Functional Safety & PUWER Regs 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 22: Engineering Safer Outcomes

Relevant PUWER Regulations:

• Regulation 11 – Dangerous Parts of Machinery

• Regulation 12 – Protection Against Specific Hazards

• Regulation 14 - Controls for starting

• Regulation 15 - stop controls

• Regulation 16 - Emergency stop controls

• Regulation 17 - controls

• Regulation 18 - control system

• Regulation 22 - Maintenance operations
  

Summary:

Functional safety moves risk control into the machine. By designing systems that detect faults and trigger safe responses, it reduces reliance on human reaction and creates measurable, reliable protection.

Deeper Insight:

Functional safety applies to:

• Emergency stops
  

• Interlocks and guard switches
  

• Speed, pressure, and position monitoring
  

ISO 13849-1 and IEC 62061 provide frameworks to:

• Define Safety Functions
  

• Calculate required Performance Levels or SIL
  

• Validate system response
  
  

Best Practices:

• Integrate safety functions early in design
  

• Use redundancy and diagnostics to meet required PL/SIL
  

• Test and validate safety functions periodically
  
  

Strategic Insight:

Functional safety provides hard evidence of risk reduction. It should be a standard part of machine procurement, upgrade, and modification. It transforms safety from reactive to preventative.