One further thought came to mind after sending the email below, and it specifically pertains to some types of equipment for use in the UK (although probably elsewhere as well) , because I had to help resolve some issues at a company I worked for about a piece of machinery that was so old that it predated the Machinery Directive, and thus was “exempt” from its requirements!.
The machinery was “rejected” by the internal Health and Safety representative because it lacked (IIRC) a vital item of guarding equipment that meant that it effectively did not meet the company’s responsibilities under the UK Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (“PUWER”) which do require compliance with the various EU Directives, and notably the Machinery Directive and especially the CE marking requirement, and the relevant UK HSE’s Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) for machinery. The commonsense, and legally justifiable response, was that the basic machine was so old as to be exempt from the Machinery Directive requirements, had been considered to be, and had proved to be, “safe” up to that point in time, and that the additions made to improve the guarding did not essentially change that situation except to improve the safety thereof – and also that it would have been quite impracticable and impossible, or of any practical advantage to the company or the employees in terms of actual worker-safety, to economically make the machine fully compliant with the “letter of the law” of the Directive, and therefore was actually meeting the main essential requirement of the Directive in that it had been, and was still, essentially “exempt” and had simply been “improved” in one area in terms of the level of “safety” in line with the current UK ACOP requirements. This approach was then accepted by the relevant internal H&S rep and the company management, and, AFAIK, never caused an actual issue with external H&S inspectors. John E Allen W.London, UK From: john Allen [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 27 October 2016 18:49 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [PSES] 2nd hand or refurbished products IIRC the regulations for such products are essentially that they must comply with those that were in place when they were placed on the market in the EU/EEA, and provided that they are in the “same” configuration and modification state as that when placed on the market – OTOH, if they have been modified (e.g. updated components/assemblies providing more/different capabilities than as when originally shipped – and even updated s/w could be an issue if that affects the safety/EMC/etc., Directives requirements compliance), in which case they are required to meet the requirements that are current at the time the modifications are made, and updated compliance documentation, including possibly a new CE DoC, to adequately confirm compliance with those current requirements. That’s a generalization but that is from where I would start when assessing whether further compliance work is required - I would also refer to the latest edition of the Commission’s “Blue Guide” as I think that does provides relative guidance. John E Allen W.London, UK From: John Woodgate [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 27 October 2016 18:32 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [PSES] 2nd hand or refurbished products This is quite complicated. Unless it causes a major problem, assume they do apply. Second-hand and refurbished products are not treated in the same way, because second-hand products may be offered for private sale by people who don't have all the necessary resources. With best wishes DESIGN IT IN! OOO – Own Opinions Only <http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk/> www.jmwa.demon.co.uk J M Woodgate and Associates Rayleigh England Sylvae in aeternum manent. From: Scott Xe [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2016 6:12 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [PSES] 2nd hand or refurbished products Are EU chemical directives such as packaging directive, RoHS, REACH and safety directives applied to 2nd hand or refurbished products? Thanks and regards, Scott - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to unsubscribe) <http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html> List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher <[email protected]> David Heald <[email protected]> - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to unsubscribe) <http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html> List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher <[email protected]> David Heald <[email protected]> - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to unsubscribe) <http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html> List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher <[email protected]> David Heald <[email protected]> - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to unsubscribe) List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <[email protected]> David Heald: <[email protected]>
