CEN TC 114 - Safety of Machinery

The main activity of CEN/TC 114 is European wide standardisation of general principles for safety of machinery in order to create an internal European Market allowing the free movement and trade of machinery and to provide added values to the essential health and safety requirements of machines. European Standards on safety of machinery have to comply with the essential health and safety requirements of the Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC).

The manufacturer shall enshrine the principle of incorporating safety into the design and manufacturing of machines, in particular regarding

• elimination or reduction of risks as far as possible;


• taking the necessary protective measures against risks that cannot be eliminated;


• information of users of the residual risks due to any shortcomings in the protective measures adopted,

The range of standards comprise Type-A standards (basic concepts, principles for design and general aspects that can be applied to all machinery, Type-B standards (dealing with one safety aspect or one type of safety-related device that can be used across a wide range of machinery) and Type-C standards (detailed safety requirements for a particular machine or group of machines). CEN/TC 114 has established several Working Groups to prepare CEN deliverables.

The elaboration of standards in this sector already started in the early years of the European standardisation process. The development these product standards is also internationally accepted through the collaboration with ISO/TC 199. In the meantime, a few European Standards which were originally elaborated by CEN/TC 114 and adopted, lateron, by ISO/TC 199 as International Standards with different number, are subject to their first revision. CEN/TC 114 has decided to use the parallel ISO-CEN approval procedure for the revision of these documents. As the technical revision work is carried out preferably under VA-ISO lead in the corresponding WG's of ISO/TC 199 the number of active WG's of CEN/TC 114 has therefore been reduced continuously (see below).

• WG 1    ‘Basic concepts’ (currently not active)


• WG 2    ‘Safety distances’ (currently not active)


• WG 3    ‘Terminology’ (currently not active)


• WG 4    ‘Rules for the drafting and presentation of safety standards’ (currently not active)


• WG 5    ‘Hand/arm speed’ (currently not active)


• WG 6    ‘Safe control systems’ (jointly with CENELEC/TC 44X) (currently not active)


• WG 7    ‘Two-hand controls’ (jointly with CENELEC/TC 44X) (currently not active)


• WG 8    ‘Pressure-sensitive mats and similar devices’ (jointly with CENELEC/TC 44X) (currently not active)


• WG 9    ‘Emergency stop and safety hold’ (jointly with CENELEC/TC 44X) (currently not active)


• WG 10 ‘Interlocking devices with and without guard locking’ (currently not active)


• WG 11 ‘Guards (fixed and movable)’ (currently not active)


• WG 12 ‘Fluid power systems and components’ (currently not active)


• WG 13 ‘Radiation’ (currently not active)


• WG 14 ‘Risk assessment’ (currently not active)


• WG 15 ‘Emission of airborne hazardous substances from machines’ (active)


• WG 16 ‘Fire and explosion’(currently not active)


• WG 17 ‘Permanent access to machines and industrial plant’(currently not active)

In addition, a Joint WG with participation from CENELEC, ISO and IEC was established to revise EN 292 - ISO/TR 12100 to become EN ISO 12100-1 and –2.

A list of published standards and standards under development can be found at http://www.cen.eu/cen/Sectors/TechnicalCommitteesWorkshops/CENTechnicalCommittees/Pages/default.aspx.

The NORMAPME expert following the CEN/TC 114 work is Mr Frank Kania. For more information please contact him at frank.kania@metallhandwerk.de.