Category: Machinery

International Conference on Safety and Innovation

Gyula Szabo Leave a comment

We are pleased to announce the International Conference on Safety and Innovation, organized by INAIL in collaboration with the ISSA Section Machine and System Safety. The event will be held from March 11th – 13th, 2025, at INAIL, Piazzale Giulio Pastore 6, Roma.

The conference will focus on the following key topics:

  • Innovative Technologies for Safety: Exploring cutting-edge technologies designed to enhance safety in the workplace. We invite papers discussing new solutions that improve safety during work activities or reduce risks through design innovations.
  • Safety of Innovative Products: Examining the safety aspects of new technologies integrated into products such as machinery, plants, and personal protective equipment (PPE). Submissions should address how these innovations comply with safety regulations and identify gaps in standardization.
  • Innovative Systems for Specialist Training: Evaluating new training systems, including virtual, augmented, and mixed reality tools. We seek papers that analyze these technologies’ effectiveness compared to traditional training methods and discuss various national protocols and guidelines.
  • Workspace Safety: Addressing the design of workspaces to ensure safe working conditions. We welcome papers that present innovative design solutions and examine how workspace design influences worker behaviour and skills.
  • Safety of Living Environments and Human Settlements: Investigating methods for detecting and mitigating pollution and predictive control of structures and facilities to prevent widespread risks. Papers should focus on innovative techniques for monitoring and controlling human settlements and living environments.
  • Systems for Inclusive Safety: Focusing on creating inclusive safety systems that accommodate diverse needs, including gender differences, an ageing population, and disabilities. We encourage papers that explore technical solutions and design strategies for tools, equipment, and training that promote safety and inclusion in the workplace.

The first deadline for abstract submissions is August 30th, 2024. For further information on the topics and the Call for Papers, please visit INAIL’s event page.

The ISSA Section Machine and System Safety project group

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The project group “Human Factors, Ergonomics and Safe Machines” works on design requirements and recommendations regarding occupational safety, health, human factors, and ergonomics. It informs how to integrate human factors and ergonomics design requirements into machinery construction, workplace and equipment design and human-system interaction in practice: https://www.safe-machines-at-work.org/human-factors

As the Section’s website is a communication tool and offers information for designers, manufacturers as well as users, we published the first practical examples from our member institutions:

  • The fact sheets on ergonomics in practice – published by BGN, Mannheim, Germany:
    Ergonomically designed workplaces contribute to keeping employees healthy, satisfied, and productive. Therefore, it is worthwhile to consider ergonomic aspects when designing workplaces.
  • The website of Suva, Lucerne, Switzerland, on physical stress and ergonomics focuses on preventing risks arising from physical stress in the workplace and offers practical recommendations for improving working conditions.

More information: use cases and practical examples: https://www.safe-machines-at-work.org/human-factors

Further examples will follow.

Ideas from the FEES members are welcome.

Ergonomics, Human Factors and Machinery

Update on Machinery Regulation and Standardization Activities

Gyula Szabó

The new Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 has significant ergonomics and human factors implications. The regulation lays down health and safety requirements for the design and construction of machinery, aiming to ensure high protection for persons, particularly consumers and professional users.

The regulation considers digital technologies like AI, IoT, and robotics and their safety/liability challenges. These technologies directly impact ergonomics and human factors as they change how humans interact with machinery. For instance, AI can lead to more intuitive user interfaces, while IoT can provide real-time feedback to operators, enhancing safety and efficiency.

Furthermore, the regulation mandates that machinery or related products may only be made available on the market or put into service if they meet the essential health and safety requirements in Annex III. These requirements likely include ergonomic considerations, such as the design of controls and displays, the provision of adjustable workstations, and the minimization of physical strain and fatigue.

While the specific requirements are mainly provided through European harmonized standards elaborated by European standards organizations, they generally cover aspects such as:

  • The design and construction of machinery to ensure safety.
  • The proper installation and maintenance of machinery.
  • The intended use or any reasonably foreseeable misuse of machinery.

It’s important to note that these requirements are directly applicable in Member States as, unlike those of a Directive, there is no need to be transposed into national legislation. This ensures uniform application for all operators across the Union and does not give room for divergent implementation by Member states.

The new regulation also aims to better cover new technologies such as autonomous mobile machinery (robots), the Internet of Things with connected equipment, or artificial intelligence (AI), where specific modules of AI using learning techniques ensure safety functions1. This highlights the evolving nature of these requirements in response to technological advancements.

