The Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 contain detailed requirements for the design, manufacture and supply of safe new machinery to the UK market. Within the regulation there are essential health and safety requirements (EHSR) that lay down the minimum conformity criteria. While the use of standards is not mandatory, if a standard is applied correctly, conformance with the relevant EHSRs of the regulation may be presumed. They therefore represent the surest way to ensure conformance. However, the end user must still ensure that the equipment complies with the regulations, is in fact safe when putting into use for the first time, and remains safe thereafter.
Machinery must be able to satisfy the EHSRs for any corresponding hazard which may apply to it. The EHSR requirements are wide-ranging, taking into account potential dangers to operators and other persons who may be at risk.
A typical example of an EHSR is the requirement to provide adequate warning labels to residual hazards such as moving parts that cannot be completely guarded which could come into contact with a body part of the machine user.
However, as technologies often move more quickly than the standards trying to catch up with them, it may not be possible to meet all the objectives set by EHSRs. With this in mind, the machinery must be designed and constructed with the purpose of approaching these objectives.
RISK ASSESSMENT
The preferred way to comply with EHSRs is by risk assessment and the application of designated standards. Risk assessment is therefore a vital step in ensuring compliance and a fundamental starting point for designers of machinery under the Machinery (Safety) Regulations. Some useful references include the standard BS EN ISO 12100 Safety of machinery – General principles for design – Risk assessment and risk reduction, which defines risk assessment as ‘a series of logical steps to enable, in a systematic way, the analysis and evaluation of the risks associated with machinery.’
The standard goes on: “Risk assessment is followed, whenever necessary, by risk reduction. Iteration of this process can be necessary to eliminate hazards as far as practicable and to adequately reduce risks by the implementation of protective measures.”
A risk assessment must therefore be carried out to examine any potential hazards associated with the machinery. This provides information for a risk evaluation in which a decision is made on the safety of that machinery, so that risks can be reduced where necessary.
According to BS EN ISO 12100 , the first step in the risk assessment process is to identify anything that has the potential to cause harm. Secondly, an assessment must be made of the likelihood of a person coming into contact with these hazards and how much damage it would cause.
Examples of hazards that have the potential to do harm include crushing due to moving elements, electrical shock or electrocution due to faulty parts which become live and permanent hearing loss due to prolonged exposure to noise caused by stamping of parts.
A risk assessment would normally be carried out for each hazard identified. Control measures can then be applied to mitigate the risk using the hierarchy of risk control. Once these have been implemented, the situation is reassessed to ensure that they provide an adequate level of safety. The process is repeated until an adequate level of safety which is reasonably practicable is achieved.
The technical file for a machine will prove due diligence and provide the evidence of compliance. However, it does not have to include detailed information such as the sub-assemblies of the machine, unless a knowledge of them is essential for verification and compliance with the EHSRs.
The technical file must remain available for inspection by a competent national authority, such as the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), for a period of ten years after the last type of that machine was placed onto the market. One of the items that a technical file must contain is the risk assessment documentation demonstrating the procedure followed. This must include a list of the EHSRs which apply to the machinery, and a description of the protective measures implemented to eliminate identified hazards, or to reduce the risks to a reasonably practical level, and an indication of any residual risks and subsequent controls put into place. The technical file can be a traditional paper file or stored electronically, with hyperlinks to documents, and it must be updated as the product is adapted.
OWNERS’ RESPONSIBILITIES
The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER), applies to all work equipment regardless of its age, including equipment that carries a CE or UKCA mark. PUWER describes what an employer needs to do to protect employees in the workplace. It is therefore their responsibility to ensure that all new machinery meets the requirements of The Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 and PUWER 98. Risk assessments are fundamental to any health and safety process and in particular machinery safety; guidance on carrying out risk assessments can be found in many places. EN ISO 12100 is the main standard for risk assessment for machinery as it sets down the principles for the process (see box). Other guidance can be found within HSG 129, particularly HSE details around ‘key safety measures’ for certain types of workshop machinery.
For new machinery, to immediately identify any issues, a thorough and correct risk assessment and inspection should be completed before it goes into operation for the first time. Problems can then be rectified with the manufacturer, so that neither it nor the machinery owner no longer run the risk of a prosecution under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, due to noncompliance with the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations or/and PUWER.
For modifications of existing machinery, the HSE states that very substantial changes may amount to being considered a ‘new’ machine (or new assembly), for which conformity assessment is required. Even with non-substantial changes to machinery, adds the HSE, the owner must still ensure that it continues to meet PUWER demands.
In a risk assessment process, the first step is to identify anything that has the potential to cause harm. Secondly, an assessment must be made of the likelihood of a person coming into contact with these hazards and how much injury it would cause. Examples of hazards that have the potential to do harm include a manipulating robot, an automated guided vehicle, rotating machinery (lathes, drills, milling machines and so on), a moving conveyor and a pallet wrapper.
PRELIMINARY HAZARD ANALYSIS
A risk assessment would normally be carried out for each machine. The preliminary hazard analysis (PHA) method uses a hazard rating number system. Referencing a table, the most appropriate phrase that applies to the hazard is chosen. The corresponding score results in a hazard rating number (HRN), which indicates the level of risk. The PHA takes into consideration the likelihood of a person or persons coming into contact with a hazard, the degree of possible harm that could be caused, the frequency of exposure and the number of people at risk at the same time.
Once control measures (see box) have been implemented, a re-assessment must then be carried out to ensure that they provide an adequate level of safety and to ensure no secondary hazards have been introduced. The process is repeated until an adequate level of safety is achieved.
ONGOING CHECKS
Section 6 of PUWER requires that inspections must be conducted ‘at suitable intervals’ if machines are exposed to conditions that may lead to deterioration. In reality, every machine is exposed to conditions that may lead to deterioration, so the requirement effectively means that they must all be regularly inspected at some point. The function of a work equipment risk assessment is to identify those components that could deteriorate and identify how often they should be inspected, how they should be inspected and by whom.
Although risk assessments must therefore be conducted conscientiously and at appropriate intervals, we still visit sites that simply forget and haven’t taken any action for five years or more.
The answer here is to set up an internal process, overseen by an individual who ensures risk assessments are carried out according to an agreed schedule. Creating an internal procedure in this way successfully integrates risk assessment into the everyday working practices. Taking this simple approach ensures that work equipment risk assessments are swiftly integrated into the everyday working practices of an organisation and are never neglected.
PUWER requires that the persons who determine the nature of the assessments, and carry them out, should be competent to do so. While the exact definition of a competent person is not currently regulated, the HSE definition is: “Someone who has sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities that allow them to assist you properly. The level of competence required will depend on the complexity of the situation and the particular help you need.”
The machinery risk assessment process can be complex and, once completed, may result in significant changes to the workplace environment. However, the failures we see on site are often due to a lack of appropriate internal expertise or the lack of physical on-site resource to do an in-depth and correct assessment of all machinery.
A decision to ‘make do’ or not invest in the appropriate expertise could result in expensive fines, reputational risk or worse still, a fatality to a machinery user or other person on the premises.
BOX: THE RIGHT PROCEDURE
BS EN ISO 12100 outlines a hazard analysis/risk assessment procedure:
determination of the limits of the machinery hazard identification risk estimation risk evaluation.
BOX: CONTROL MEASURES
Once a preliminary hazard analysis has been carried out, control measures can then be applied to mitigate the risk. They include:
Design the hazard out Remove the need for a man-machine interface Design in safeguards Reduce the possibility of occurrence Reduce the degree of harm Warn and inform machine operators (but only if you can achieve adequate safety).