CENELEC Guide 32

Guidelines for Safety Related Risk Assessment and Risk Reduction for Low Voltage Equipment

07.2014

This CENELEC Guide complements ISO/IEC Guide 51 and establishes useful guidelines for  achieving safety in low voltage (LV) equipment. These guidelines include risk assessment, in which the knowledge and experience of the design, use, incidents, accidents and harm  related to low voltage equipment are brought together in order to assess the risks during the  relevant phases of the life of the equipment, as specified in Clause 6, and to implement the  basics for risk reduction measures. 

This CENELEC guide should be used by Technical Committees as far as appropriate and to the extent they decide to apply it.

This CENELEC Guide gives additional guidance to ISO/IEC Guide 51 and 71 and CEN/CENELEC Guide 14 on performing a risk assessment in more detail with practical  information. 

Procedures are described for identifying hazards, estimating and evaluating risk (including comparison of risks) and risk reduction where necessary. 

Risks considered in this  document include possible damage to persons, property and domestic animals. 

It is not intended that the structure of this guide be adopted by Technical Committees.

The purpose of this CENELEC Guide is to provide guidance for Technical Committees for decisions to be made on the safety of low voltage equipment and the type of documentation  required to verify the risk assessment carried out. 

This CENELEC Guide applies to all electrical equipment designed for use with a voltage  rating of between 50 V and 1 000 V for alternating current and between 75 V and 1 500 V for direct current. 

Voltage ratings refer to the voltage of the electrical input or output, not to voltages that may appear inside the equipment (see EU Guidance document “Guidelines on  the application of Directive 2006/95/EC”).

Product standards shall require that the equipment documentation include adequate information for the safe use of equipment.