Power tools - testing safety requirements for dangerous tools Oct.2016

Circular saws are at the top of any dangerous tools list. Statistics indicate that tool-related injuries are on the rise and this might have a connection

with the DIY revolution, which brings this kind of dangerous machinery in the hands of less experienced consumers.

This is why a number of 100 circular saws will be tested soon, during the Joint Action 2015. In the following months, the 10 participating Market Surveillance Authorities will sample the products with a focus on the whole hand-held electric circular saws market. This includes not only the professional market, but also the DIY consumer market. The participants expressed their concern that an important part of the professional tools have migrated into the DIY consumer market and cheap products with unknown brand names, often from outside the EU, come available in the lower end of the market.

The next step in this project will be to select an appropriate laboratory to test the products against the harmonised European standard EN 60745-1 and more specifically EN 60745-2-5, elaborating on the safety requirements of the Machine Directive. The Member States follow up activities will be determined by the results of the risk assessment based on realistic scenarios and the nonconformity discovered during the testing. Consumer products which are hazardous in their application should be manufactured according to the requirements in order to at least have a product that is safe from a technical aspect. Besides, the full warnings and instructions, as described in the standard, should be found again in the instructions for use.

Power Tools is for the second time an activity in a Joint Action. Power Tools 1 concentrated on the dangerous hand-held electric angle grinders and the tests have approached the final stage. 60 grinders were sampled and verified in an accredited laboratory and the results shall be shared with 12 participating market surveillance authorities with the aim to start risk assessments and interventions.