A sub-committee dealing with sheet metal forming machines met in London at the SOE offices in London between the 26 and 29 March. It welcomed 17 industry experts from Europe and as far afield as America, Canada, Japan and Australia.

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The group ISO/TC39 WG1, forms part of a wider international committee dealing with standards for the safety of machine tools. It brings essential knowledge and innovation to machine building, modern safety equipment and systems, machine certification and inspection, to revise or create new standards for global consistency.

This meeting’s work programme included finalising the final two parts of the new four-part standard for the safety of power presses, EN ISO 16092, and beginning the revision of the current standard for press brakes, EN 12622. Potential future work on powered folding machines was also discussed.

The group was welcomed to London by Vince Sharpe, who explained the role of the engineering institution SOE. It closed with a presentation by Richard Hulmes from SAFed, who explained how the membership organisation provides regulatory guidance in the UK, accreditation, inspection, and is supported by Allianz Engineering Construction and Power.

Vince Sharpe, Chair of the BES professional sector council, said: “BES and SOE are proud to host and welcome the ISO/ TC39 committee to London; a committee comprised of industry, a trade body, and inspection and safety professionals from across the world. This group meets on a regular basis to write international build and safety standards for metal forming machines. This is critical work to promote safety of machinery in the metal forming sector commonly known as power presses.”