Glossary · Existing plants and retrofit
Stop controls of an assembly of machinery (1.2.4.4)
Also known as: Essential requirement 1.2.4.4
Essential health and safety requirement 1.2.4.4 of EU machinery law requires that machinery or parts of machinery designed to work together are designed and constructed so that the stop controls, including the emergency stop devices, can stop not only the machine itself but also all related equipment, if its continued operation may be dangerous.
- Compliance
- EU
In one sentence
Requirement 1.2.4.4 makes the stop controls of linked machines, including emergency stops, stop all related equipment whose further running is dangerous.
Example
A retrofit adds a new labeler to a packaging line; its emergency stop button must also stop the upstream conveyor and the downstream case packer wherever their continued operation could endanger a person at the labeler.
Explained in context
Context cards connect this term with others to answer one question. Also in British English and German.
How it applies
- Legal frame: The requirement is in Annex I of the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC and continues in Annex III of the Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230. It is an old requirement, but its age does not make it any less demanding.
- Retrofit: Each machine added to, removed from or replaced in a line changes which equipment has to stop together. Check the stop and emergency stop concept of the whole assembly with a coupling analysis, not only the new machine.
- Documentation: Describe which stop control stops which equipment, in the circuit diagrams, the safety function description and the instructions for use. An emergency stop map that still shows the line before the retrofit is a typical documentation gap.
Line-wide stop vs. machine stop
A stop control that stops only its own machine is enough for a stand-alone machine. In an assembly the question is whether continued operation of any other equipment may be dangerous; if it may, that equipment must stop too.