Machine safety

The machine safety field is characterised by a very complicated legislation.

One has to distinguish clearly between purchasing and use of machines. EU has joint rules for machine manufacturers in regards to marketing (machine directive) and the Danish Working Environment Authority has rules for use of machines (Danish legislation).

One also has to distinguish between older and newer machines. The Danish Working Environment Authority has demands regarding safety covering of older machines - which are not included in the EU rules.

As purchaser one can expect that safety is built into the machine due to EU rules. With the CE label on the machine you can see that the manufacture guarantees that the construction fulfils EU rules and that one is informed of noise and vibrations levels by the enclosed manual in Danish.

At DTU we have made an internal manual on machine safety in cooperation with maskinsikkerhed.dk, which can be used as a checklist in workshops.

According to the machine safety rules, there is need for annually maintenance checks of hand tools, lifting gear and ladders. This can be performed by the institute itself but in regards to ladders the institute has an opportunity of subscribing to a particular agreement, see fact box to the right. Certain hazardous machines such as forklifts and cranes must have a maintenance check by a particular authorised external firm.