Conformity Magazine- May 2008 - (Page 25) any machine tools are manufactured and placed into service in the United States. Unfortunately, many of these machines are placed into service without meeting the legally required safety approvals for industrial machinery. In great measure, this is due to the fragmented system of enforcement which characterizes the machinery safety field in the U.S. However, it is also due to the presence in the United States of NRTL-approved “panel shops.” Many enforcement authorities, manufacturers, and users of machinery misunderstand a panel shop approval, and therefore fail to enforce the overall machinery safety requirements. Legal Requirements for Machinery Approval by an NRTL Legal requirements for machinery begin at the federal level. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA, the federal agency responsible for regulating machinery used in the workplace) has defined types of products that require evaluation to published safety standards in order to be legally used in U.S. workplaces. OSHA defines types of equipment that require approval by an NRTL (Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory)1. This list includes electrical conductors or equipment2. All machine tools that are electrical equipment (e.g., they receive electrical power or generate electrical power for on-board use) are thus included, and require approval by an NRTL. State workplace safety agencies, as well as county, and municipal authorities, typically follow OSHA requirement by requiring electrical products to be approved before the product may be used in workplaces within the jurisdiction. These authorities, who enforce safety requirements for specific locations, are referred to as AHJs (authorities having jurisdiction). The AHJ commonly looks to the National Electrical Code (NEC, published as the standard NFPA-70) for guidance on how to enforce NRTL approval requirements. The NEC, in article 100, defines an approved product as “acceptable to the authority having jurisdiction.” In light of the requirement by OSHA at the federal level, NRTL approval is the basis of acceptance by the AHJ. The NEC also defines how an AHJ may recognize that a particular piece of equipment has been approved by an NRTL. The NEC defines two methods of identification, “listed” and “labeled.” Listed is defined, in the NEC article 100, as: “Equipment, materials, or services included in a list published by an organization that is acceptable to the authority having jurisdiction and concerned with evaluation of products or services, that maintains periodic inspection of production of listed equipment or materials or periodic evaluation of services, and whose listing states that the equipment, material, or services either meets appropriate designated standards or has been tested and found suitable for a specified purpose.” M http://www.atecorp.com http://www.atecorp.com
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