Machine Safety Inspections

Every Guard Evaluated. Every Hazard Documented.

Machine-related incidents remain one of the leading causes of serious injury and fatality in industrial and manufacturing environments across Africa. Inadequate guarding, non-compliant control systems and unmaintained safety interlocks expose workers to preventable risks — and expose employers to regulatory liability.

Nexis Process Safety conducts comprehensive machine safety inspections and risk assessments that evaluate each machine against the applicable EU Machinery Directives, ISO/EN functional safety standards and OSHA regulatory requirements. Our assessments identify non-conformances, quantify risk levels, and deliver a prioritised corrective action plan with clear implementation guidance.

We serve facilities requiring compliance with South African OHS Act General Machinery Regulations, EU CE-marked machinery conformity verification, and operations applying OSHA 29 CFR 1910 Subpart O requirements.

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Machine Safety Services

Machine Safety Inspection & Non-Conformance Audit
Risk Assessment — ISO 12100 / ISO 12001-1,2
Control System Functional Safety — ISO 13849 / IEC 62061
Performance Level (PL) & SIL Determination
Electrical Equipment Safety Review — EN 60204-1:2018
Lockout / Tagout (LOTO) Programme Assessment
Safeguard Selection & Safety Distance Calculation
Emergency Stop Function Verification — EN/ISO 13850
Interlocking Device Review — ISO 14119:2024
CE Marking Conformity Assessment Support
OSHA 29 CFR 1910 Subpart O Compliance Review
Corrective Action Register & Close-Out Tracking

Risk Assessment Methodology

Systematic Hazard Identification from Design to Decommissioning

All Nexis Process Safety machine safety assessments begin with a structured risk assessment in accordance with ISO 12100:2010 (Safety of machinery — General principles for design — Risk assessment and risk reduction), the global reference standard formerly published as ISO 12100-1 and ISO 12100-2.

Step 1 — Define Machine Limits

Establish the full scope of intended use, reasonably foreseeable misuse, life-cycle phases and operating environment before any hazard identification begins.

Intended use and operating modes (setup, production, maintenance, cleaning)
Personnel and third-party exposure assessment
Spatial, temporal and environmental limits
Foreseeable misuse and abnormal operating conditions
Applicable regulatory framework determination

Step 2 — Hazard Identification

A systematic walkdown-based inspection cataloguing every mechanical, electrical, thermal, noise, vibration and ergonomic hazard associated with the machine and its operating environment.

Mechanical hazards — crushing, shearing, cutting, entanglement, drawing-in, impact, stabbing, friction, ejection
Electrical hazards — direct/indirect contact, electrostatic phenomena
Thermal hazards — contact with hot surfaces, flames, explosion
Noise and vibration hazard identification
Hazardous substances — fluids, dust, mists and fumes
Ergonomic and human factors hazards
Hazards from failure of control systems

Step 3 — Risk Estimation & Evaluation

Each identified hazard is risk-ranked against a structured risk matrix considering severity of potential harm, frequency and duration of exposure, and probability of occurrence.

Risk graph / matrix assessment per ISO 12100
Severity classification (catastrophic / severe / minor)
Frequency and exposure duration assessment
Avoidance / limitation probability assessment
Existing safeguard credit assessment
Risk tolerability determination against defined criteria
Required Performance Level (PLr) or SIL determination for each safety function

Functional Safety of Control Systems

ISO 13849 Performance Level & IEC 62061 SIL Verification

When risk reduction requires safety functions to be implemented in the machine control system — interlocked guards, light curtains, emergency stops, two-hand controls — the safety-related parts of those control systems must be designed and verified to an appropriate Performance Level (PL) or Safety Integrity Level (SIL).

ISO 13849-1 — Performance Level

ISO 13849-1 provides a Category-based architecture approach combined with quantitative reliability data to determine the achieved Performance Level (PL a–e) of safety-related control system parts. Applicable to all technologies — electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic and mechanical.

