The revised standard, “ANSI B11.3-2012 American National Standard for Machines – Safety Requirements for Power Press Brakes,” is published and now available from Omron Automation and Safety.
Topics included in this revision are the ‘close proximity point of operation AOPD’ safeguarding devices, and a means of safeguarding referred to as ‘Safe Speed.’ In addition, this revision incorporates the B11 Accredited Standards Committee’s ‘FASTT’ initiative, which defines common language to be used by the entire series of ANSI B11 standards. Consequently, many definitions of common terms contained in the previous edition of B11.3 can be now be found in the ANSI B11.0 and ANSI B11.19 standards. This initiative also significantly impacts clauses 4, 5, 7, 9, and adds a brand new clause 10 and Annex I on training.
The requirements of this standard apply to those machines classified as power press brakes (referred to simply as “press brakes”), which are designed and constructed for the specific purpose of bending metal. To achieve this purpose, the press brake is provided with a plate-type ram and a plate-type bed with provisions for attaching standardized press brake tooling. When used for operations other than bending material, other standards may provide additional information and requirements for the specific use or application.
Organization and application of B11 Series of documents
The B11 series of documents can be associated with the ISO “Type A-B-C” structure as described below:
- Type-A standards (basis standards) give basic concepts, principles for design, and general aspects that can be applied to machinery;
- Type-B standards (generic safety standards) deal with one or more safety aspects or one or more types of safeguards that can be used across a wide range of machinery:
- Type-C standards (machinery safety standards) deal with detailed safety requirements for a particular machine or group of machines.
This ANSI B11.3 standard on power press brakes is a “Type-C” standard. The ANSI B11.0 standard on general safety requirements common to ANSI B11 machines is primarily a “Type-A” standard in that it applies to a broad array of machines and contains very general requirements. However, in many areas it also contains very specific requirements. B11.19, B11.20 and the B11 series Technical Reports are all typical “Type-B” documents addressing general safety elements that can be applied across a wide range of machinery (B11.19) or as a standard when combining machines (B11.20). The B11 series of Technical Reports are informative documents that may be generally applied to many machines and as such would fall into the “Type-B” group.
The machine-specific (Type-C) B11 standards contain detailed safety requirements for a particular machine or group of machines, such as in the case of this standard. The B11.0 and the machine-specific B11 standards are intended to be used concurrently by the supplier and user of machines. When a Type-C standard deviates from one or more provisions dealt with by this standard or by a Type-B standard, the Type-C standard requirement generally takes precedence. Any deviation in conforming to a requirement of any standard should be carefully evaluated and based on a documented risk assessment.
Omron STI
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Filed Under:Brakes • clutches,Safety systems + components
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