HEALTH & SAFETY


Photo: Messe Düsseldorf/ctillmann T he European M Machinery Directive is


probably the most important set of machine safety regulations; it is currently being


reviewed. The EU Commission is planning a new version. However, the messages emerging from the Commission are causing unease among companies and associations alike. The underlying objectives of the review, such as adapting to technical progress, may find broad agreement, yet the devil, as so often, lies in the detail. This applies in particular to machine tools. How the safety design of machines can be further improved in the face of changing market conditions is the main focus of the Safety Day, which the VDW (German Machine Tool Builders’ Association) is staging on 10 March at the Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre as part of the METAV trade fair (9 to 11 March 2020). The currently valid Machinery Directive from 2006 is commonly reckoned to have had a positive effect on the industry. It has made a significant contribution to harmonising security standards and thus to generating added value within the European Union. For Eberhard Beck, head of control technology at the machine tool manufacturer Index-Werke and member of VDW Working Group 3, “Safety Technology”, it is clear that it is only possible to develop effective and productive machines if manufacturers are aware of and can document all technical properties and functions through measurements and analyses. This also includes machine safety. Distinctive selling


features can then be developed for the market and successfully communicated. Beck’s position is clear: “I take a positive overall view of high safety


the German machine tool industry.” 14 C


CONTINUOUS INCREASES IN The VDW is the lobbying body for the German


CONTINUOUS INCREA SES IN SAFETY


machine tool industry. It has developed a strategy for promoting understanding of standardisation processes regarding the practical aspects specific to machine tools. This is not always an easy task, as experts are now discovering with regard to the revised version of the Machinery Directive. A further aim is to address key machine tool safety issues together with experts from member companies, suppliers and customers and thus continuously raise industry standards – including through standardisation. “Safety is not a characteristic, but a process,” points out Dr. Alexander Broos, head of the Research and Technology Department at the VDW. “Constant counter-checking, rethinking and thinking ahead,” are needed in order to achieve high (personal) safety levels in the handling of machines, confirms Eberhard Beck. Any machine- related accident or near-accident that is reported must be scrutinised and assessed in a safety- conscious manner in order to make any necessary improvements. Only then is it possible to steadily increase machine safety and ensure that the simultaneous occurrence of multiple unforeseen hazardous situations can be controlled from a personal safety viewpoint.” This prompted Eberhard Beck to commit himself to the field of safety technology within the VDW. Contributing to the working group enables the participants to pool their experience and for the group to serve as a catalyst, he claims.


levels and do not regard them as a disadvantage for SCIENTIFIC SUPPORT INDISPENSABLE


FEBRUARY 2020 | FA2020 | FACTORY&HANDL NGSOLUT ONS ORY&HANDLINGSOLI UTIONSI with VDW safety ex xpert Heinrich Mödden at the


end of January to promote a proposal for the dimensioning of protective devices on grinding machines. “The basis of the problem was that the previous interpretation was totally overblown and scarcely implementable,” says Adler. This led to the standard simply being ignored in practice. The BGHM’s own study proved that the enclosure does not have to be particularly sturdy, as it can even warp without losing its protective effect. Christian Adler will present the resulting proposal at the METAV Safety Day. He takes the following view: “It makes no sense to demand perfect protective features if practical or economic factors then prevent the machines from being built.”


COST EFFECTIVENESS AS THE BASIC PREMISE


Of course, economic considerations have top priority when it comes to designing a machine. “First and foremost, a machine has to do what it was purchased for,” is how Dr. Alexander Broos describes the customer’s viewpoint, “and it has to be cost-effective.” The balancing act between market and safety requirements changes “on a daily basis,” the VDW expert explains. Calls for higher safety standards in European products are often heard following an accident caused by an imported, non-standard machine. The fact that the reform of the Machinery Directive is to include cybersecurity and artificial intelligence has injected new urgency into the whole debate. The aim of reflecting technical progress might be understandable, yet Broos believes that aspects such as process optimisation through digitalisation and machine safety should be kept fundamentally separate.


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