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FIRE SAFETY T
he Health and Safety Executive states that most fires are preventable and that those responsible for workplaces can avoid them by taking
responsibility for and adopting the right behaviours.
ISO 19353:2019 - Safety of Machinery -
Fire Prevention and Fire Protection defines fire’ as: “Independent combustion, which can occur as controlled combustion or as uncontrolled combustion.” The standard is directly relevant to machinery manufacturers, and health and safety bodies, such as the Health & Safety Executive in the UK. However, it is vital that purchasers and end users of machinery understand their machinery supplier’s responsibilities when it comes to designing and producing machinery with fire prevention and protection in mind. This includes employers, employees, in-house maintenance staff or a maintenance service provider. As a designated standard (B-Type), ISO 19353 satisfies the relevant essential safety requirements (ESRs) where the relevant hazards have been identified during the design risk assessment stage. Compliance with it therefore gives a ‘presumption of conformity’ with the Machinery Directive in the EU, and The Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations for the UK. Products demonstrate their compliance by having a CE marking (EU) or UKCA mark (GB) affixed by the manufacturer and the drawing up of a Declaration of Conformity. ISO 19353:2019 is the third edition and has therefore replaced the previous edition, ISO 19353: 2015. The updates from the previous edition are not significant and include:
Old Annexes A and B have become Annexes D and A, respectively.
A new Annex B covers an example of a methodology for selecting and qualifying a fire detection and fire suppression system.
The language in old Annex D has been improved and it is now Annex E.
The old Annex E (fire risk reduction measures) has been deleted.
ISO 19353 is a type B1 standard as stated within ISO 12100. This means that it relates to specific safety aspects of machines, describes general safety aspects and provides relevant solutions, such as the design of appropriate controls. Type B1 and B2 standards are laterally interlinked, but type B2 standards relate to specific products, such as EN 13850 (Emergency stop function - Principles for design). They include notes
on the design and testing of safety components, which both the product manufacturer and machine designer must take into account.
ISO 19353 therefore specifies methods for identifying the fire hazards presented by machinery and the methods for performing an appropriate risk assessment. It includes fire protection measures for the design and manufacture of machinery. It also gives the basic concepts and methodology of protective measures for fire prevention and protection to be taken during the design and construction of machinery. The measures consider the intended use, as well as the reasonably foreseeable misuse of the machine. The third area that must be considered for machinery safety against fire, in addition to prevention and protection, is the means of firefighting, which includes fire detection. Overall, this would include the technical, structural, organisational and fire suppression measures to be considered, and can it be implemented through a single measure or a combination of measures.
8 MAY/JUNE 2023 | INDUSTRIAL COMPLIANCE
By Darren Hugheston- Roberts, head of Machinery Safety at TÜV SÜD, a global product testing and certification organisation.
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