Last edit: 08/03/2025
The new edition of ISO 13855 “Safety of machinery – Positioning of safeguards with respect to the approach of the human body” was published in November 2024. The previous edition was from 2010.
This is a Type B technical standard concerning the positioning and sizing of safeguards based on the approach of the human body or its parts to the hazardous area that needs to be protected, in order to ensure timely detection of access to that area.
The types of safeguards considered by the standard include:
- Electro-sensitive protective equipment (ESPE) such as:
- active opto-electronic protective devices (AOPDs) (see also IEC 61496-2);
- AOPDs responsive to diffuse reflection that have one or more detection zone(s) specified in two dimensions (AOPDDRs-2D) (see also IEC 61496-3);
- AOPDs responsive to diffuse reflection that have one or more detection zone(s) specified in three dimensions (AOPDDRs-3D) (see also IEC 61496-3);
- vision based protective devices using reference pattern techniques (VBPDPP) (see also IEC/TS 61496-4-2);
- vision based protective devices using stereo vision techniques (VBPDST) (see also IEC/TS 61496-4-3);
- pressure-sensitive mats and pressure-sensitive floors (see also ISO 13856-1);
- two-hand control devices (see also ISO 13851);
- single control devices;
- interlocking guards (see ISO alo 14120).
The objective of the standard is to assess the appropriate positioning of the mentioned safeguards, based on the safety distances related to the hazards associated with the machine under study.