PROF. DR.-ING. Ulrich Adolph, Head of the Technology Division of TÜV NORD CERT GmbH and Jaime Alonso, Technical Director of Pilz International Services Group are giving an update about the common objectives and challenges in machinery safety. Machinery safety has changed tremendously in the last few years. This applies to the status of the standards as well as the technology. In both these areas, the complexity has increased significantly. To be on the safe side today’s machine builders and users need appropriate specialist knowledge – this is true worldwide.

Collaboration between TÜV NORD and PILZ was a natural progression in the process to meet the industry demands to establish the CMSE® course.

– There has not been a course offering standardized international certification, whereby a manufacturer who has attended the course in Brazil has the opportunity to apply his knowledge in Italy, for example,

confirms Professor Adolph.

Until now there has been no special training for machinery safety with independent certification at this level in the industry. Participants who attend the course and pass the test will obtain the certificate as a CMSE®. They are recognized as experts in the field of machinery safety. Companies ultimately gain the assurance that there is an expert in the company with the knowledge required to make informed decisions on machinery safety and to ensure machinery is being designed and upgraded with the strictest safety in mind.

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Ulrich Adolph & Jaime Alonso

– An internal CMSE® ensures maximum knowledge transfer to colleagues and allows the machinery safety expertise to trickle down through the organization, says Mr Alonso.

Partnering companies confirm that co-operation brings real benefits to the industry:

– Both partners complement each other very well with their profound technical know-how: For example, we were able to bring our experience in certification and in the development of such training formats. Pilz brings excellent knowledge of the current status of the standards into the cooperation, says Professor Adolph.

– TÜV NORD is a globally recognized name, which represents objectivity and quality. These values are synonymous with TÜV NORD throughout the world. For us it was important to offer a course that was not only product-neutral but also provided a machinery safety qualification that was independently certified. Attendees can be confident our two organizations demand the highest quality from each other, delivering training and certification to this standard to participants, confirms Mr Alonso.

Comparison to existing training courses available for machinery safety partners confirms that they can offer more than has been previously available so far.

– The CMSE® course is the first international training certificate at this level in the field of machinery safety. TÜV NORD and Pilz cover all the relevant machinery safety content within a compact course, and to a uniform, international standard. Nonetheless, local standards or regulations are also taken into account, says Mr Alonso.

It was a challenge to set up the training for machinery safety with independent certification and put everything into practice

– It was indeed a challenge to take the enormous array of internationally applicable standards and specifications into consideration. At the same time, we had to structure the content so that it offered sufficient technical depth with respect to any particular country. As Pilz operates as an international network we are in a position to offer the same quality of course worldwide, says Mr Alonso.

– The aim is to offer the course in as many languages as possible, so that the demanding content comes through. After all, people learn best in their mother tongue. However, that requires a certain amount of logistical planning. The right, competent person must be in the right place, i.e. in the right country, at the right time. Both Pilz and TUV NORD benefit from their strong international orientation, says Professor Adolph.