April 30, 2015 - The new standard "EN ISO 14119:2013 Safety of machinery - Interlocking devices associated with guards - Principles for design and selection" has arrived and will replace EN 1088 as from 30th April 2015, with a one year transition period.
In contrast to the previous standard EN 1088, EN ISO 14119 considers additional technologies such as RFID or electromagnetic guard locking, classifies interlocking devices and stipulates more clearly the specifications for installing guards. These stipulations are particularly significant with regard to protection against guard manipulation, also known as defeating of guards.
EN ISO 14119 will replace all national standards on this subject and will be valid worldwide. This signifies a huge step forwards: the old standard was purely European, whereas the new standard is published by ISO.
All safety switches and safety gate systems have been classified into four types for this purpose. The standard considers the operating principles of the switches, such as RFID or electromagnetic for example, and coded safety switches are subdivided into different coding levels. The standard provides specifications with regard to the proper installation of the interlocking device. Each safety gate must be checked for ways in which it can be manipulated. The necessary static and dynamic forces (minimum holding forces) are also examined.
Specifications regarding the series connection of safety switches and safety gate systems are new, addressing the long-known subject of fault masking. EN ISO 14119:2013 provides machine builders and users with much wider scope to use a broader range of technologies when interlocking guards, it also places more responsibility on the designer to prevent foreseeable, deliberate bypassing of guards, and it will change the way in which guard interlocking devices are connected across machines.