Controls, Displays and Ergonomics Standards - Ensuring Health and Safety in Machinery Design

Abstract

The development of many of the standards for ergonomics within Europe has been driven by the need to assess whether or not machinery meets certain minimum requirements for health and safety. European legislation for machines, which is intended to prevent health and safety matters being used as a barrier to trade, includes requirements for designers to take ergonomic principles into account when considering how a machine will be used. The machinery safety standards for controls and displays (EN 894) are described and some examples from investigated incidents are given of problems that might have been averted by following their requirements.