Safety function identification and SRS documentation
Required PLr determination from risk assessment
Architecture category selection (Categories B, 1, 2, 3, 4)
MTTFd, DC and CCF calculation
Achieved PL calculation and PLr vs PL comparison
Software safety requirements for Category 3/4 systems
Validation against EN ISO 13849-2

IEC 62061 — Safety Integrity Level

IEC 62061 applies a SIL-based probabilistic methodology to Safety-related Control Systems (SCS) for machinery, specifically covering electrical, electronic and programmable electronic systems. Harmonised with IEC 61508 and accepted as equivalent to ISO 13849 under the EU Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230.

Safety Integrity Requirement (SIR) determination
Hardware Fault Tolerance (HFT) requirements assessment
PFHd calculation across sensor, logic and actuator subsystems
Common Cause Failure (CCF) evaluation
Systematic capability and software safety requirements
SIL achieved vs SIL required verification

PL / SIL Correspondence

ISO 13849 and IEC 62061 are formally harmonised. Nexis Process Safety assists clients in selecting the appropriate standard and understanding PL-to-SIL equivalence for mixed-technology control systems and cross-standard subsystem integration.

PL a ≈ no SIL equivalent (low integrity)
PL b / c ≈ SIL 1 (PFHd 10^-5 to 10^-6/hr)
PL d ≈ SIL 2 (PFHd 10^-6 to 10^-7/hr)
PL e ≈ SIL 3 (PFHd 10^-7 to 10^-8/hr)
Guidance on subsystem cross-standard use
Alignment with EU Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230

Electrical Safety & Hazardous Energy Control

EN 60204-1 Compliance & LOTO Programme Assessment

The electrical safety of machines and the control of hazardous energy during maintenance and servicing are two of the most frequently cited deficiencies in machine safety inspections. Nexis Process Safety evaluates both in every assessment.

EN 60204-1:2018/A1:2025

Safety of Machinery — Electrical Equipment of Machines — Part 1. The primary standard governing the design, construction and verification of electrical equipment fitted to industrial machines. Amendment A1:2025 incorporates updates aligned to the EU Machinery Regulation.

Incoming supply, disconnection and switching devices
Protection against electric shock (direct and indirect contact)
Equipotential bonding and earthing
Control circuits and control functions
Control panel layout, degrees of protection (IP ratings)
Conductors, cables and flexible cords
Motors, actuators and associated equipment
Technical documentation and verification requirements

LOTO — Control of Hazardous Energy

Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) programmes prevent the unexpected energisation or startup of machines during servicing and maintenance. Assessment covers procedural compliance, machine-specific LOTO procedures, and verification of energy isolation provisions.

29 CFR 1910.147 compliance review (OSHA LOTO standard)
OHS Act General Machinery Regulations compliance
Energy source identification — electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic, gravitational, thermal, chemical
Machine-specific LOTO procedure adequacy review
Energy isolation point accessibility and labelling
LOTO hardware — locks, hasps, tags, blocks and pins
Training records and competency verification
Periodic inspection programme review

OSHA 29 CFR 1910 Subpart S

Electrical safety standards applicable to industrial installations and machine wiring. Relevant for facilities benchmarking against OSHA requirements or for operators exporting machinery to OSHA-regulated markets.

Wiring design and protection standards
Hazardous (classified) location wiring methods
Grounding and bonding requirements
Switchboards, panelboards and industrial control equipment
Motors, motor circuits and controllers
Safety signs and tags — 29 CFR 1910.145

Safeguarding & Protective Devices

Guards, Safety Distances, Interlocks and Emergency Stops

The physical safeguarding of machines is the primary line of defence against mechanical hazard contact. Nexis Process Safety evaluates safeguard type suitability, positioning in accordance with the approach speed standards, and interlock device compliance against current international requirements.

Safeguard Types & Selection

Safeguard type is determined by the access requirement and residual risk level. We assess whether the correct safeguard type has been selected for each hazardous area and whether it has been correctly implemented.

