How do you know if a machine is safe?

Almost all machines and tools that are to be sold in the EU need CE marking. A CE-marked product means it complies with the relevant laws applicable to health, environmental and safety requirements in the EU.

CE marking requires thorough risk analysis

The purpose of CE marking is to prevent accidents.

To be able to CE mark something you first need to analyse and document all the risks associated with the product, and then do your utmost to eliminate them.

It is detective work that requires methodical review of everything that can go wrong, both from a construction and user perspective. It is important to do it carefully, because those who haven't done their homework properly may have to pay dearly if an accident occurs.

By CE marking a product the manufacturer assures that it meets the essential health, environmental and safety requirements in the relevant directives.

Collaborates with Oztech for CE marking

When POJI constructs a lifting tool or a machine, we collaborate with Jens Tornblad at Oztech. He analyses and engineers away all risks, and produces a well-thought-out user manual. Only then can we CE mark the product.

Risk analysis is in certain respects a judgement sport

According to Jens, risk analysis is in certain respects a judgement sport that builds on gut feeling and experience. Much can be analysed based on rules and standards but at a certain point you need to look beyond this and that is when experience comes into the picture. The more you know about the product the more realistic the risk analysis becomes.

"The best thing is if three or four of you sit and evaluate something together. Then you should have seen a thing or two over the years and be able to anticipate most risks," says Jens, who is an engineer with long experience of accident and quality investigations. For many years he was a senior engineer at Rolls Royce aftermarket, investigating what had actually gone wrong in connection with accidents.

"We made practical assessments of structures and situations. Most of the time we could understand what had gone wrong, but sometimes there weren't enough pieces left to be able to determine the cause of an accident."

Lifting tools that save money

Today Jens works more preventively. One project where POJI and Oztech recently collaborated was in the construction of the lifting tool "Fiskgjusen". An advanced lifting beam that makes it possible to easily lift boats in and out of the water with a forklift, thanks to the beam being able to be rotated and displaced in all directions.

Hunduddens varv had a vision of simplifying the launching of boats up to 13 tonnes. Based on Hunduddens' vision POJI developed a solution for which Oztech compiled the documentation required under the Machinery Directive annex IIB, "Partly completed machinery".

How Oztech evaluates a product's risks

In that work Jens first finds out which standards and directives apply to the product. Then he reviews all the details and evaluates which things can go wrong, and how serious an injury could result if an accident occurs.

"It may be an extremely small risk that a certain detail fails, but if the consequences are large, you should engineer away that risk."

Three priorities in CE marking

Jens talks about three priority levels he works by: 1. Can we engineer away the risk so that it doesn't exist? 2. Can we fit a guard on the machine that prevents accidents? 3. If the first two levels cannot be achieved, can we with the help of information and warnings create safe handling of the machine?

"Take a chainsaw as an example! You can't cover the blade with any guard, because then the product doesn't work. So there are any number of warning texts in the manual," says Jens.

At the same time you can't have a manual that specifies everything you are NOT allowed to do. "Such a list will never be able to be complete," Jens believes.

Documentation and user manual

The last step in the CE marking process is to put together a technical file that describes how the construction looks, and to create a professional user manual.

"Our work is really about systematically creating confidence that a product works and is safe to use. And we do it as economically as possible," Jens concludes.