Automation Canada Machine Safety Issue - 16

THE NEW MACHINE SAFETY LIFECYCLE
BY LEONARDO SÁNCHEZ | Leonardo.sanchez@wieland-electric.com
A decrease in productivity is one of the worst myths when
implementing safety solutions for industrial machinery. Then, why do
we still hear about it? The reason is very simple, companies implement
risk mitigation techniques without following the right process known as
the due diligence. Most companies implement risk mitigation
techniques based on their engineering best practice or experience, this
is part of the process, but we need to follow what is known as the
" Machine Safety Life Cycle " .
The key players in the " Machine Safety Life Cycle " are the safety
regulations and the safety standards for industrial machinery; therefore,
following up-to-date standards that cover and align with the life cycle of
a machine or production line, combined with an appropriate design
and state-of-the-art technology available nowadays, provides all the
necessary tools to ensure an adequate balance between safety and
productivity. Even in most cases safety solutions increase productivity,
and machine availability.
The " Machine Safety Life Cycle " starts with an appropriate machine
safety concept, followed by an adequate risk assessment and defining
the proper functional safety requirement that leads to a suitable design
(which must be verified). Then comes the installation and validation of
the machine functional safety solution to ensure that we have properly
met the requirements of the risk assessment and, finally, to ensure
compliance, we have to define maintenance of the machine along with
the appropriate way to management of changes (MOC) made to the
machine functional safety system.

C A N A D I A N A U TO M AT I O N

Each country or region has its own standards and regulations for
machine safety; however, these standards and regulations tend to have
global consistency. Machine manufacturers and manufacturers of safety
function devices are looking to provide equipment that can be used
worldwide by companies with global presence without having to make
significant modifications to comply with the standards and regulations
from a specific country. This is where international standards mainly
from organizations such as ISO and IEC take effect. In addition, regional
organizations such as OSHA, ANSI, NFPA are included and they also
seek to have global harmonization.

©Wieland Electric Inc.
www.wieland-safety.com

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 6

16
https://www.wieland-electric.ca/ http://www.wieland-safety.com
Automation Canada Machine Safety Issue

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