Hygenic devices meet EC food ruling

Hygienic push buttons, control devices and indicator lights are designed specifically to meet the health and safety requirements of EC machine directives for the food and beverage market.

New safety regulations governing the installation of hygienic components on food and beverage manufacturing and packaging machinery, recommend that machine designers fit the best equipment available at the time.

With this in mind, Schmersal has introduced a range of hygienic push buttons, control devices and indicator lights that managing director Terry Hayward claims are the best because, unlike other ranges, they are not adapted from commercially available products but are designed specifically to meet the health and safety requirements of EC machine directives for the food and beverage market.

Special attention has been paid to materials, shapes and sealing and the range meets two key safety requirements - employee protection from infection and disease, and consumer protection from product contamination.

The surfaces of the control devices and indicator lights in contact with food are specially shaped to avoid the accumulation of dirt and bacteria and areas not accessible are sealed against the ingress of organic substances.

The range is designed to be easily cleaned and components are manufactured in materials approved to European directive standards for use in food and beverage areas.

The comprehensive range includes standard pushbuttons, LED illuminated pushbuttons, mushroom buttons, two and three position selector switches with and without lockable covers, emergency-stop devices, LED high and flat pilot lights, and blanking plugs.

They are designed for 22.3 mm fixing holes or 30.5 mm using an adapter.

They are IP67 protected to EN 60529 - including protection against the penetration of water in cases of permanent submersion - and conform to IP69K according to DIN 40050 Part 9, including protection against water pressure/steam jet up to 100 bar and at 80 deg C.

All devices also conform to the special requirements of EN 1672-1 and 2 for food machines; EN 13570 for mixing machines; and EN 12266 for endless saw machines; and they have satisfied the additional requirements of the EC Machine Directive in Annex 1 Point 2.1 'Basic health and safety requirements for food processing machine'.

ayward also points out that the CEN standards should be used as a benchmark for existing machines, and where the standard of safeguarding is found to be lower than for new machines, a risk assessment should be carried out to assess whether it is practicable to upgrade the safety equipment.

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