Safety Standards (USA)

[BeepBoopBop]

Sorry for the long narrative.

The factory I work for has asked our team to build a machine "in house". This is drastically different than what we have done over the years as far as just modifying existing machinery, or purchased machinery.

A little more detail to the subject is that this is a bushing loader machine that involves pneumatic cylinders, 3 & 5 axis robots, Servo Motors, and Conveyors, all controlled by a PLC. This is to load a bushing into an injection molding machine (IMM). There will be minor changes to the IMM (just interlocks) and the bushing machine is what we're building from scratch.

So my question is this. I am trying to find all the relevant information I can as far as standards that need to be followed when designing and installing machinery (just concerning the controls side of the build). Can you guys point me in the right direction to make sure I got all that's needed? Or make a reference to where I can find out this information. My goal is to be safe and informed while we design this. Also to follow anything OSHA may be requiring of us. The factory is located in the USA.

Also our plant "safety guy" has no idea about machinery safety. I literally watched this guy move a dangling safety switch out of the way to crawl under a piece of machinery (LOTO'd) to point out that a small oil spot on the ground is bad and needs cleaned up. Never even mentioned the safety switch that was broke off he moved out the way to get to the oil. So if you guys know how the whole "determining SIL" thing works, or where I can find that information I would be very grateful. I have never been part of that process nor have I witnessed it being done before. And I know this company I work for now doesn't even know what SIL is (its an older factory). Pretty much they just make sure people can't climb into machine while its running, climb in and turn it on, or stuff stops moving when an E-Stop is pressed. Which quite frankly is just about all they need in my personal opinion, I just can't justify it "by the book" why that's ok. My previous experience with SIL involved being told what SIL the machine needed to be and keep it to that. Using redundant safeties, using force guided relays, using Safety Controllers with EDM, coded safety switches, interlocking guards, "locking" Safety PLCs, installing fixed guards. etc...

The standards I know about are:

NFPA 70 for electrical wiring (I use this one a lot).

I "think" ANSI/ISA 84.00.01 or IEC 61511 covers the SIL stuff. but it specifically says process industries. So I don't know if it applies to Manufacturing Machines (Never read it before). Is there a different standard that we should be looking at?

We signed up for a UL508A class to help us get more familiar with anything that we might be missing.

Any help at all would be appreciated, thank you.

 

[LegacyLee]

You should look at NFPA79...industrial machinery. More focussed.

 

[Picklemon]

Other than NFPA 70 and 79, these are that I've referenced the most:
ANSI B11.0 - Safety Of Machinery
ANSI B11.19 - Performance Requirements For Risk Reduction Measures
ANSI B11.TR3 -2000 - Risk Assessments
ANSI/RIA R15.06 - Industrial Robots And Robot Systems - Safety Requirements
OSHA 3170 - Safeguarding Equipment

Your local vendor for safety components should be able to help you out as well.
The ones in my area have done free overview training on standards, especially when they change. You just have to listen to the sales part of the presentation.

 

[James Mcquade]

don't forget about nfpa 70e - arc flash.
we designed the system with 480 volts in 1 panel, 240 in another panel then pipe the control wires into the 110 / 24 volt panels. this solved a lot of headaches.
james

 

[I_Automation]

Not ignoring standards. but going back to the first job had in a restaurant many years ago, I was told regarding the food I was making to only serve it if I would eat it.


Would YOU run the machine with short cuts and missing safety items?


Along with meeting all the standards I know of I still go by this idea. If I wouldn't run it knowing it could injure or kill me then I'm not building it and turning it loose to production.

 

[James Mcquade]

adding to what I_Automation said.

i have 3 boys and they want to work where i do.
if any one of them got hurt due to a shortcut i took, and if my wife found out, there would not be enough of me left to put in a match box when she got done.
secondly, and most importantly, NO ONE at that plant would ever trust a machine you worked on! you would be thru at that plant and your career will be shot to pieces. the boss would have to have someone look over everything you did, and if a shortcut was taken, the machine would then be down until it's proven to be trust worthy. this has been my philosophy, if you can ask what if, plan for it. the one in a billion chance always happened when the customer was there. THERE is a huge difference between not thinking about a situation and taking a shortcut because you said it is a 1 in a million chance of happening.
james

 

[JesperMP]

Am I wrong that in the US you are personally liable if you are working with safety and you messed up ?
Different to the EU where it is the company that gets sued.
If that is correct, then I think BeepBoobBop must be careful not to take on any responsibility without being very proficient in the topic.

