It’s easy to say that the process is a puzzle, but what steps should be taken to ensure compliance with safety legislation?

Risk Assessment
Risk Assessment can be viewed as the base point for all current safety issues and indeed the process of CE Marking itself. Its importance is shown by the fact that standards have been written regarding this process. It is not only the start point of the process of machine building, but also an integral element of the entire project. The actual type of risk assessment (and there are several to choose from) is not the issue. More important is that the actual process is undertaken thoroughly and at all stages of a project, especially at the design stage.

For the machine user, risk assessment has to be carried out as part of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER). Regulation 6 of PUWER states:

(1) Every employer shall ensure that, where the safety of work equipment depends on the installation conditions, it is inspected:-

a. After installation and before being put into service for the first time.
b. After assembly at a new site or in a new locationto ensure that it has been installed correctly and is safe to operate.

(2) Every employer shall ensure that work equipment exposed to conditions causing deterioration which is liable to result in dangerous situations is inspected:-

a. At suitable intervals; and
b. Each time that exceptional circumstances which are liable to jeopardize the safety of work equipment have occurredto ensure that health and safety conditions are maintained and that any deterioration can be detected and remedied.

Remedial Work
Following on from your regular inspections and risk assessments, it is likely that remedial work will have to be carried out. This may be as simple as reattaching guarding that is loose. However, it could also be installing a new Emergency Stop system.

Sign off
Following the remedial work being carried out, the risk assessments that highlighted problems must be looked at again, and hopefully signed off as complete. All of this needs to be carried out on all pieces of equipment (machines) that occur in a plant. What is needed is an effective solution, to simplify the entire process.

The Solution


To simplify the above process, 2 of the UK’s safety suppliers have come together to provide a Complete Solution.

Laidler Associates have been specializing in Risk Assessment and CE Marking services since the company was formed in 1998. Prior to this, all Laidler engineers had been working with CE compliance issues since the legislation came into force in 1993. They won the Services category of the 2001 Tees Valley Business Awards.

Safety Systems Technology Ltd provide electrical safety solutions, and can supply and fit a range of safety products such as guards, light curtains, emergency stops and switches. Together, the two companies can project manage compliance issues from assessment to sign off, completing the jigsaw puzzle that is machinery safety.