New standard in US and Canada – A92

In the beginning of February 2017, two new standards for safety relevant applications of aerial working platforms were established. Since this date, all manufacturers who intend to sell their machines in the United States and Canada have twelve months to implement the standard in all aerial work platforms manufactured since February 2017. Excluded from these standards are cranes and telescopic handlers because both machine types are different in comparison to aerial working platforms.

In the United States the standard is called A92, and it is managed by SAIA (a Secretariat of the ANSI). In Canada, this standard is known under the name CSA-B354. Both standards are similar to the European standard EN 280. In case of a safety-relevant system or feature all standards are refering to  EN ISO 13849-1 (established in 2009), formerly known as EN 954.

Measure of reliability of a safety function – the Performance Level (PL)

All three standards indicate how every machine must be designed, developed and manufactured to reach the right performance level (PL). The performance level is a measure of the reliability of a safety function or component. It indicates its safety on a scale from a (least PL) to e (highest PL) (please see the below picture). The higher the PL, the safer and more reliable the function is. The specified value of the performance level also has an impact on where a specific component may be used, since the PL must always be at least as high as the risk value at the point in question. 

Risk graph to determine the required performance level

To determine the required performance level (PL), a relatively simple diagram can be used, which is often referred to as a ‘risk graph’. It evaluates the risk for a given body based on three criteria:

1. Kind of injury:

• light injury
• heavy injury

Frequency and length of stay (how often and how long a person is using the machine/component):

• rarely until often
• frequently to continuously

Possible to avoid the risk:

• possible under certain conditions
• hardly possible

The required performance level can then be determined by tracking the corresponding paths in the risk graph. After that you will get a certain performance level, which can be a, b, c, d or e. This is the PL that the affected function must reach at least.

Which products from the MOBA portfolio are available through this standard change?

In North America, the same MOBA products can be used as in Europe. This is the goal that MOBA wants to reach: ‚to establish highest and uniform safety standards all over the world‘. 

MOBA‘s load cellMRW, e.g., meets the requirements to EN ISO 13849-1, thereby reaching PL d, the second highest reliability level. One reason for this is that the load cell is built redundantly, i.e. the load cell is designed with a two-channel technology - both channels control each other. Independent from the position of the load inside the working platform, the actual weight is measured. If this weight exceeds the configured critical values, an alarm will be activated or a security switch will be opened. 

Additional to this MRW, MOBA integrates system solutions in aerial work platforms. The system integration consists of slope sensors, controllers in different sizes for the related application, wire rope sensors, operating modules in different variations, such as an operating panel in which a display and a controller is installed.

Further reading

Read also: https://mobacommunity.com/blogs/entry/Safety-Components-for-Mobile-Elevating-Work-Platforms

https://mobacommunity.com/blogs/entry/Principle-of-a-construction-kit-for-your-aerial-work-platform-The-new-MCP-from-MOBA

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