Fixed guards — permanently secured, no access required during normal operation
Interlocked movable guards — access permitted when machine is at rest; control system interlock prevents operation with guard open
Interlocked guards with guard locking — guard cannot be opened until safe state is confirmed (ISO 14119)
Adjustable guards — operator-adjusted for work-piece variation; residual opening per ISO 13857
Sensitive protective equipment — light curtains, safety light grids, pressure-sensitive mats
Two-hand control devices — both hands occupied during the hazardous cycle; Category 4 / PL e typically required
Enabling devices — three-position hold-to-run for programming and maintenance modes

Safety Distances — ISO 13857 & ISO 13855

Safety distances ensure that a hazard has stopped or reached a safe state before a person can reach it. Nexis Process Safety verifies guard and presence-sensing device positioning against the relevant ISO tables.

ISO 13857:2019, Table 1 — Safety distances for upper limbs (adult and child)
ISO 13857:2019, Table 2 — Safety distances to prevent access by upper limbs through openings
ISO 13857:2019, Table 3 — Safety distances for lower limbs
ISO 13857:2019, Table 4 — Minimum distances to prevent reaching hazardous areas over protective structures
ISO 13855:2024 — Positioning of safeguards with respect to approach speeds of the human body (hand speed constant K); applies to light curtains, light grids, interlocking guards without guard locking and two-hand controls
Response time and stopping time measurement and verification
Minimum distance (S) calculation: S = K × (t₁ + t₂) + additional distance

Interlocks & Emergency Stop

Interlocking devices and emergency stop functions are safety-critical machine components. Non-compliant or poorly maintained examples are among the most common findings in machine safety audits.

ISO 14119:2024 — Interlocking devices associated with guards: design principles, selection criteria, actuator types, manipulation resistance (coding levels) and maximum unlocking force
Guard locking device selection and actuating force review
Interlocking device coding levels (uncoded / low / medium / high) against manipulation risk
EN/ISO 13850 — Emergency stop function: actuator colour and identification (red on yellow), stop categories (0, 1, 2 per IEC 60204-1), reset requirements and performance requirements (minimum PLc or SIL 1)
Emergency stop circuit architecture review
Functional testing of all interlocking and E-stop devices

Applicable Standards

The Regulatory & Technical Framework We Apply

Machine safety compliance is determined by the applicable regulatory framework — governed by the date of commissioning, the country of installation and the type of machine. Nexis Process Safety maps each machine to the correct legislative and technical requirements.

EU Machinery Directives

The applicable EU Directive is determined by the date on which the machine was first placed on the market / commissioned:

After 01/01/1993 — Directive 89/392/EEC, Annex I (Original Machinery Directive)
After 11/08/1998 — Directive 98/37/EC, Annex I (Consolidated Machinery Directive)
After 29/12/2009 — Directive 2006/42/EC, Annex I (Current Machinery Directive)
After 15/12/2011 — Directive 2006/42/EC as amended by Directive 2009/128/EC, Annex I
Directive 2009/104/EC, Annex II — Provisions concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the use of work equipment by workers (applies to all machines in use, regardless of commissioning date)
EU Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 — Successor to 2006/42/EC, applicable from 20 January 2027 for new machines placed on the EU market

OSHA Regulatory Standards (USA)

Applied by facilities exporting to OSHA-regulated markets or benchmarking operations against US regulatory requirements:

29 CFR 1910 Subpart O — Machinery and Machine Guarding (§1910.211–219): general requirements, woodworking, abrasive wheels, mills, mechanical power presses, forging machines
29 CFR 1910 Subpart S — Electrical safety standards for machine wiring and control installations
29 CFR 1910.145 — Specifications for accident prevention signs and tags: signal words, colours, formats and placement requirements
29 CFR 1910.147 — The Control of Hazardous Energy (LOTO): energy control procedures, hardware requirements, training and periodic inspections

Risk Assessment Standards

ISO 12100:2010 (formerly ISO 12100-1 & ISO 12100-2) — Safety of machinery: General principles for design — Risk assessment and risk reduction. The overarching risk assessment methodology for all machinery.
ISO 12001-1, -2 — Risk assessment supporting standards referenced alongside ISO 12100
EN 415-10 — Safety of packaging machinery — Part 10: Noise measurement methods (relevant for total hazard assessment on packaging lines)

