14 April 2022
EUnited Cleaning position paper on Autonomous Cleaning Machines
EUnited Cleaning has published a short position paper outlining our views with regard to product-specific safety standards for autonomous cleaning machines.
The paper firstly notes that autonomous machines, such as scrubber-dryers, are becoming increasingly important to the cleaning industry. However, the paper points out that these autonomous machines, which by the very fact that they are new and innovative, thereby confront manufacturers with the reality of new and emerging hazards. Consequently, this paper stresses the importance of manufacturers countering these new hazards by proving the safety and effectiveness of these machines through internationally recognized, product-specific international or European safety standards.
The paper then discusses how leading manufacturers of autonomous cleaning machines have already begun to develop an internationally agreed, product-specific safety standard that covers these new hazards. This has resulted in the introduction of the new safety standards C22.2 336-17 and IEC 63327, as well as the soon to be published EN 63327.
The paper points out that current established horizontal standards or standards for different products do not sufficiently take into account the product-specific hazards of autonomous cleaning machines. It is for this reason that producing a product-specific standard is an important and necessary step towards guaranteeing the safety and efficacy of autonomous machines.
The full paper is available here.
For any questions or comments, please contact Dr. Frederik King (frederik.king@eu-nited.net).
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