Safety of machinery. Risk assessment - Principles

BS EN ISO 14121-1:2007 Safety of machinery. Risk assessment. Principles

BS EN ISO 14121 Part 1 establishes the general principles intended to be used to meet the risk reduction objectives established in BS EN ISO 12100-1:2003, Clause 5. These principles of risk assessment bring together knowledge and experience of the design, use, incidents, accidents, and harm related to machinery in order to assess the risks posed during the relevant phases of the life cycle of a machine.

BS EN ISO 14121-1 provides guidance on the information that will be required to enable risk assessment to be carried out. Procedures are described for identifying hazards and estimating and evaluating risk.

It also gives guidance on the making of decisions relating to the safety of machinery and on the type of documentation required to verify the risk assessment carried out. It is not applicable to risks posed to domestic animals, property, or the environment.

Contents of BS EN ISO 14121-1 include:

• Foreword

• Introduction

• Scope

• Normative references

• Terms and definitions

• General principles

• Basic concepts

• Information for risk assessment

• Determination of limits of machinery

• General

• Use limits

• Space limits

• Time limits

• Other limits

• Hazard identification

• Risk estimation

• Elements of risk

• Aspects to be considered during risk estimation

• Risk evaluation

• Achievement of adequate risk reduction

• Comparison of risks

• Documentation

• Examples of hazards, hazardous situations, and hazardous events

• Bibliography

This part of ISO 14121 gives guidance for decisions related to the design of machinery and will assist in the preparation of consistent and appropriate type-B and type-C standards so that machines can be produced that are safe for their intended use in accordance with the methodology given in ISO 12100.

It also contains separate tables, examples of hazards, hazardous situations, and hazardous events, so as to clarify these concepts and assist the designer in the process of hazard identification.

BS EN ISO 14121-1 can be incorporated in training courses and manuals where appropriate to give basic instruction on risk assessment.

BS EN ISO 14121-1:2007 replaces BS EN 1050:1997, which has been withdrawn.