Essential health and safety requirements are the legally binding requirements machinery must meet before it can be placed on the UK or EU market.
They sit in Annex I of the Machinery Directive and its UK equivalent, and following harmonised or designated standards is the simplest way to show they are met. The 2027 Machinery Regulation adds new ones covering software, AI-driven safety functions and cybersecurity.
The safe working load is another term for the rated maximum load a piece of lifting equipment can lift, used interchangeably with WLL.
Stop categories, defined in EN 60204-1, describe how a machine’s stop function deals with power and associated machine movements: cut it at once, brake first, or keep it on.
A MEWP, or mobile elevating work platform, is powered access equipment, such as a scissor lift or cherry picker, that must satisfy both PUWER suitability and LOLER lifting performance requirements.
For nearly two decades, the Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC) has been the backbone of machinery safety compliance across Europe.
Introduction Machinery is now software-defined, connected, and increasingly autonomous. The Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 treats software failures as
A question we hear regularly from clients is which assessment do they actually need for their machinery —
Speak to a Knox Thomas engineer about compliance, risk assessment and safeguarding for your machinery.
