Sharing knowledge

The Machinery Safety Alliance is a new, non-profit collaboration between Festo, Fortress Interlocks, Pilz Automation Technology, Troax, UK Engineering, and Werma, each of whom will provide expertise from their own field to help machine builders and users make sense of safety, and safeguard productivity.

With the withdrawal of EN 954-1 at the end of 2011, EN ISO 13849 becomes the most widely used standard for the design, verification and validation of safety related parts of control systems. It states that electromechanical, non-electrical (eg hydraulic, pneumatic, mechanical), complex electronic (programmable) and combinations of all the technologies are within its scope.

Any component within the realms of these technologies can play a part in safety with the proviso that reliability data (in the form of a B10d, MTTFd or PFH) can be found for it. In addition to components which contribute to functional safety, other components essential in machinery safety include guards and signalling devices.

Collectively, as suppliers of safe pneumatics, trapped key, key exchange, solenoid locks, interlock switches, safety relays, safety PLCs, non-contact switches, RFID switches, light curtains, safe 3D vision, safe automation, safe motion, guard systems, signalling components and systems, members of the Alliance have committed to providing shared knowledge of these technologies in accordance with what will become the de facto functional safety standard and other relevant standards.