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Machine guarding

FAQ - What are the safety advantages of having a click fitting for guard fences?

 

The advantages of Axelent’s Smart fastening system

  • All applicable safety requirements of ISO 14120, ANSI B11.19 and CSA Z432 are met by this unique click fitting system.
  • It offers fast and easy installation compared to other systems on the market.
  • It ensures that panels are very easy to re-install after they have been removed for maintenance; this will make it more likely for maintenance staff to re-install them after finishing their work.
  • It features “no-loss fasteners” – all fastening elements remain on the post and the panel, none can drop to the floor, none can be lost.
  • It prevents unauthorised access to hazard areas because the special X-key tool is needed to open the fitting; possession of the X-key can be limited to maintenance staff.
  • It allows the panel to tilt and slide to the ground after release; the guard is unable to stay in place without its fixings 

 

ISO 14120 contains a number of requirements for fixed guards, which – at first glance – appear difficult to meet at the same time: 

  1. Demountable fixed parts of guards shall only be removable with the use of a tool (5.3.9)
  2. A fixed guard shall (where possible) be unable to remain in place without its fixings (5.310)
  3. When a fixed guard is removed, the fastenings shall remain attached to the guard or the machinery (5.19)
  4. Fixed guards shall be designed to prevent easy removal (5.3.9)
  5. Fixed guards shall be easy to re-install (6.4.4.1 b) 

 The requirements 4 and 5, particularly, appear to contradict one another. 

 

How can a guard be not easy to remove, but easy to re-install at the same time? 

The answer is a click fitting system as is used in Axelent’s X-Guard series. Guard fencing panels can only be removed with a special tool, the X-key. If you do not have an X-key, it is not only difficult to remove the guard, it is impossible! Re-installing a panels is very easy. Simply slide the panel into the bottom guides and click it into place on top. 

 

Is a click fitting the same as a “quick-release fastener”? 

A paper by the German accident prevention authorities says no. The paper is meant to help interpret section 5.3.9 of ISO 14120 and says that a quick-release fastener can be released without using a tool or with everyday objects like a coin, pen, or nail file. However, ISO 14120 rules that such fasteners must not be used on the outside of fixed guards because they make sidestepping the guard too easy. How much attention has the German statement received in global markets? (Compare ISO 14120 section 5.3.9 and DGUV paper FBHM-130:2022) 

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