Standards Australia announces several revisions to the Australian
Standard AS 4024.1 Series – Safety of Machinery to align with global standards
and strengthen workplace safety.
The revised parts have been individually issued at this stage with the
entire standard due to be released as a 2014 version once the application guide
(part 1100) is finalised later this year.
The AS 4024.1 series provides guidelines to designers, manufacturers,
suppliers, employers and users of machinery to help reduce the risks of working
with, or near machinery.
Pilz Australia Managing Director Scott Moffat explains that the Safety
of Machinery Standard has grown in relevance over time, and has recently been adopted
as an AS/NZS Standard. The revision will closely align it with the European
machinery safety standards.
According to Mr Moffat, the revision is a logical step to continue to
update AS 4024.1 Series to European standards as they lead the world in this
area of machinery safety.
Standards Australia’s Technical Committee said the principle task of the
2014 revisions for the AS 4024.1 Series was to consider the latest
international standards and incorporate these into the original 2006 Standard.
Overall, 19 Parts have been revised (1201, 1302, 1401, 1601&2, 1604,
1701-4, 1801&3, 1901-7); two new Parts have been added (1303, 1503); and four
Parts superseded and withdrawn (1101, 1202, 1301, 1802) with the application
guide (1100) to follow.
Key changes in the Australian
Standard AS 4024.1 include:
The risk assessment approach parts 1201 & 1303 (new) have been
updated to reflect the global standards of ISO12100 (Machine Safety, General
principles of design, risk assessment and risk reduction) and ISO14121-2
(Practical examples of Risk Assessments);
A new Part 1503 that now gives the practitioner the option to design
safety related control systems using ISO13849-1 and the Performance Level (PL)
approach. Part 1501 (Category approach) remains in the standard and the option
is still open to the designer;
Parts 1602 (Interlocking Devices) and 1604 (Emergency Stop) are now both
direct text adoptions of their international standards, ISO14119 and ISO13850
respectively;
Guarding Parts 1801 (Safety Distances) and 1803 (Minimum Gaps) are also
now both direct text adoptions of their international standards, ISO13857 and
ISO13854.
Mr Moffat adds that Pilz Australia and New Zealand is well placed to assist
customers with the revised Standard, given the company’s rich European
background aided by a large number of technical experts locally and globally
who are very familiar with all the European standards.