What is BS EN 1974 about?
BS EN 1974 discusses food processing machinery. This European standard focuses on safety and hygiene requirements that the food processing industry should maintain to ensure the wellbeing of its employees and consumers.
BS EN 1974 specifies the safety and hygiene requirements for the design and manufacture, installation, training, uses, cleaning, and maintenance of slicing machines that are fitted with a motor-driven blade of more than 150 mm in diameter, provided with product support. These types of slicing machines are intended to be used in shops, restaurants, supermarkets, canteens, etc. to slice foodstuffs.
BS EN 1974 applies to the hazards arising during all the phases of the life of the machine as described in EN ISO 12100:2010.
Who is BS EN 1974 for?
BS EN 1974 on food processing machinery is useful for:
- Food processing machinery manufacturers
- Food processing machinery designers
- Entities involved in food processing machinery installation
- Machine safety and hygiene departments
- Risk assessment departments
Why should you use BS EN 1974?
Most machinery has the potential to cause injury to people, and machinery accidents figure prominently in official accident statistics.
BS EN 1974 helps you to design slicing machines considering the safety of the operators to reduce the risk of incidents. BS EN 1974 helps you to identify the hazards that can arise while operating the machine. BS EN 1974 provides you with the necessary cleaning and hygiene guidelines and identifies zones and components of the slicing machine that require regular cleaning. BS EN 1974 also provides you with test methods to verify the safety requirements are fulfilled in your food processing plant.
Overall, BS EN 1974 guidelines can help you to protect your employees from hazardous situations, decrease on-the-job accidents and injuries, and maximize productivity.
What is changed since the last update?
BS EN 1974:2020 supersedes EN 1974:1998+A1:2009 and includes some technical changes:
- The Scope Terms and definitions have been updated.
- General redraft of the list of significant hazards. General redraft on the verification of safety requirements and/or measures
- Safety and/or protective measure cross-reference added
- Improvement on blade protection requirements (blade guard, gauge plate, integrated blade sharpener, product support, stacker unit, and control system). Improvement on the hygiene section
- Update on the instruction handbook section, new requirements added