Scope of the MSD 98/37/EC

The scope of the MSD applies to all units that have:

• An assembly of linked parts or components
• At least one movable part
• A function such as processing, treating, moving, or packaging a material

A machine that has moving parts that are not exposed does fall under the MSD. A possible solution to the hazard may be a guard; however, the machine is still covered by the MSD. This hazard and solution must be documented in the Hazard Analysis file.

Listed Machinery

• Circular saws (single or multi-blade) for working with wood and analogous materials or for working with meat and analogous materials
• Sawing machines with fixed tool during operation, having a fixed bed with manual feed of the work piece or with a demountable power feed
• Sawing machines with fixed tool during operation, having a manually operated reciprocating saw-bench or carriage
• Sawing machines with fixed tool during operation, having a built-in mechanical feed device for the work-pieces, with manual loading and/or unloading
• Sawing machines with movable tool during operation, with a mechanical feed device and manual loading and/or unloading
• Hand-fed surface planning machines for woodworking
• Thicknesses for one-side dressing with manual loading and/or unloading for woodworking.
• Band-saws with a fixed or mobile bed and band-saws with a mobile carriage, with manual loading and/or unloading, for working with wood and analogous materials or for working with meat and analogous materials
• Combined machines of the types referred to in 1 to 4 and 7 for working with wood and analogous materials
• Hand-fed tenoning machines with several tool holders for woodworking
• Hand-fed vertical spindle molding machines for working with wood and analogous materials
• Portable chainsaws for woodworking
• Presses, including press-brakes, for the cold working of metals, with manual loading and/or unloading, whose movable working parts may have a travel exceeding 6 mm and a speed exceeding 30 mm/s
• Injection or compression plastics-molding machines with manual loading or unloading
• Injection or compression rubber-molding machines with manual loading or unloading
• Machinery for underground working of the following types:
  • machinery on rails: locomotives and brake-vans
  • hydraulic-powered roof supports
  • internal combustion engines to be fitted to machinery for underground working
• Manually-loaded trucks for the collection of household refuse incorporating a compression mechanism
• Guards and detachable transmission shafts
• Vehicle servicing lifts
• Devices for the lifting of persons involving a risk of falling from a vertical height of more than three meters
• Machines for the manufacture of pyrotechnics

Safety components

• Electro-sensitive devices designed specifically to detect persons in order to ensure their safety (non-material barriers, sensor mats, electromagnetic detectors, etc.)
• Logic units which ensure the safety functions of bimanual controls
• Automatic movable screens to protect presses
• Roll-over protection structures (ROPS)
• Falling-object protective structures (FOPS)

Excluded Machinery

• Machinery whose only power source is directly applied manual effort, unless it is a machine used for lifting or lowering loads
• Machinery for medical use used in direct contact with patients
• Special equipment for use in fairgrounds and/or amusement parks
• Steam boilers, tanks and pressure vessels
• Machinery specially designed or put into service for nuclear purposes which, in the event of failure, may result in an emission of radioactivity
• Radioactive sources forming part of a machine
• Firearms
• Storage tanks and pipelines for petrol, diesel fuel, inflammable liquids and dangerous substances
• Means of transport, i.e. vehicles and their trailers intended solely for transporting passengers by air or on road, rail or water networks, as well as means of transport in so far as such means are designed for transporting goods by air, on public road or rail networks or on water; Vehicles used in the mineral extraction industry shall not be excluded
• Seagoing vessels and mobile offshore units together with equipment on board such vessels or units
• Cableways, including funicular railways, for the public or private transportation of persons
• Agricultural and forestry tractors, as defined in Article 1(1) of Directive 74/150/EEC (7)
• Machines specially designed and constructed for military or police purposes
• Lifts which permanently serve specific levels of buildings and constructions, having a car moving between guides which are rigid and inclined at an angle of more than 15 degrees to the horizontal and designed for the transport of:
  • persons
  • persons and goods
  • goods alone if the car is accessible, that is to say, a person may enter it without difficulty, and fitted with controls situated inside the car or within reach of a person inside
• Means of transport of persons using rack and pinion rail mounted vehicles
• Mine winding gear
• Theatre elevators
• Construction site hoists intended for lifting persons or persons and goods