Selection of Guards as per EN ISO 14120

EN ISO 14120 is the standard that specify the guarding requirements for the manufacturer as well as the users who could in future add to the existing guards of the machine. The European standard EN ISO 14120 is titled Safety of machinery - Guards - General requirements for the design and construction of fixed and movable guards. It is highly prescriptive and descriptive as to leave the little room for interpretation for the machine builders on individual level. It came as an addition to the previous standard EN 953 and carries following provisions

  • Section 8 is then modified into section 7 titles verification of safety requirements of guards and specifically mention verification procedures outlined in Annex C. it provides a complete guide related to the selection of guards after the assessment of location of hazards in addition to providing flow chart for the ease of process. In case of unfulfilled legal gaps in manufacturing a legal action is necessitated to hold manufacturers accountable for any hazardous accident.
  • Annex B provides of the standard EN ISO 14120 provide the flown chart for the selection of guards generated by moving parts against the hazards. For instance, flow chart asks questions about the access requirement for setting, process correction and maintenance or the frequency of access per month or twelve time in the whole year etc.
  • The standard put certain conditions on the use of fixed guards such as determining if their replacement or removal is easy or not keeping n view the machinery that is built before the standard is published
  • The selection criteria of the type of guards as implied by Section 6 of the standard depends on
  1. The use or intended use of the machine
  2. The frequency and nature of access permitted
  3. The hazards associated with the machine
  4. The probability of any severity in relation to an injury by assessment of risk.
  • Another provision of the standard include misuse and defeat of guards. These provisions make a manufacturer aware of the situations in which guards could interfere with the normal functioning of machine and how an operator disable guard. This looking beyond the obvious and intended use of machine necessitated the thorough documentation of risk assessment providing a new area in which manufacturers will think more deeply about how their installations are approached and specifying requirements for guards when these are attached to a structure.
  • The consideration according to EN ISO 14120 is given to number and types of fixing, fixation to floor, assembly of movable guards and compliance with other relevant regulations
  • Section 8.5 that deals with removal of guards provide additional description on the requirements attached to the appropriate usage of tools

Though material changes are not significant in the standard yet detail is provided regarding many aspects of the guarding in machines. The description provided leaves a little room for individual and subjective interpretation and sometimes call for expert advice on assessing the regulatory requirements as described in the standard EN ISO 14120.

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