Functional Safety of Machinery

Throughout its entire life cycle, safety must be considered - starting from initial concept, to risk assessment, design and engineering, operation and even to decommissioning. No harm, risk or hazard may be posed to neither man, machine nor the environment. Possible failures or faults by the machine which could lead to a hazard, must therefore be analyzed in detail. The aim is to determine measures eliminating hazards or reducing the risks by applying Functional Safety to the machine.

Thus, different requirements regarding technology, architecture and risk classification of a machine have to be considered. These requirements are defined in different standards. Internationally, different safety standards apply, which machine manufacturers must take into account if they want to place their machines on the market.

The internationally recognized standards EN ISO 13849 and IEC 62061 define the Functional Safety requirements for machinery resulting in Safety Integrity Level (SIL) or Performance Level (PL).

Please contact us to learn more how our services in Functional Safety for machinery can benefit your company.

Our Functional Safety services provide tangible benefits for our partners. You can rely on:

• Functional Safety compliance with international safety and quality standards for your machinery
• Independent testing and certification of your machine.
• A competitive edge with our TÜV Rheinland certificate.
• Exclusive one-stop, state-of-the-art services based on our long-term experience.
• Support from a reliable and experienced partner.

As a Notified Body for the Machinery Directive governing machinery and safety components, we offer a wide range of FS services, including:

• Risk assessment moderation and support according to EN ISO 12100 (safety of machinery – general principles for design – risk assessment and risk reduction).
• Technical assistance in setting up and authoring safety concepts to reduce potential risk.
• Validation of single safety functions according to EN ISO 13849-2 and EN 62061.
• Safety-related assessments of safety systems according to EN ISO 13849-1 and EN 62061.
  • Documentation review, configuration and safety function testing of protection device(s).
  • Calculation or validation of the determination of failure probability ("SIL, PL-calculation").
  • Test of safety-related application software (SRASW) and safety-related embedded software (SRESW).
• Certification of safety functions and safety-related systems.
• Support in applying and understanding standards.
• Workshops and training in the "Functional Safety of Machinery".
• Certification of FS management systems.
• Full Quality Assurance according to the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EG for manufacturers of safety-related products.

Our Functional Safety services for machinery are based on the legal framework established by the harmonized standards EN ISO 13849-1/-2 and EN 62061.

• EN ISO 13849-1/-2 are based on the historic EN 954-1. EN ISO 13849-1 defines performance levels (PL a to PL e) to classify safety-related reliability.
• EN 62061 is the tailored implementation of IEC/EN 61508 and refers to machinery requirements and safety-related reliability classification in safety integrity levels (SIL 1 to SIL 3).

Several harmonized standards are available which support the fulfillment of the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EG requirements.

The rapid technical innovations regarding the electronic systems and software in modern machines and devices require also some adjustments in the regulatory landscape to ensure the Functional Safety. Therefore, a new edition of ISO 13849-1 has been published in April 2023. If you fail to take the requirements for Functional Safety into account during the development of your products, serious delays can occur during market approval, which in the worst case can lead to expensive and time consuming product modifications. In our new flyer we provide you an overview on the changes of the new standard.

The reliability of our Functional Safety testing and assessments is backed by DAkkS accreditation (DAkkS certificate D-ZE-11052-02-00), reinforcing our reputation as a trusted partner with access to state-of-the-art technology. And when your products earn certification or complete successful testing, they receive our test mark, which, like our brand, is a global symbol of transparency and consumer safety. The test mark with its associated ID number can be searched online for a detailed service description and report and to track which testing and certification services have been performed.

Learn more about the benefits of our Functional Safety assessments!