A NEW SAFETY STANDARD
IEC 62368-1 is the new hazard-based product safety standard coming into effect this December.
What does this mean for design engineers? Neil Tyler reports
IEC 62368-1 comes into force
worldwide from 20th December
and it brings with it a totally new
set of engineering principles and
terminologies. Significantly, it’s
the first time that a hazard-based
testing approach has been taken with
these types of electronic equipment
and comes in response to the
growing convergence in, and the
development of, new ‘state of the art’
technologies.
Multi-media and communications
products, for example, had been
falling increasingly under both the
IEC 60065 (AV equipment) and IEC
60950-1 (IT equipment) standards,
creating a degree of confusion among
manufacturers.
In response the IEC Technical
Committee (TC) 108 created the
new ‘hazard-based’ standard - IEC
62368-1, which while it isn’t a merger
of existing standards does cover the
older standards.
“This is the first time that a
hazard-based, rather than test-based,
approach has been taken with
product safety. To a large extent this
makes IEC 62368-1 a technology
independent safety standard, allowing
for more design freedom,” explained
Richard Poate, senior manager at TUV
SUD.
“Its introduction has caused some
problems in terms of the compliance
methodology, as it’s the first time the
hazard approach has been taken and
people will need to be aware that it is
not just a repackaging of the existing
standards - although at first glance
it’s certainly possible to spot many
familiar aspects to it,” he conceded.
“But the hazard based approach
that’s been taken means it is not
just a simple merger of the previous
two standards. It is a fundamentally
different approach to proving
compliance and that your product is
safe.”
The two older standards followed
a set of prescribed rules, while
IEC 62368-1 now requires the
identification of safety hazards in the
early product development phase.
“The standard takes a proactive
risk-based approach by identifying
hazards and then testing the
effectiveness of the chosen
safeguards,” Poate said.
It also provides more performance
options to demonstrate compliance.
With this new standard coming
into force in a matter of weeks, what
exactly are the benefits?
“While the previous standards
were clear and addressed specific
markets as is always the case with
technology, new products and designs
move very quickly while standards
don’t. So, as new products appeared,
there was growing confusion as to
which standards should be applied.
“Take the example of a Sky Box.
It has a video recording capability
but open it up and it’s essentially a
personal computer.
“As a result, different countries
wanted products tested to one
standard, others to another. The
whole thing,” according to Poate,
18 13 October 2020 www.newelectronics.co.uk
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