3 Fundamentals of press design

Press safety and certification
without their own additions. A series of directives was issued relating to
the characteristic requirements of technical products. For machine tool
manufacture, the directives listed in Table 3.6.1 together with the end
of the transitional period are of particular importance.
The EC Machine Directive (ECMD) 89/392/EEC establishes the major
health and safety requirements imposed on machines. Thus it is the
most important directive for the machine manufacturer and was converted
into national German law by the 9 th decree relating to the Appliance
Safety Act. The product liability law, which has been in effect since
November 15, 1989, was derived from the EC Directive on Harmonization
of Product Liability Legislation. Both the EC directives and EC
decrees are based on harmonized EN standards formulated on behalf of
the Commission and published in the EC Official Bulletin after harmonization.
These standards allow the machine manufacturers to comply
with the relevant directives. The manufacturers can, but are not obliged
to, comply with the standards. The manufacturer can have recourse
to the presumption that the requirements of the directive are fulfilled
by application of the harmonized standards.
In the standards, concrete solutions are put forward for achievement
of the prescribed safety standard: safety grilles on presses, for example,
are required to have a closing force of no more than 150 N. Otherwise, a
danger of crushing exists which can, however, also be avoided through
the use of a contact strip. In case of failure to comply with a harmonized
Table 3.6.1: European standards
Directive Content Valid without restriction from
89/392 ECMD 1/1/95
93/68 Amendment to ECMD (Identification) 1/1/95
93/44 Amendment to ECMD (Safety components) 1/1/97
91/368 Amendment to ECMD 1/1/95
87/404 Simple pressure vessels to 30 bar 1/1/93
89/336 Electromagnetic compatibility 1/1/96
73/23 Low voltage directive 1/1/97
86/188 Machine noise 1/1/90
89/655 Operating resources directive 1/1/97
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