ABSTRACT
In order to facilitate the trading across the European Union boundaries, the European Commission proposed a policy of harmonization. At first, directives, which aimed at identifying a unified approach to production and trade, were launched into law. These Directives appeared to be prescriptive and to counter this problem the New Approach Directives (CE Directives) were introduced (TUV, 2009). Among these directives the major impact on safety imposes the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on machinery, and amending Directive 95/16/EC (recast) called Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC). According to this Directive, machine manufacturers (or
1 INTRODUCTION
In recent years the rapid pace of changes in the practice of product design has been remarkable and astonishing. Innovative production technologies have been introduced to create products in a better and faster way (Eppinger, 2011). Machines are now designed to be used in more and more severe operation conditions (Singh & Kazzaz, 2003). In order to achieve this goal various product robust design methods are applied (Phadke, 1989; Mrugalska & Kawecka-Endler, 2012; Mrugalska, 2013). Moreover, the numerous approaches allowing fault detection of the product or its components have been developed (Ding, 2008; Isermann, 2005; Mrugalski & Witczak 2012; Mrugalski et al., 2008). The application of these methods is especially important in the case of complex products because early fault detection of its components may help to limit the range of the fault and resulting economical losses. However, regardless of increasing know-how it is still necessary to remember to ensure the safety of machinery (Gambatese, 2000; Ridley & Pearce, 2006). The applied safety strategies to this aim offer manufacturers a way of improving their productivity and competitiveness in the market. Safety is perceived as an integrated part of machine functionality rather than after-thoughts added to meet regulations (ABB, 2010). It results from the fact that the effectiveness of producers’ activities in the scope of safety decreases in the sequential stages of technical production preparation (Smallwood, 1996; Szymberski, 1997; Christensen, 2003). Thus, the activities taken up in the conceptual design or early design stages have the greatest impact on
their authorized representatives within the EU), must ensure that the machine is consistent with its requirements in the scope of health and safety in the given order by:
– elimination or reduction of risks as much as possible by taking into account safety aspects in machine design and construction phases;
– application of required protection systems or measures against hazards that cannot be eliminated;
– informing users about the residual risks that they might be subjected in spite of all feasible protection measures being taken, specify any requirements for training or personal protective equipment (Safety and functional safety, 2010).
