International Electrotechnical Commission

Guidelines for safety related risk assessment and risk reduction for low voltage equipment - Edition 1.0; Includes Access to Additional Content
 N GUIDE 116

Annotation

This non-mandatory IEC Guide complements ISO/IEC Guide 51 and establishes guidelines useful 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 IEC guide should be used by technical committees as far as appropriate and to the extent they decide to apply it.

This IEC Guide gives additional guidance to ISO/IEC Guide 50, 51 and 71 on the information required to allow risk assessment to be performed. 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 damages to persons, property, and livestock. It is not intended that the structure of this guide be adopted by technical committees.

The purpose of this IEC 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. Components intended not to be used alone can only be assessed insofar as the manufacturer can predict the reasonably foreseeable use.

The voltage range considered in this IEC Guide is up to 1000 V a.c. (1 500 V d.c.). Low voltage equipment generating internal voltages higher than 1 000 V a.c. (1 500 V d.c.) are covered, provided these voltages are not touchable (example: TV set with internal HV cascade).