The regulation also addresses the issue of ‘incomplete machinery’ and ‘substantial modifications’, providing clearer rules for manufacturers and other economic operators. This clarity can help ensure that modifications to machinery do not negatively impact ergonomics or compromise user safety.

Pascal Etienne represented FEES at the November 2023 Machinery Expert Group meeting. From an Ergonomics and Human Factors perspective, several advances in this field are expected in the next few months.

The New Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230

The new Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 is set to come into effect on January 20, 2027. However, it’s important to note that some articles will apply before this date due to Article 54 of the regulation. This includes aspects related to notified bodies, penalties, the Committee, delegated acts, and the categories of machines mentioned in Annex I.

Template for Collection of Machinery-Related Accident Data

The Commission has proposed a template for collecting machinery-related accident data by Member States. This template includes accidents causing harm and also damage to health caused by machines or related products.

Guide to Application of the New Machinery Regulation

The European Commission (EC) has announced that work on the Guide to applying the new Machinery Regulation will start in 2024. Stakeholders are asked to express their interest in this matter. The issue at hand is to identify what needs to be changed or not. As of now, no specific date or document is available.

Digital Format of Instructions for Use and Declaration of Conformity

The EC has presented a proposal concerning § 255 and 261 of the Guide. According to the Commission, this is not an anticipation of the regulation but an appropriate updating of the directive. An updated document will be discussed during the next Machinery Expert Group on 12th April.

Standardization

The draft standardization request in support of the new Machinery Regulation will be published later. About 700 EN standards (hENs) under the machinery directive will be revised, with 40% under the ISO CEN agreement. Modifications in some essential health and safety requirements (EHSR) will impact about 60% of the EN standards.

For CEN, the task is to transfer the EN standards under the Machinery Directive to the new Machines Regulation. The work program results will be communicated to the Commission, and the work must be carried out by the end of 2024 using a tool to be developed. The first batches of revised standards will be presented in April/May 2026.

The Judgment of the Court in Case C-588/21 by the European Court of Justice, declaring that European harmonized technical standards on toy safety must be accessible to EU citizens, has significant implications for machinery safety.

Firstly, the ruling emphasizes the importance of transparency and accessibility of safety standards. This is particularly relevant for machinery manufacturers and other economic operators, who must ensure their products meet these standards to be placed on the European market. By making these standards accessible, manufacturers can better understand and comply with safety requirements, leading to safer machinery and reduced risk of accidents.

Secondly, the ruling could potentially lead to greater involvement of stakeholders in developing and revising safety standards. This could result in more comprehensive, up-to-date standards that reflect real-world conditions and challenges.

Finally, the ruling underscores the role of harmonized standards as part of EU law. This means these standards are not just guidelines but have legal implications. Manufacturers who fail to comply with these standards could face legal consequences.

Stay tuned for more updates on these important matters.

Train4Work webinar

Gyula Szabo Leave a comment

Train4work – a training tool on HFE for non-specialists that is useful for HFE promotion, on the 14th of November at 13h UTC.

Webinar Series on tools fostering the development of ergonomics and human factors, organized by the Federation of European Ergonomics Societies (FEES), an IEA regional network, and the Safety and Health Technical Committee of the IEA.

Register for this webinar.

Presenters:

  • Pedro Ferreira, Federation of European Ergonomics Societies (FEES), Treasurer, and Professor at Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), IST, University of Lisbon, Portugal.
  • Mercedes Sanchis Almenara, Head of Innovation, Occupational Safety and Health Promotion- Institute of Biomechanics (IBV), Polytechnical University of Valencia, Spain.

FFES Logo

Duration: 90 mins

The goal of this online webinar is to present the Train4work product, which is available in 4 languages (English, Spanish, German, and French)

  • Its contents
  • How to use it
  • How it helps in practice

Webinar Chair: Bernard Michez, president of FEES

Zoom link for registration. Registration is free to all interested people. The webinar will be recorded and published on YouTube. Registration permits live interaction with the presenters via Q&A. Register for this webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Register for this webinar.

Ergonomics, Human Factors and Machinery

The European Machinery Directive – webinar

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The European Machinery Directive, Webinar on the 21st of November 13h UTC.

The Federation of European Ergonomics Societies (FEES), an IEA regional network, and the IEA Safety and Health Technical Committee organised the series on tools fostering the development of ergonomics and human factors.

