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Standards
Reducing accident risks
Plants and machinery are the engine of the economy. In spite of high industrialisation and automation, people operate these installations today and certainly also tomorrow. People may be injured or even die at work. That risk has to be minimised.
New European safety philosophy
The latest version of the European Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC) clearly states that the social cost of accidents “can be reduced by inherently safe design and construction of machinery”.
That is the fundamental philosophy of European standardisation in the field of plant and machinery engineering. Austria, being a member of the EU and the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), applies that approach in around 600 standards.
Comparison of old and new rules in Austria
The Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC is a milestone and is implemented in all the EU Member States. The Austrian Standards Institute prepared a document presenting the German, English and French versions in parallel and drew up a comparison of the old and new text. Together with their European partners, Austrian experts currently make intensive efforts to adapt the related standards as the new Machinery Directive has to be implemented by the end of 2009.
For further details and information on current developments, please see the thematic portal
"Mechanical engineering and plant engineering"
on the Website of the Austrian Standards Institute.
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