What did Australian Standards get wrong with AS/NZS 4024.1:2014?

If you're not aware, AS/NZS 4024.1 series of machine safety standards was revised late last year. In this revision most of the parts were revised, some were unchanged, some new parts were added and some parts were removed. If you want more information on what's revised, unchanged, new and removed check out this previous NHP blog topic: New Revision of AS 4024.1 Series of Machinery Safety Standards.

The 2014 dated parts of the series are "direct text adoptions" of international standards. This is confirmed by looking at the first page of each part, the adopted international standard is printed below the AS/NZS title. In figure 1 we can see that AS/NZS 4024.1602:2014 is a direct text adoption of ISO 14119:2013.

Fig 1. Part title, appears in top right corner on the first page of the part

OK, so you're thinking what's the big deal about direct text adoption?

Direct text adoption means that nothing can be changed from the international standard's wording, even references. So if AS/NZS 4024.1602:2014 is referencing a clause from AS/NZS 4024.1503:2014, the reference will appear as the international standard, ISO 13849-1:2006. This obviously makes the series a little difficult to use. Assistance can be found in the "Preface" section of each part, which will list the international standards that are referenced and will show the equivalent AS/NZ 4024 part. There is also a cross reference list available in Appendix B of the application guide, AS/NZS 4024.1100:2014.

In the previous version of the AS 4024.1 series, the parts were based on international standards but some changes were allowed. In this series the references were changed from international standards to the relevant AS 4024.1 part. As mentioned previously some parts of the series have been unchanged in the 2014 revision, for example AS 4024.1501-2006. Thus this standard still has references to clauses and parts from the 2006 version.

For example AS 4024.1501-2006 references standards AS 4024.1202 and AS 4024.1301, both of these standards are now superseded by AS/NZS 4024.1201:2014 and no longer exist in the AS 4024.1 series. So be aware of this issue when using any of the 2006 version parts of AS/NZS 4024.1:2014

Hopefully this blog topic can help you avoid this gotcha when using AS/NZS 4024.1:2014.

Have you come across anything strange with this series? Or do you have some useful hints and tips? If so please share in the comments section.