On New Year‘s Eve we bid farewell to 2011 and the standard EN 954-1, and we welcome the “Machinery Safety Alliance” - a new and unique collaboration between Festo, Fortress Interlocks, Pilz Automation Technology, Troax, UK Engineering, and Werma - each providing expertise from its own field to help machine builders and users make sense of safety, and to safeguard their productivity.

Following recommendations made in an industry study last year, the Application of Automation in UK Manufacturing 27 Sept 2010, Government has now awarded £600,000 to fund an Automating Manufacturing Programme managed by BARA which aims to encourage the uptake of automation among UK manufacturers.

BEAMA’s Low Voltage Switchboard Technical Committee has published two new guides - the much anticipated new Guide to Forms of Separation and the updated  Guide to Verification relating to BS EN 61439-2.

This Power Factor Correction guidance document has been compiled by ECA in conjunction with BEAMA.

Download here

electrical industry pfc news,www.thepanelbuilder.co.uk

Imagine for a moment this idyllic situation; you buy shares in a company where the return is guaranteed. People would queue up to invest their money in this new, risk free, stock market. Although such utopian circumstances don’t apply to the FTSE, they do apply to variable speed drives (VSDs).

The sensors and measurement industry has many regulatory and technical issues that need to be addressed and understood. GAMBICA, the national organisation representing the interests of companies in the instrumentation, control, automation and laboratory technology sectors in the UK, helps UK based businesses address these issues and acts on their behalf.

The RCD Handbook – BEAMA Guide to the Selection and Application of Residual Current Devices – 2010 has been revised to align it with the Seventeenth Edition of the IET Wiring Regulations (BS 7671:2008).

Have you delivered genuine improvements in health and safety?
The 'Innovation in safety - small business award' is a new competition from IOSH and the HSE to find new ideas to improve health and safety in small businesses. We've launched this competition to find new ideas to help small businesses keep their employees safe and healthy at work - without stopping the day job.

panel builder technical guides,thepanelbuilder.co.uk
Under current electrical and safety legislation it is a requirement that equipment purchased within Europe (EEA) should be both fit for purpose and safe. Subject to any overriding national legislation, this may be demonstrated through meeting the requirements of European harmonised standards. These are implemented in the UK as BS EN standards.

The guide is a concise 4 page overview of the important considerations for selecting efficient motors and controls, with a focus on the life-cycle costs of a motor driven system.