Register for this webinar.

Presenters:

  • Pascal Etienne, Federation of European Ergonomics Societies (FEES), executive board member, pascal.etienne0@orange.fr
  • Aleksandar Zunjic, FEES General Secretary, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
  • Pedro Ferreira, FEES Treasurer, CENTEC, IST, University of Lisbon, Portugal
  • Bernard Michez, FEES president, CEO Ergotec company, France
  • Gyula Szabó, FEES executive board member, Faculty of Mechanical and Safety Engineering, Óbuda University, Budapest, Hungary
  • Jochen Eckhart, International Organisation for Standardization (ISO/CEN)
  • Peter Nickel International Social Security Association (ISSA), International Prevention Section on Machine and System Safety

FFES Logo

Duration: 90 mins

The goal of this online webinar is to present and discuss the EU Machinery directive

  • Its application
  • The specific rules such as « forecast the forecastable misuse… »
  • Its utility for designing working situations

Webinar Chair: Bernard Michez, president of FEES

Zoom link for registration. Registration is free to all interested people. The webinar will be recorded and published on YouTube. Registration permits live interaction with the presenters via Q&A. Register for this webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Register for this webinar.

Sum up of the ETUI workshop on machinery feedback method

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The workshop held at Colle Val d’Elsa (Italy), October 11th and 12th, 2016, organized by ETUI, the European Trade Union Institute, was divided in two parts: on the first day, a workshop limited to the Trade Unions network in the field of machinery standardization and some invited persons (EU market surveillance authorities in the machinery field, several experts, including a FEES representative, Pascal ETIENNE). About 30 persons attended this part of the meeting.

The workshop held at Colle Val d’Elsa (Italy), October 11th and 12th, 2016, organized by ETUI, the European Trade Union Institute, was divided in two parts: on the first day, a workshop limited to the Trade Unions network in the field of machinery standardization and some invited persons (EU market surveillance authorities in the machinery field, several experts, including a FEES representative, Pascal ETIENNE). About 30 persons attended this part of the meeting.


During the whole second day, the meeting was open to the Italian authorities and to locally interested experts in the field of OSH (mainly from the Tuscany region) – about 100 persons were present.


On the first day was presented and discussed a sum up of the ‘fedback method’ as specified in the TR 16710-1 : 2005 – Part 1.


Fabio Stambi reminded that the project on the ‘feedback method’ started with a TUTB project in 1997: the aim was to collect user experience to improve the woodworking machine safety. The work on the floor was made by the Italian Preventive Service, USL 7 and Sindnova, an Italian Trade-Unions Institute. The project has been enhanced by the mandate 301 from the EU Commission to the CEN concerning the standards in the field of the revised machinery Directive: in the EU Commission document was mentioned he aim to obtain a real feedback coming from the end users. So ETUI was asked to provide a technical report. The outcome of the process is the CEN document (a ‘technical report’): TR 1610-1, adopted in December 2015.


The plan of the report is as follows:


  • Choice of the machinery
  • Data collection: accidents, market, standards, …
  • Choice of SME where the machine is used :

    • collaboration of the employers and workers
    • field investigation in the SMEs
    • selection of skilled machine users

  • Preparation of the working groups

    • Working groups meetings (workers + ergonomists)
    • Preparation of materials

  • Final report: ergonomics and prevention solution
  • Technical report


The debate during the workshop was on several issues, such as:


  • The status of the document: a Technical report (‘TR’), which does not allow the free access and which is on several issues related to the machinery directive. A guide could be a better solution to allow a free access.
  • There was also a debate on the issue ‘Human factors and ergonomics’, in particular the question was: which name is the more appropriate to provide possibilities of action on the machines design in line with the OSH requirements : between ‘Ergonomics’ and ‘Human factors’, which name / concept allows at the best to trigger actions with a wide scope?

The EU Commission informed that a public consultation on the revision of the machinery directive was in progress on the EU commission site till the 16th December 20106.


A draft declaration was discussed, the content of which being published and presented during the next Machinery Directive working group, in November in Brussels.


New issues appeared in the machinery field, in particular: the design and use of robots related to safety, which is discussed in many places : workshops and forums.


