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Abstract:
The number of machinery accidents, which occur regularly show how difficult it is for machines
and systems to operate safely. This problem is compounded by the fact that issues relating to the
design are specific to particular situations: companies modernise in phases, which means that
technologies of different generations co-exist at different levels of sophistication. Work activities
are diverse and varying and the demands on operators to be multi-functional have increased.
The European Union EU introduced a New Approach to Technical Harmonisation and
Standards aimed at integrating safety at the design stage. The Machinery Safety Directive is one
of the Directives and sets out Essential Health and Safety Requirements EHSRs for machinery
which must be met before machinery is placed on the market anywhere within the EU.
EHSRs are expressed in general terms and it is intended that the European Harmonised
Standards should fill in the detail so that machinery designers and suppliers have clear guidance
on how to achieve conformity with the Directive and to integrate safety at the design stage.
This has fundamentally changed the approach to the prevention machinery accidents in the
workplace. In the place of reactive and prescriptive legislation and standards, the EU Directives
represent a remarkable breakthrough in risk-based approach to machinery and work equipment
safety. This approach is currently proposed by ANSI (B11-TR3, 2000) for machine tools in the
USA. Research carried out at Aston (Raafat and Robert, 1999) has shown that the majority of
machinery suppliers into the UK market have failed to demonstrate compliance with the riskbased approach. This paper presents a model to assist machinery and system designers in
integrating health and safety into the design process, using the risk-based approach.
Corresponding author. Tel: +44-121-359 3611; Fax: +44-121-624 0188; e-mail: h.m.n.raafat@aston.ac.uk
1.
Introduction
2.
The concept of integrating health and safety during the machine/system design is shown in
FIGURE 1. The machine/system model is made up of subsystems, foreseeable tasks involved,
danger zones, hazards, hazardous events, modes of intervention and risk assessment. Exposure to
work hazards may constitute a significant risk if the machine designers do not adequately
consider all foreseeable needs for interventions. The basic concepts behind this model was
defined by Harani (Harani, 1997) but other concepts relating to risk assessment and compliance
with the EU harmonised transposed standards is considered by this paper.
The attributes of the machine/system safety concept are:
Machine/system: this includes name, serial number, description, raw material and finished
product. It is important to identify the machine boundary and interfaces with other systems.
Danger zone
Tasks Involved
Environment
Workplace
Sub-systems
id
id
id
id
Description
Duration of task
Personnel involved
Task description/analysis
Description/boundary
Description
Layout
name of system
Description
Functions
id
Interfaces
Layout
Applied EN Standards
Hazards
id
Hazard type, e.g.
Mechanical, electrical, ..
Machine/System
id
id
Name
Serial number
Review
Source of hazard
Activity type
Hazardous event
Review
Description
Raw materials
Cause
Severity/consequences
Risk level
Risk evaluation
Finished product
Boundary/interfaces
Duration of exposure
Possibility of avoidance
Risk Assessment
1,1
Review
Number exposed
Mode of intervention
Hazardous Events
id
Nature of the event
Frequency of occurrence
Cause
Tools
Working team
Consumable
id
id
id
Name of tool
Description
Name of consumable
Description
Number of members
Tasks
Experience
id
Nature of intervention
Cause
Frequency of intervention
Duration
Hazardous event: represents one of the events liable to occur either accidentally or not in the
working situation, caused by the users, the system or third parties. According to standard EN
1050 this concept is defined as an event likely to cause injury or damage.
Risk assessment: involves the probability (chance) of exposure to the harm inside the danger
zone coupled with the consequences (severity) of exposure. It also considers evaluation of
risk and whether corrective/preventive measure is needed to reduce risk to a tolerable level.
Tools: this concept represents one of the tools that can be used to ensure the correct operation
of the system in the working situation being the subject of the design.
Consumable: represents the consumable materials that are needed for the work activity.
Work Environment: this concept represents all the physical, chemical, biological,
organisational, social and cultural elements that surround a working situation inside its
working area.
3.
The global impact of risk assessment on machinery safety standards is gaining momentum.
