Safety of electrical appliances

Product safety starts with good product design and designing safety into the product. The manufacturer should consider these 4 key steps:

1) Conduct a pre-market risk assessment

The pre-market risk assessment is an analysis of a product to determine which risks it could present, and how these risks could be eliminated or mitigated. EU product safety rules help to provide guidance.  An electrical product must comply with the Low Voltage Directive (2014/35/EU). There are also technical standards in form of harmonised standards which are valid throughout the EU, and which can help manufacturers to comply with the Low Voltage Directive.

During this step a list of the applicable harmonised standards in full or in part should be established. The list shall include the standards referring to the construction and test requirements relevant for your product.

2) Design the product

The second step is to design the product taking into account the findings from the pre-market risk assessment. A product should be designed so risks are eliminated.

The design should allow for tolerances in the manufacturing process. As an example, the standard may require a minimum creepage distance between current carrying parts of 5 mm. If the manufacturer knows that the tolerances in the manufacturing process are 1 mm, they should always design their product to have a creepage distance of 6 mm. This ensures that the distance will never go below 5 mm even in the worst cases.

3) Test the product

The third step is to test the product to verify that it meets all the requirements in the identified standards.

If a subsequent modification of the product is made, for instance the change of a component, then the modified version must be verified against the relevant harmonised standard again before mass production can start.

4) Implement a production control scheme

Finally, the manufacturer must implement a production control scheme to ensure that all products are identical to, and as safe as, the one that has passed the safety test.

ISO 9000 is one example of a production control scheme. There are no requirements for certified quality management systems for electrical products and household appliances.