for the machinery which are running on a controller which controls the various aspect of the device using the electronic controllers which needs minimal human interface. Hence the system is designed for the optimum security that can be attained using an electronic control system and hence is relevant to the present structure of the factory for less complex functionality. En 60204 deals with the various standards that are related to the wiring of the machinery and the electrical equipments that are connected to the machines. The standard also deals with the fabrication techniques that are related to the semiconductors. So this standard decides whether the machinery that is being used in the facility is electrically safe (Frost 2016). But the standard doesnt deal with the power circuitry which is responsible for the controlling the working tools of the machine. 2.2.2.3 I.S. EN 614 1/2 EN 614-1 is more general safety principle as it deals with the safety of the machinery and the ergonomic principles that are related to the design, its terminologies and the principles that are related to it. Hence the standard deals with the occupational safety, working conditions, quality, etc. EN 614-2 is more dedicated and deals in the same sector as of the EN 614-1. So the standards deal with ergonomics and the interaction between the designed machinery and the tasks (Nlfnorm.cz 2016). 2.2.2.4 IEC/ISO 17305 IEC/ISO 17305 is recent development and deals with the aspects that are a merger between EN ISO 13849 and IEC 62061 which has been previously described. This new standard will deal with the functional safety of the plant and the machinery that are installed in a facility and the steps and the measures that will be taken to ensure the functional safety. So it can be understood that the new standard will deal with all the aspects of the plant safety and the design. The aim of this standard is make the system simpler compared to the previous ones which are more distributed (RockwellAutomation.com 2016). Hence the advantages of the system will be one international standard, no change in the procedures for standardization and clearer and simpler format. Product Specific Standards SGS Ireland is a leader in testing, verification and the certification company who have developed standards for the checking the packaging of the medicinal products. The developed standard is ISO 15378. This standard deal with the standard for the packaging material for the medicinal products. For providing the certification the organization scrutinizes the whole operation which identifies the weaknesses and the need of improvement and the strengths of the company (Sgs.com 2016). During the test the company keeps in mind the various legalities, scopes for reduction of the risks and identification of the areas of improvement. Conclusion In this work the various aspects of the safety standards that have been chalked out by the various safety standards have been discussed in detail for a better understanding of the subject. For the discussion, the various machines directives and the low voltage directive have been discussed for reviewing the current EU directives and the standards for the automation systems and the various industrial machineries. The European directives which consists of the machinery directives and the low voltage directives have been presented and in the following sections, several standards related to the automation industry and the machinery have been presented in details. Finally in the last segment the product specific standard for the packing in medicine industry have been discussed. References Chinniah, Y., 2015. Analysis and prevention of serious and fatal accidents related to moving parts of machinery.Safety science,75, pp.163-173. De Rademaeker, E., Suter, G., Pasman, H.J. and Fabiano, B., 2014. A review of the past, present and future of the European loss prevention and safety promotion in the process industries.Process Safety and Environmental Protection,92(4), pp.280-291. 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[online] Available at: https://www.rockwellautomation.com/global/news/the-journal/detail.page?pagetitle=Safety-Standard-IEC%2FISO-17305-Merger-Project-Haltedcontent_type=magazinedocid=2085d4775ba3d67f8c542e35fd8300d1 [Accessed 30 Nov. 2016]. Sgs.com. (2016). ISO 15378 - Certification - Primary Packaging Materials for Medicinal Products | Life Sciences | SGS. [online] Available at: https://www.sgs.com/en/life-sciences/pharmaceutical-services/audit-certification-and-verification/safety/iso-15378-certification-primary-packaging-materials-for-medicinal-products [Accessed 30 Nov. 2016].