On the second day morning, several general declarations was presented on the issue ‘workers participation in the machine design’, including the one presented by FEES on the of ergonomic principles; a presentation of the feedback method by Fabio Strambi; a presentation from Georg Krämer (former chair of the TC 122) on the ergonomic Essential Safety Requirements and the concerned standards in the CEN and ISO field; a trade-unionist (from the European Federation of the construction workers) presented the results of an inquiry documented with 200 accidents. The report has been followed by a project aiming to improve ergonomics, safety, the work organization and training, based on field studies related with the feedback method.


A presentation of the next IEA 2018 Congress in Florence was made by a representative of the Italian Ergonomics Society, who stressed the preparation as a process with the help from different ergonomic societies through Europe.

In the afternoon, 10 examples of the feedback method implementation in the Tuscany region were presented by several experts coming from the USL Tuscany in the field of OSH. The examples presented dealt with the following machines and / or work situations: 1 Wood working machines (circular saws and moulding machines) ; 2 Angle grinders for cutting marble ; 3 Forklift trucks ; 4 Telehandlers ; 5 Agricultural machines (combine harvester, agricultural tractors, tracted harvesters for grapes harvesting). Two other examples of the implementation of the method were presented, not dealing with machines: on manual handling in building sites and assembly of metal scaffoldings.

A lot of debates and projects may follow this interesting event: on the design of machines, on the methodologies to foster the workers participation, on new issues for the designers and workers, such as robots… Initiatives taken by both bodies (FEES and ETUI) will follow.

ETUI / FEES project on Ergonomics and Machinery

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Representatives of ETUI and FEES have met in March 2015 with the aim to set up a cooperation between FEES and ETUI in the field of the ergonomic design and use of machines.

Both parties have presented their experiences and reflections in this field, taking into account ergonomic principles. They intend to foster a FEES / ETUI joint project on the issue of “workers representatives and ergonomists cooperation in Europe in the field of the design and use of machines: state of the art and ways of improvement”.

The feedback methodology used recently on products such as forklift trucks, and agricultural machinery (harvester, tractors, woodworking,…) by ETUI could be used in the project.

The main results expected of this “Ergonomics and machinery project” are:

  • To do the mapping of ergonomics and machinery in Europe in order to enrich the different existing networks related to ergonomics and machines concerns, such as trade unionists, ergonomists, designers, users…,
  • To consider the social dialogue on these OSH issues, where there are worker representatives without links (or weak links) with Trade unions, to have a better overview of this situation in Europe,
  • To consider the possibility to have some national relay via FEES in European countries, according to the different national backgrounds,
  • To prepare propositions for the next IEA 2018 Congress in Florence in order to present the results of common projects on this topic, following the workshops organized this year (2015).

The future steps of the project are:

  • To do the mapping of ergonomics and machinery in order to know the situation in Europe through a FEES project: a first sum up is expected for the end of October 2015; To organize a seminar in November 2015 (on the 12th and 13th) in Paris in order to share information and reflections and to decide new steps of the joint project.
  • FEES executive asks member societies to provide information on the activities conducted by ergonomists in the field of machines and ergonomics, for example:
    • enquiries or reports,
    • debates inside the standardization groups on ergonomics issues,
    • academic and expert resources in the field of machines and ergonomics,
    • innovative projects/symposiums in the field of ergonomics design of machines.
    • financial resources which may be mobilized in order to foster training sessions or research in this field.
  • To make known if some members are interested in the attendance at the next FEES / ETUI seminar please send all useful information to: secretary-general@ergonomics-fees.eu.

FEES is a partner of ErgoMach

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Fabio Strambi represents the Federation of European Ergonomics Societies at ErgoMach.
Ergonomics is a human-centred discipline that focuses on the person(s) in the working situation(s), the interface between human beings and working systems, and the efficiency of the man-machine couple.

When a person becomes an operator of machinery or a working system, production systems and human beings are confronted at their interface. Specific challenges have to be solved at the junction of these two elements to prevent human well-being and capacity (etc.) from being altered and to maintain the performance of the production system. That is why ergonomics standards are proposed.

Today, there is evidence of a lack of communication between ergonomists and the rather pragmatically oriented group of machine designers/manufacturers. This often results in machinery being designed without benefitting from ergonomic principles.

This lack of communication also affects standards – the most important machinery design tool. Standards on ergonomic aspects in machinery design exist, but designers find them difficult to understand and apply correctly. To improve communication in all directions among the stakeholders involved in Ergonomics and Machinery design, it is planned that this website will offer a common platform for ergonomists, manufacturers, users, authorities, and standardization experts in the future.