Even if you out of the best intentions you try to improve the safety, if an accident happens the finger may be pointing at you.

 

[baref00t25]

The standards are difficult to read so I tend to point people to cliff note versions. Then if you find something you need more details you can purchase the standards you need.

SICK has a nice document:
https://cdn.sick.com/media/docs/6/06/606/Special_information_Safety_Guide_For_The_Americas_en_IM0032606.PDF

ROSS Controls does as well:
https://www.rosscontrols.com/documents/366/Fluid_Power_Machinery_Safety_Guidebook_ROSS-FPMS-Guide_EN.pdf

 

[BeepBoopBop]

Thank you gentlemen for the replies. I totally agree with the statements of not giving a machine to production that I would not run myself.

 

[saultgeorge]

Am I wrong that in the US you are personally liable if you are working with safety and you messed up ?
Different to the EU where it is the company that gets sued.
If that is correct, then I think BeepBoobBop must be careful not to take on any responsibility without being very proficient in the topic.

Even if you out of the best intentions you try to improve the safety, if an accident happens the finger may be pointing at you.

No, you are not. As you are well aware, the US is quite a litigious society.
I would always get a risk assessment done by a qualified person and follow the safety protocols that are deemed necessary. Usually it will start with at least a PL 3 safety risk level or even higher. Hope this helps.

 

[dYoast]

It may not affect your project, but ANSI B151 is the standard for Horizontal Injection Molding Machines.

 

[Jim3846]

What i found to be the easiest path in getting information is talking to your controls distributers that sell products on safety. They always have a safety/knowledge person that has all the credentials. Find this person as a resource to you. Do your design and have the guy come in and bless it. But this is after you have done your homework and have a preliminary design. The safety person will point out any points that would cause an issue. Just buy the safety products from that distributer that offered this service to you. That way you have support down the road and they usually get you in the loop on any future NFPA and NEC changes that effect your machine.

 

[ndzied1]

Am I wrong that in the US you are personally liable if you are working with safety and you messed up ?
Different to the EU where it is the company that gets sued.
If that is correct, then I think BeepBoobBop must be careful not to take on any responsibility without being very proficient in the topic.

Even if you out of the best intentions you try to improve the safety, if an accident happens the finger may be pointing at you.

This is my non-lawyer understanding of liability here.
From a criminal standpoint, the company operating the equipment is responsible for safety. If someone gets hurt, the company gets sued.

We also have something here called "civil" court. Theoretically, anyone can sue anyone else in civil court. Here the injured party or their survivors could theoretically sue anyone involved in the design, build, delivery, maintenance etc of the machinery.

Again, I am not a lawyer or in the legal profession in any way so I could be wrong here.

 

[kamenges]

I would agree with ndzied1's assessment of that. However, operationally, ambulance chasers will tend to dissuade their clients from suing individuals because there isn't enough to be gained for the effort put in. Much better to go after the company that the individual works for. Much deeper pool of money there and the company's insurance company is willing to negotiate a settlement. Most individuals aren't. An ambulance chaser will almost always take a settlement over going to trial just because of the uncertainty of outcome in a trial.

Keith

 

[arpus4KM]

This is my non-lawyer understanding of liability here.
From a criminal standpoint, the company operating the equipment is responsible for safety. If someone gets hurt, the company gets sued.

We also have something here called "civil" court. Theoretically, anyone can sue anyone else in civil court. Here the injured party or their survivors could theoretically sue anyone involved in the design, build, delivery, maintenance etc of the machinery.

Again, I am not a lawyer or in the legal profession in any way so I could be wrong here.

I've also heard of people being sued for professional negligence, where they essentially took on a Job claiming they were qualified for it, but something bad happened. and when questioned about it, they were found to not have the experience and knowledge they claimed on the subject, and even if it wasn't entirely their fault, they could be found to have contributed to the problem due to negligence.

If you program a machine for a company, and they give you the safety standards required for it, and something was overlooked. it would be hard to blame anyone but the ones who commissioned the machine under their safety policy and were responsible for training people to use it properly under osha guidelines.