Jaguar engineers learn about new Machinery Directive

Jaguar turned to Sick (UK) to help ensure that production safety at its Castle Bromwich facility complies with the new Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. The first of the company's six core values, safety is of the highest importance at Jaguar. It was therefore vital to ensure that the team at its Castle Bromwich site, where the XJ, XK and XF models are produced, is fully aware of the new Machinery Directive and able to apply BS EN ISO 13849-1, the safety-related controls standard that replaces BS EN 954-1. Both control and standard engineers, responsible for process design and maintenance, attended the two one-day Sick Machinery Directive seminars.

Seb Strutt, a Sick (UK) safety specialist, comments: "Jaguar needed to source a company that not only understood the new directive but, importantly, how it would relate to them."

The Sick Machinery Directive seminars have been designed to give managers, engineers, OEMs and end users the tools needed to comply with the new Machinery Directive, which came into effect on 29 December 2009. The directive provides the regulatory basis for the harmonisation of the essential health and safety requirements for machinery at EU level.

Strutt adds: "While the machinery manufacturer is responsible for ensuring that new machinery is compliant with the directive, certified, and CE marked, the directive is not limited to new machines. Any new process or system, such as a production line, is effectively classed as a new machine, even when using existing machinery, and the entire assembly must, as a whole, comply with the directive.

"The new Machinery Directive seminars address common questions relating to the modification and upgrade of existing machinery. Attendees learn how to establish at what point a modification should be classed as a new machine, and therefore requires a CE mark, and when a modification is subject to the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Directive [PUWER].

"The seminars have ensured that the Jaguar team, responsible for equipment used on the production line for the new Jaguar XJ, has a much greater knowledge of the directive and this has been put to use straight away."

Two seminars

The first of the two Sick Machinery Directive seminars gives attendees a grounding on the directive and safety-related control standard BS EN ISO 13849-1. Participants review the changes in the new directive, key considerations when modifying existing machines, safety control standards EN 954 and get an introduction to the application of BS EN ISO 13849-1.

In contrast, the second seminar provides delegates with a thorough understanding in applying BS EN 13849-1 and delivers a practical and informal approach to understanding and implementing the key elements of the latest safety-related control standards.

The two one-day Sick seminars can be attended as a course or independently. Delegate places are priced at 150 per day, or 250 for both days. Seminar dates for 2011 are as follows: 16/17 February, 2/3 March, 11/12 April, 11/12 May and 20/21 September.

For on-site training tailored to specific group or company requirements, visit www.sick.co.uk or contact Ann Attridge ([email protected]) or Andrea Hornby ([email protected]), or call +44 (0)1727 831121.