Eadon Consulting recently attended a workshop to get up to speed on the new rules

Many people still aren’t aware that the new Machinery Directive becomes applicable on the 29th December 2009.

Eadon Consulting recently attended a workshop with the Health and Safety Laboratory at Buxton in Derbyshire to get up to speed on the new rules.

The revised Machinery Directive now designated 2006/42/EC does not introduce any radical changes compared with its predecessor 98/37/EC but aims at consolidating the achievements of the previous directive while improving its application.

There is now a definite distinction between machines which are subject to the Machinery Directive and those which fall under the Low Voltage Directive, with a machine only being covered by one or the other.

The essential health and safety requirements (EHSR’s) have not been subject to major changes, although several of them have been redrafted including, the requirement relating to risk assessment has been made more explicit.

The Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC is implemented in to UK law by means of the Statutory Instrument 2008 No. 1597, The Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008, however machinery in the supply chain prior to 29 December 2009 is subject to the requirements of Directive 98/37/EC.

For more information or to discuss your requirements, please telephone 0114 399 0400 or contact us.