Control System & Functional Safety

EN ISO 13849-1:2015 — Safety-related parts of control systems: Performance Level (PL a–e), Categories B–4
IEC 62061:2021 — Functional safety of electrical/electronic/programmable safety-related control systems for machinery: SIL 1–3
EN 60204-1:2018/A1:2025 — Safety of machinery — Electrical equipment of machines — Part 1: General requirements

Safeguarding & Safety Distances

ISO 13857:2019, Tables 1–4 — Safety distances to prevent hazardous areas being reached by upper and lower limbs
ISO 13855:2024 — Positioning of safeguards with respect to approach speeds of the human body (K values and minimum distance calculation)
ISO 14119:2024 — Interlocking devices associated with guards: design and selection principles, coding levels, maximum manipulation force
EN/ISO 13850:2015 — Safety of machinery — Emergency stop function: Principles for design, actuator identification, stop categories, minimum PLc

South African Regulatory Requirements

OHS Act, Act 85 of 1993 — Occupational Health and Safety Act: overarching duty of care for employer to ensure machinery is safe
General Machinery Regulations, 1988 (GN R 1521) — Supervision of machinery, safeguarding obligations, prohibition on working on moving machinery, and current Draft General Machinery Regulations 2025 (GN 6532, August 2025)
Driven Machinery Regulations — Applicable to rotating and driven equipment: drives, couplings, transmissions and conveyors
SANS / SABS standards — Applicable local standards referenced in machine-specific assessments

When You Need a Machine Safety Assessment

Six Triggers That Require a Formal Inspection

New Machine Commissioning

All new machines commissioned in South Africa must comply with applicable standards before first use. Nexis Process Safety conducts pre-commissioning inspections to verify compliance and identify items for close-out before operators are exposed.

Legacy Machine Re-Assessment

Machines commissioned before current standards were enacted may not meet contemporary requirements. A structured re-assessment identifies gaps against Directive 2009/104/EC (use of work equipment) or the OHS Act GMR.

Post-Incident Investigation

A machine-related incident or near-miss is a regulatory trigger for a formal inspection. We provide independent post-incident machine safety assessment and root-cause analysis in support of DOEL statutory reporting requirements.

Regulatory Audit Preparation

Inspection by Department of Employment and Labour (DOEL), insurance underwriters or a client safety requirement can trigger the need for documented machine safety compliance evidence. Our report provides the required audit trail.

Modification or Upgrade

Any significant modification to a machine may require re-assessment of the original CE marking, re-evaluation of the PSSR Written Scheme of Examination, or a full risk assessment under ISO 12100. We advise and execute as required.

Routine Scheduled Inspection

Best practice and many insurance frameworks require periodic machine safety inspections. Nexis Process Safety offers annual or biennial scheduled assessment programmes to provide ongoing compliance assurance.

Study Deliverables

A Complete, Regulator-Ready Document Package

Every Nexis Process Safety machine safety inspection concludes with a comprehensive written report and action register — structured to serve as the primary documentary evidence of compliance assessment for the OHS Act, insurance underwriters and client management.

Machine Safety Inspection Report

A formal written report documenting the assessment methodology, standards applied, machine inventory, hazard identification findings and compliance status for each machine or machine line inspected.

Machine identification register (manufacturer, model, serial, commissioning date)
Applicable Machinery Directive / standard determination per machine
Hazard identification summary with risk rating
Non-conformance schedule with photographic evidence
Compliance status summary (conforming / minor NC / major NC / critical)

Risk Assessment Register

A structured ISO 12100-aligned risk assessment register for each machine or significant hazardous zone, providing the documented risk estimation and evaluation required for compliance demonstration.

Hazard description and associated life-cycle phase
Pre-safeguard risk level (severity × probability)
Current safeguard description and adequacy assessment
Residual risk level post-safeguard
Required Performance Level (PLr) for each safety function
Risk tolerability determination and basis

Corrective Action Register

A prioritised corrective action register linking each non-conformance to a specific remediation action, responsible party and recommended timeline — structured to support close-out tracking and management review.

Non-conformance description with reference to applicable standard clause
Recommended corrective action with technical specification
Risk priority classification (immediate / short-term / long-term)
Estimated implementation complexity guidance
Close-out verification criteria
Available in Excel register format for project management integration