1.3 Use of work equipment directive 89/655/EEC
Use of Work Equipment Directive 89/655/EEC supplemented by Directive 95/63 EC contains the minimum specifications for safety and health protection with the use of work equipment. It applies to the operating company (employer) and in Section II includes the following 8 articles:
- Article 3 General Obligations regulates the obligations of the employer and logically requires that the employer ensures that the safety and protection of health are guaranteed with the operation of the work equipment provided.
- Article 4 Regulations for work equipment
- Article 4a Checking the work equipment.
The employer ensures that the work equipment has undergone an initial test in line with the individual national legal regulations before the initial operation and after every new installation. The Member States define the modalities for these checks. In Germany this is the Ordinance On Industrial Safety and Health (see below).
- Article 5 Specifically hazardous work equipment
- Article 5a Ergonomics and health protection in the workplace
- Article 6 Informing workers
- Article 7 Training of workers
- Article 8 Consultation and involvement of the worker
Use of Work Equipment Directive 89/655/EEC can be found in its original text at http://eur-lex.europa.eu.
Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health
With the Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health, Directives 89/655/EEC, 95/63/EC and other directives from the work safety area are implemented in German Law. Extracts of just two paragraphs of section 2 will be presented in the following:
§3 Hazard evaluation
| (3) |
Type, scope and periods of required tests must in particular be determined for the work equipment. Furthermore the employer must determine and define the necessary requirements that the people that are commissioned by the employer with the testing of work equipment must satisfy. |
§10 Work equipment test
| (1) |
The employer must ensure that the work equipment, the safety of which depends on the installation conditions, is tested after installation and before initial operation, as well as after every installation at a new construction site or at a new location. The purpose of the test is to verify the proper installation and safe functioning of this work equipment. The test may only be performed by qualified personnel.
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| (3) |
The employer must ensure that the safe operation of work equipment is tested by qualified personnel after maintenance work that could impair the safety of the work equipment. |
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