Machinery Safety Testing

2006/42/EC is the code for the Machinery Directive. This directive is a set of health and safety requirements that apply within the European Union (EU) to new and modified equipment used in the workplace.

The Machinery Directive forms part of CE marking. Demonstrating compliance with the Machinery Directive is part of the CE marking process for work equipment and machinery sold on, or supplied to, the EU and European Economic Area (EEA) markets.

The purpose of the Machinery Directive is to prevent machinery and equipment from damage or harm; both to its users, and to the surrounding environment. It aims to eliminate or minimise the potential for equipment to cause hazardous circumstances, and sets out procedures for conformity assessments.

In harmonising the essential health and safety requirements for work equipment between member states of the EU and EEA, the Machinery Directive helps to remove trade restrictions and enable the free movement of equipment and machinery.

The Machinery Directive applies to new and significantly modified equipment and machinery used in the workplace. 

The regulations define “Machinery” as:

“An assembly, fitted with or intended to be fitted with a drive system other than directly applied human or animal effort, consisting of linked parts or components, at least one of which moves, and which are joined together for a specific application.”

The directive also incorporates assemblies:

• Missing only the components to connect it on-site, or to sources of energy and motion.
• Ready to be installed and able to function if mounted on transport or in a building.
• Partly completed and can be arranged and controlled so that they function as a whole.
• With linked parts of components, at least one of which moves and “which are joined together, intended for lifting loads and whose only power source is directly applied human effort”.

Other items covered by the directive include:

• Interchangeable equipment
• Safety components 
• Lifting accessories
• Chains, ropes and webbing
• Removable mechanical transmission devices 

The types of machinery and equipment exempted from the 2006/42/EC Machinery Directive include:

• Weapons, including firearms
• Military or police equipment
• Equipment used specifically in fairgrounds or amusement parks
• Tractors and other vehicles used in agriculture and forestry
• High voltage equipment
• Research equipment intended for temporary use in laboratories

Typically, the equipment above is governed by its own EU regulations and falls outside the scope of the directive.

The following parties are responsible for compliance with the Machinery Directive:

• Manufacturers, including those producing equipment for in-house use
• Parties modifying existing machinery so that it can be considered ‘new’ equipment
• Importers bringing non-CE-marked equipment into the EU or EEA for the first time