Developments in machinery safety

Having been invited to write an article for an email newsletter published by a leading supplier of machinery safety products, it struck me how much progress has been made in this field over the last ten years or so. Buyers of safety products are, understandably, somewhat conservative, yet there has been some serious progress in this field.

Ten years ago concepts such as electronic or programmable safety devices, safety fieldbuses and vision-based safety systems would have been almost unthinkable. But these are now available, even if the take-up is not as fast as comparable technologies for non-safety applications. Have a look in our Machinery Safety section to see some of the latest developments in this sector - which is not as slow-moving as you might think.

Jonathan Severn [email protected]