Noise control and the machinery safety standardization program of CEN (European Standardization Committee)

Abstract

One major aspect of the European internal market is the free circulation of products with a high level of safety. The European directive on machinery safety includes requirements to design low‐noise machinery and to give out quantitative information on noise emission. One way for a manufacturer to get presumption of conformity to the directive is to use so‐called harmonized European standards. In order to be harmonized and regarding noise, standards in the CEN machinery program (about 800 work items, each of them corresponding to a particular machinery family) must contain clauses on noise control and noise declaration, and a noise test code based on EN ISO 12001. Noise test codes specify the basic standards to be used for determining the emission sound pressure levels at workstations (among the EN ISO 11200 series) and the sound power level (among the EN ISO 3740 and 9614 series) and for declaring noise emission values (EN ISO 4871), together with the position of workstation(s) and the mounting and operating conditions of a machine during noise measurement. As part of a quality control system, noise consultants are employed by CEN to assess the noise contents of drafts and to assist Working Groups with noise matters.