The new 3rd Edition for ISO/IEC Guide 51, “Safety aspects – Guidelines for their inclusion in standards,” was developed for the technical committees of ISO and IEC. But there’s no organization that develops standards (including internal standards, industry standards and governmental standards) that should not consider the tenets of this new Guide.
Engineers sometimes tackle problems in a way that may not actually meet customers’ expectations of safety. It is important to remember that risks arise not only from the proper use of your product or process, but also from unintended uses too. The ISO/IEC Guide 51 provides a structure for helping folks in your organization get a real-world understanding of safety and how to build it into your definition documents.
The term “safety” in this standard is actually quite broad. It includes aspects related to people, property, and the environment. And the consideration of safety is to be extended to the entire life-cycle of the product or system. This would include design, production, distribution, use (including maintenance), and disposal. Not only that, but the standard requires that not only intended use but also reasonably foreseeable misuse be considered as an aspect of safety as well.
The first issue addressed in the document is a discussion of safety vs. risk. (I hear a sigh of relief from all you engineers out there!) Since the perception of safety is actually the reduction of risks from hazardous situations, the guide reviews the elements of risk. It then reviews a methodology for achieving tolerable risk. You’ll be pleased to note that there are ample flowcharts in this area that can assist in educating your product and standards developers in the concepts of risk.
Next the Guide 51 reviews how various types of standards rely on safety concepts in varying degrees. For example, safety standards may be for safety in general, for a group of products or systems, or for a specific item. And standards that don’t deal directly with safety may include aspects of safety as a part of the document, including the use of safety standards in the referenced documents section of the publication.
Lastly, the ISO/IEC Guide 51 reviews standards development, showing where safety concerns should be introduced into the process itself. You’ll find guidance on the topic during the proposal phase, drafting, and even during the development of warnings, instructions, and so on. Another useful feature of the 22 page update is the bibliography, which has 34 references for further review.
If you’ve already been using this guide, you’ll want to know where the changes are in the new 3rd Edition. You’ll find that the primary changes from the 2nd edition are as follows:
- The concept of risk reduction is strengthened, and Figure 2 has been revised.
- “Harmful event” is now “hazardous event.”
- Terms relating to consumer safety have been updated.
- Figure 3 has been revised, with more detail of risk reduction steps.
- The Introduction provides more background information.
- The concept of vulnerable consumers is expanded.
- Referenced documents and the bibliography are revised.
- Clauses 6 and 7 have been reorganized and consolidated.
Safety considerations should be at the top of the list for every standards developer. Certainly, adherence to this new Guide will be mandatory for the committees of ISO and IEC. If you’re responsible for the standardization within your organization, you’ll want to review this new Edition too.
You’ll get your copy from Document Center, either in paper format or for pdf download. Just go to our webstore at www.document-center.com. Or contact our staff by phone (650-591-7600), fax (650-591-7617) or email (info@document-center.com). We’ve been providing ISO and IEC standards under license agreement since the 1990’s. Our responsive and knowledgeable staff are the reason customers keep coming back. Make us your Standards Experts too!