The role of risk assessment within the European New Approach Directives and harmonised
standards is fundamental in guiding the designer through hazard analysis and evaluation of risks
to the selection of appropriate levels of integrity of health and safety measures. This essentially is
a proactive approach based on a structured and systematic method for hazard identification,
evaluation of risks and decision to reduce risks to a tolerable level. A general risk assessment
framework (Raafat, 1996) is shown in FIGURE 2.
The main elements of risk assessment are:
Define machine/system: This should include description, intended use, space and time limits
and boundaries/interfaces.
Identify hazards: These include hazards and hazardous situations considering the various
aspects of the operator-system relationship, the possible states of the machine and foreseeable
misuse. Hazards can be classified as continuing hazards, which are inherent in the machine,
material or substance; and hazardous events which can result from machine/system failures
and human error.
Analyse consequences: This primarily relates to the severity of injury and ill health as a result
of exposure to the hazard. It can also be described in terms of economic losses due to
interruption to production and asset damage or in terms of environmental damage.
Estimate/measure risks: Risk is defined as the chance (probability) of the harm being
realised combined with the consequences (severity). Risk therefore can be described in
qualitative, semi-quantitative or quantified terms. For the vast majority of industrial
machinery hazards, a semi-quantified measurement of risk is recommended.
5
/
DEFINE SYSTEM
Machine/Process
Activity
IDENTIFY
HAZARDS
CONTINUING
HAZARDS
HAZARDOUS
EVENTS
IDENTIFY CAUSES
ANALYSE
&& ANALYSE
CONSEQUENCES
RISK ANALYSIS
VERIFY
ESTIMATE/
MEASURE RISKS
NO
DECIDE
RISK CONTROL
STRATEGY
EVALUATE
IS
RISK
RISKS
TOLERABLE?
RISK EVALUATION
YES
NO CHANGE
(MONITOR)
4.
Tasks Involved
id
Description/boundary
Risk Assessment
Hazards
Personnel involved
Task description/analysis
id
id
1,1
Activity type
Hazardous event
Source of hazard
Severity/consequences
Cause
Hazardous Events
Risk level
id
Risk evaluation
Task involved
Duration of exposure
Review system
Possibility of avoidance
Number exposed
EN 1050
Risk Evaluation
id
Type
Source
Task
id
Activity Hazardous
Cause
Type
Event
mechanical
electrical
substance
toxic
flamm
explosive
ergonomic
environment
ANSI B11.TR3
1,1
id
Effects
Risk
level
(ALARP)
B
C
Tasks involved: this identifies all foreseeable tasks, where an individual needs to enter a
danger zone. These tasks must include normal operation and different needs for intervention,
such as maintenance, setting and fault finding. This is important, as some safety measures
may have to be overridden/defeated during the intervention (which is foreseeable at the design
stage). Task analysis, and particularly Hierarchical Task Analysis HTA is a very powerful
technique for the designer to identify and analyse what needs to be done and when.
Hazardous event: in this context, this attribute represents one of the events liable to occur on
the system (like a technical malfunction), and how individuals may be exposed to harm. The
approach adopted by ANSI B11-TR3 (ANSI, 2000) considers both task involved and
hazardous events in a structured way.
Risk evaluation: It should be remembered that not every hazard and hazardous event would
warrant risk reduction measures. It is only when the risk level is significant that the designer
would consider a hierarchy of risk reduction options. There is a number of tools developed,
based on semi-quantitative methods for the evaluation of risks, which may be suited for the task
of selecting the most appropriate category or safety integrity level, e.g. a risk matrix (ANSI,
2000) and the risk calculator (Raafat, 1996).
Evaluation of risks, using the approach adopted by (EN 1050, 1997) is based on the hazards
identified in the danger zone, but the concept of risk evaluation is unclear. The task-based
approach adopted by (ANSI, 2000) is more suited to the evaluation of risks associated with
foreseeable modes of intervention.
5.
The example used to demonstrate the application of the model is based on a design of a
mechanical 1200/800-ton press line used in a body shop of an automotive manufacturer. Five
mechanical presses were imported from the Far East, which did not comply with the EU
machinery safety requirements. As the machine suppliers are not represented in the UK, the
Company undertook the design, construction and assembly of an automated tandem press line.
