What you should know about the Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health
Who is this regulation aimed at?
The Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health is aimed at the employer and regulates the provision of work equipment to employees.
The origin of the Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health dates back to 2002.
The amendment to the Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health (BetrSichV) has been in force since 1 June 2015 and has resulted in a number of changes.
What requirements result from the regulation?
These are the most important points of the Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health:
- Risk assessment
- Maintenance
- Maintenance
- Repairs
- Modification of work equipment
What are the problems?
The preparation of workplace-related risk assessments and their regular review. This process is never finished.
The requirement that work equipment must correspond to the current state of the art has far-reaching consequences.
Important innovations
- The age-appropriate design of work equipment
- Consideration of psychological hazards
- A simplification of the risk assessment for „simple“ work equipment
- Changes to notification obligations in the event of accidents and claims
The employer is obliged to start with a risk assessment when selecting and procuring work equipment. This is intended to ensure that the work equipment used is selected in such a way that safe use can be guaranteed. The focus here is on the suitability of the work equipment for the planned use, the work processes and the work organisation.
The presence of the CE marking is not sufficient for the work equipment to be used. The Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health therefore requires that a risk assessment must always be carried out for the respective use of work equipment.
The inventory protection for old appliances / machines has now been abolished once and for all!
Retrofitting of existing equipment is required
- All devices / machines must be brought up to the state of the art in terms of safety technology
What is considered state of the art?
EU standards play an important role here, as they largely reflect the state of the art. Appliances/machines that do not comply with these current EU standards are therefore considered unsafe. This means that grandfathering, if it really existed, is a thing of the past.
Which standards are important?
Which standards are important for the use of vacuum lifting devices?
As far as we know, there are two standards if we assume glass transport:
EN 13155 is important for all vacuum lifting devices:
Cranes - Safety - Loose load handling attachments
However, for anyone who also moves glass panes with the vacuum lifting device, the EN 13035 Part 1 & 2. Anyone who thinks that EN 13155 does not apply to mobile glass lifters that do not hang loosely from the crane hook will be proven wrong. EN 13035 also stipulates EN 13155 for devices that use vacuum suction cups to move glass.
The consequence
All old appliances must be retrofitted with the appropriate warning devices in accordance with the EN 13155 standard if they are to constitute safe working equipment. The vacuum must be monitored and a warning must be issued accordingly, even if the power fails. Movements may only take place via dead man's controls and much more.
Source: VDMA News May 2015