rapidFOX
Sustainability
Company
Get in touch
The European standard for manually controlled load manipulating devices. It sets the safety requirements for equipment where the operator guides the load while the device carries it – covering actuating forces, load-holding devices, behaviour on loss of power and marking. It is the reference against which the design of a manipulator has to be measured.
EN 14238 is titled “Cranes – Manually controlled load manipulating devices”. It is the European product standard for devices where a person guides the load directly by hand while the device carries or balances the weight. The operator stands within the range of movement of the load – that distinguishes the manipulator from a crane with a pendant and from a robot behind a guard fence, and it shapes the safety requirements.
Machinery safety standards are organised on three levels. Type A standards such as EN ISO 12100 define basic concepts and the method of risk assessment. Type B standards deal with individual safety aspects or safeguards, for example EN ISO 13849-1 on safety-related control systems. Type C standards cover a particular kind of machine – EN 14238 is one of them.
Where a type C standard regulates a requirement specifically, it takes precedence over the more general standards. Harmonised standards give a presumption that the requirements of EU machinery law they cover are met; the edition listed in the Official Journal of the EU is the one that counts.
Like every product standard it follows a fixed structure: list of significant hazards, safety requirements and protective measures, verification, information for use. In substance it addresses what characterises a manually guided manipulator.
The standard does not cover everything hanging at a workstation. Non-fixed load lifting attachments come under EN 13155, power-driven hoists under EN 14492-2, industrial robots under EN ISO 10218. A permanently fitted gripper, by contrast, is part of the machine and is assessed with it.
A product standard describes the typical manipulator. The risk assessment for the actual device remains the manufacturer’s task – above all for everything the standard cannot know: the gripper, the part, the sequence, the environment. And it addresses the manufacturer. The operator’s duties – risk assessment, instruction, periodic inspection – follow from national law; in Germany from the Industrial Safety Ordinance, in the United Kingdom from PUWER and LOLER.
What Entracon offers here is on the matching page.
See what we offer| Standard | Subject |
|---|---|
| EN ISO 12100 | risk assessment and risk reduction, basic standard |
| EN 14238 | manually controlled load manipulating devices |
| EN 13155 | non-fixed load lifting attachments |
| EN 14492-2 | power-driven hoists |
| EN ISO 13849-1 | safety-related parts of control systems |
| EN ISO 10218 | industrial robots |
No. Standards are voluntary; the requirements of EU machinery law are binding. Applying a harmonised standard, however, gives the presumption of conformity. Anyone who deviates has to demonstrate that their solution achieves the same level of safety.
A permanently fitted gripper is part of the manipulator and is covered by its risk assessment. A lifting attachment placed on the market separately and hung on the device comes under EN 13155.
A manually controlled manipulator follows the operator’s hand at every moment and executes no programmed sequence. An industrial robot moves under program control and comes under EN ISO 10218, with entirely different protective concepts.
One short conversation usually settles more than three quotations. Call or write — you will reach an engineer directly.
Start typing – for example “balancer”, “SAP” or “pipe stress”.
Reach Entracon
How can we help?
Thank you.