A new approach, using the model shown in FIGURE 1 was applied to the design of the car
body panel handling system, based on a single line flow. The new E-Line included, in addition to
the five single-action presses, two destack trolleys, seven 6-axis robots, one tilt (centralising)
table, two offload conveyors and ten die-carts. The general layout for E-Line is shown in
FIGURE 4.
Zone B
Zone D
Z
o
n
e
C
01
Zone G
03
Zone H
06
04
03
02
04
03
01
05
05
05
05
05
Zone I
06
06
04
03
Zone J
06
06
06
06
04
03
Zone K
04
06
08
03
Z
o
n
e
L
03
Zone F
05
05
05
05
05
Zone E
Zone B
Danger zone
Tasks Involved
Environment
Zone F
Panel slips
Workplace
Sub-systems
Press shop
Press Shop
Noise level 78 dB
5-1200/800t presses
Near LTP press
Hazards
Mechanical
1,1
impact, crushing- robots,
crushing/shearing- table
cutting/severing- Panels ,
High pressure fluid injection,
robots grippers ,
crushing, impact- trolleys .
Machine/System
Review
Expected exposure = 30 m
Number exposed = 2
Risk Assessment
PRESS LINE E
Serial number
Faultfinding
Review
Crushing/impact by robot
5 mechanical presses
Galvanized sheets
Possible fatality
Body panels
Risk level = B
Boundary/interfaces
Review
Hazardous Event
Impact/crushing by robot
Once/month
Control/pneumatics failure
Mode of intervention
Tools
Diagnostic kit
Control pendant,
pressure gauge
electronic probes
Consumable
Seals- pneumatic
High quality
Working team
Faultfinding/setting
Cross-functional team
Adjusting grippers
Production/maintenance
6 years experience
Duration= 45 min
10
Other safety measures resulting from the risk assessment included enhancements of the
diagnostic systems. FIGURE 7 shows the overall improvements in E-Line safety systems as a
result of application of the risk assessment model. The main guarding system is a mixture
between rising screen interlocking safeguards and photoelectric devices.
Specific design safety measures resulting from risk assessment include the following:
Modification of all 5 mechanical presses, taking account of (EN 692, 1998; EN 982, 1996)
Selection of Category 4 Safety-related parts of the control system according to (EN 954-1,
1996; EN 60204-1, 1996).
Software design to Safety Integrity Level (SIL) 3 according to (IEC 61508, 2000). Part
handling is broken down into logic steps, using sequencers from process start to process
finish.
Fixed and rising screen safeguards around zones F and L, and rising screen guards between
presses. The rising screen guards are interlocked with the process control system, taking
account of (EN 1088, 1996), which is equivalent to type II protection according to (EN 201,
1997).
Design of the photoelectric devices in accordance with (EN 999, 1996; EN 50100-1, 1996).
Free Standing
Posts
Light Beam
Post
Zone B
Light Beam
Z
o
n
e
Zone G
03
01
02
04
06
05
Zone D
Zone H
06
04
03
05
05
05
04
Zone J
06
06
Light Beam
05
Zone I
06
Light Beam
Post
06
Zone K
06
04
04
06
08
Z
o
n
e
C
03
01
03
03
03
03
Zone F
Light Beam
05
05
05
05
05
Light Beam
Zone E
Light Beam
Post
Free Standing
Posts
Zone B
Light Beam
Post
8 per minute
11
< 3 minutes
< 30 minutes
6.
Conclusions
This paper proposes a tool and methodology to provide practical guidance to machine/system
on integrating health and safety at the design stage. A model based on risk assessment was
developed which takes into account relevant EU Product Directives and harmonised machinery
safety standards to assist the designer in selecting the most appropriate safety integrity levels for
safegaurds, safety devices and control systems with safety-related functions.
A case study was used to demonstrate the methodology, which shows that, in addition to
demonstrating compliance with relevant health & safety legislation, improved productivity,
downtime and world class performance can be achieved.
7.
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