another silo that is coming closer and closer to safety,"
says Charlie Fialkowski, process safety manager at supplier Siemens Energy
& Automation Inc., in Spring House, Pa.

“In 2004, when the ANSI/ISA 84
standard was released, it permitted an integrated safety and control solution
as long as you could quantify the level of safety was being met and maintained.  Now, five years later,
there are increasing concerns about security and how that might impact an
integrated solution particularly when these control systems are being connected
to your your business network.  This issue will have to be strongly considered when moving down the path
of an integrated solution.

"

Standards to watch

ANSI B11 is at the top of Bruce Main’s list of standards manufacturers
need to be familiar with. ANSI B11 is becoming parallel to ISO 12100 standard
on safety of machinery and provides guidance on how to perform risk
assessments, says Main, President of Ann Arbor -based Design Safety
Engineering, a consultancy that specializes in helping companies perform risk
assessments. Main, who wrote a book on risk assessments, has been involved in
writing standards and, from time to time, testifies as an expert witness when a
safety issue leads to litigation.

Under ANSI B11, every machine builder and end-user has to make sure a
risk assessment is done, says Main. End-users and machine builders have to work
together to make sure the assessment is done on a particular line, machine or
production plan.

Another standard that is getting a lot of attention is ISO 13849-1 –
which covers electronic controls and electronic control systems.

“That is a major topic of discussion,” he says. “Changes coming into effect
in 2010 introduce performance levels as opposed to categories. The challenging
part is how to demonstrate that you’ve achieved a performance level. That math
gets pretty hairy and can be very challenging. To demonstrate that you’ve
achieved a given level—that is not easy at all. Companies are trying to work
through that right now.”

The packaging machine industry also has changes on the way. ANSI/PMMI
B155.1, which is a risk assessment standard that provides a benchmark to
identify hazards, assess risks, and reduce risks to an acceptable level over
the life cycle of the packaging machinery, was published in 2006 and will begin
revision later this year.  

Finally, changes to ISO 13849, which provides safety requirements and
guidance on the principles for the design and integration of safety-related
parts of control systems, including any software, will come into effect in
Europe by 2010.

List of Safety Standards

ANSI / RIA 15.06, CAN / CSA Z434: Safety requirements for robots and
robot systems

ANSI / RIA15.06, CAN / CSA Z434: Safety requirements for robots and
robot systems

ANSI B11.2008: General safety requirements for
machinery.

ANSI B11.19: Performance criteria for the design,
construction, care and operation of safeguarding

ANSI B11.TR3: Risk Assessment and risk reduction – A
guide to estimate, evaluate and reduce risks associated with machine
tools.

ANSI B11.TR6: Safety control systems for machine
tools

IEC 60204-1: Safety of electrical equipment

IEC 61326-3-1: EMC and functional machinery

IEC 61508: Functional Safety (basic standard)

IEC 61511: Standards for fire & gas systems

IEC 62061:  Safety of machinery -- Functional safety of safety-related
electrical, electric and programmable electronic control systems.

IEC61131-6: Safety for PLCs

IEC61496: Safety

IEC61800-5-2: Safety function for drives

ISO 12100-1 and -2: Safety of machinery – principles for
design

ISO 13849-1, -2: Safety related parts of machinery
(SRPCS)

ISO 14121: Safety of machinery – principles of
risk assessment.

NFPA79 (2006) : Electrical Standard for Industrial
Machinery

Additional Organizations and Links

American National Standards Institute
(ANSI)
www.ansi.org

Association for Manufacturing Technology
(AMT)
www.amtonline.org

European Norm (EN)
www.cenelec.org

International Electrotechnical Commission
(IEC)
www.iec.ch

 

International Society of Automation (ISA)
www.isa.org

National Fire Protection Association
(NFPA)
www.nfpa.org

Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA)
www.osha.gov

Packaging Machinery Manufacturers
Institute (PMMI)

www.pmmi.org

Robotics
Industries Association (RIA)
www.robotics.org

SafetyBase.com
www.safetybase.com