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TimWatson has been involvedwith powered
access equipment since 1996, formerly in design,
manufacturing and rental and currently as
technical director of Powered Access Certifi
cation
Ltd., a UKNotifi
ed Body specialising in type
approval of machines for lifting persons.
types ofmachines, listed inAnnex IV of the
directive, additional conformity procedures
have to be applied.For thesemachines,which
includeMEWPs,manufacturers have to either
meet all the requirements of aHarmonised
Standard or submit themachine for type
examination by aNotifiedBody.
TheEuropeanProduct Standard for
MEWPs,EN 280,was originally published
in 2001 and subsequently amended in 2004
and 2009.Following the 2004 amendment,
WorkingGroup 1 ofCENTechnical
Committee 98 beganwork on a full revision
of the standard.This full revisionwas
published in July 2013with a transition period
of 18months,whichmeans that EN 280:2013
comes fully into force on the 31st January this
year, at which time the previous versionEN
280:2001 +A2:2009will bewithdrawn.
The reasons for all these changes are
threefold:
■
What is achievable bymanufacturers at
an economic cost changes over timewith
developments in technology and reductions
in cost from increased availability of
components and systems.This is known in
EC terminology as ‘Changes to State of
theArt’.
■
New designs ofmachines and the
development of new features on existing
designs introduce areas,whichmay not
be covered by the existing version of the
standard.
■
Feedback from users andmanufacturers’
service departments highlights areas which
may not be adequately covered by the
existing version of the standard.
The changes inEN 280:2013 are primarily
of interest toMEWPmanufacturers and
the notified bodies carrying out theType
Examination of their products. It is however,
important that others, such as dealers,
suppliers, rental companies and users, are
aware of the changes, particularly as examples
of the samemodel ofMEWPmanufactured
before and after the 31st January 2015may
EN280:2013 comes into force on 31 January this
year, atwhich time the previous versionwill be
withdrawn. Anyone involved in the access industry
will benefit from understanding the new standard.
TimWatson
summarises it for us.
have slightly different features and operate
in slightly different ways.Thismeans that
MEWP operators, even if they are familiar
with the oldermachinesmay require
additional familiarisation onnewmachines,
to ensure that they fully understand any new
features.
Themain changes to the standard are as
follows:
1
The definition ofGroupAMEWPs has
been changed to include themajority of
scissor lifts with platform extensions.The
effect of this is to allow different rated
capacities on themain and extension
platforms without the requirement
for separate load sensing systems.
(Clause 1.4).
2
The clause dealingwith chassis and
stabilisers has been totally restructured
and new requirements added (Clause
5.3):
a
Machines, such as scissor lifts and self
propelled booms,which can travel
with the platform elevated,must
be fittedwith a tilt cut-out which
prevents themachine from travelling
once themanufacturer’s tilt limit
has been reached (Clause 5.3.1.2).
The previous edition of EN 280 only
required awarning to be givenwhen
the tilt limit had been reached.
b
The previous version of EN280
specifiedwheel brakes for self
propelledMEWPs.This requirement
has been extended to all types of
MEWP (Clause 5.3.1.6).
c
The requirements for railmounted
MEWPs have been extended,with
referencesmade to standards for rail
mountedmachines operating on the
European rail network and other rail
systems such as tramways or industrial
tracks (Clause 5.3.1.18).
d
The previous version of EN 280 did
notmake any reference to oscillating
axles,which are often used on rough
terrain scissors and self propelled
booms.There is now a requirement
that inclinations of the chassis and/
or the superstructure during elevated
travel on themaximum permitted
slope remainwithin the limits
specified by themanufacturer. (Clause
5.3.2.3).There are also additional kerb
and potholes testing requirements for
SAFETY AT HEIGHT
JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2015
access
INTERNATIONAL
All change for
European standards
TIMWATSON:
ABRIEFACCESSRESUME
A
llmachines, includingmobile
elevatingwork platforms (MEWPs),
sold intoEurope have to complywith
the requirements of theMachineryDirective
2006/42/EC.To helpmanufacturers comply
with the directive, theEuropeanStandards
organisation,CEN, produces a range of
product standards, calledHarmonised
Standards,which are listed in theOfficial
Journal of theEC and set out requirements
which, if followed in full, givewhat is called
‘presumption of conformity’ to the directive.
Formost types ofmachine the
manufacturer self certifies that theirmachine
complies with the requirements of the
MachineryDirective.This is set out in theEC
Declaration ofConformity suppliedwith each
machine at the time of supply.For specific
