This part of ISO 11681 specifies safety requirements and their verification for the design and construction of portable combustion-engine, hand-held chain-saws for tree service, having a maximum mass, without guide bar or saw chain and with tanks empty, equal to 4,3 kg, and designed for use by a trained operator for pruning and dismantling standing tree crowns.
It gives methods for the elimination or reduction of hazards arising from the use of the chain-saws. In addition, it specifies the type of information on safe working practices to be provided by the manufacturer.
It deals with all significant hazards. The environmental aspects, except for noise, have not been considered.
Chain-saws covered by this part of ISO 11681 are designed to be operated with the right hand on the rear handle and the left hand on the front handle by persons having read and understood the safety requirements in the instruction handbook and using the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).
This part of ISO 11681 is not applicable to chain-saws manufactured before its date of publication.
The structure of safety standards in the field of machinery is as follows.
a) Type-A standards (basis standards) give basic concepts, principle for design, and general aspects that can be applied to machinery;
b) Type-B standards (generic safety standards) dealing with one or more safety aspect(s) or one or more type(s) of safeguards that can be used across a wide range of machinery:
type-B1 standards on particular safety aspects (e.g. safety distances, surface temperature, noise);
type-B2 standards on safeguards (e.g. two-hands controls, interlocking devices, pressure sensitive devices, guards);
c) Type-C standards (machinery safety standards) dealing with detailed safety requirements for a particular machine or group of machines.
This document is a type-C standard as stated in ISO 12100-1.
When provisions of this type-C standard are different from those which are stated in type-A or type-B standards, the provisions of this type-C standard take precedence over the provisions of the other standards for machines that have been designed and built according to the provisions of this type-C standard.
The machinery concerned and the extent to which hazards, hazardous situations and events are covered are indicated in the scope of this document. These hazards are specific to self-propelled, trailed, semi-mounted and mounted agricultural machines.
This part of ISO 11681 has been prepared for a special type of chain-saw used by trained persons for tree service work up in trees.
This part of ISO 11681 differs from ISO 11681-1 in the following respects:
- Clause 1, the tree service chain-saws are limited in size by the maximum allowed dry mass of 4,3 kg;
- Clause 3, a definition of trained operator has been added and that of chain saws for tree service revised;
- the required handle dimensions have been altered;
- a requirement for the sideways balance has been added with a limited holding moment of 6 N•m;
- the non-manual chain-brake system must meet stricter requirements;
- the allowed kickback angle has been reduced to 25°;
- the requirement for protection from contact with parts under high voltage has been enlarged to include a requirement for an ignition interruption or short-circuiting device on the low voltage side;
- the requirement for protection from hot parts has been enlarged to all parts of the machine, except the guide bar and saw chain;
- a requirement and verification for an attachment point has been added;
- additional information including how to use the saw up in trees using the example in Annex B is required;
- new safety warnings and markings on the saw and information at the point of sale are requested, with examples of the symbols to be used given in Annex A.
