Keeping a machine in a stopped condition while persons are present in danger zones is one of the most important conditions of the safe use of machinery and hence one of the major aims of the machine designer and machine user.
BS EN 1037 specifies built-in safety measures aimed at preventing unexpected machine start-up to allow safe human interventions in danger zones.
Machine automation has made the relationship between "operating" and "moving" on the one hand, and "stopped" and "at rest" on the other hand, more difficult to define. Automation has also increased the potential for unexpected start-up, and there are a significant number of accidents where machines, stopped for diagnostic work or corrective actions, started up unexpectedly.
Hazards other than mechanical hazards generated by movable elements (e.g. from a laser beam) also need to be taken into account.
The risk assessment relating to the presence of persons in a danger zone of a stopped machine needs to take into account the probability of an unexpected start-up of the hazard-generating machine elements.
BS EN 1037 provides machine designers and technical committees in charge of preparing machinery safety standards with a survey of built-in measures intended to prevent unexpected start-up.
BS EN 1037 applies to unexpected start-up from all types of energy source, including:
- Power supply, e.g. electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic
- Stored energy due to, e.g., gravity, compressed springs
- External influences, e.g. from wind.
BS EN 1037:1995+A1:2008 supersedes BS EN 1037:1995 which is withdrawn.
