"Functional safety" seems to be what it's all about nowadays

I've always tried to keep up to date with changing safety legislation, although I don't envy those of you (particularly machine builders) for whom it's not just an interest but a necessity. We publish our fair share of news items on Engineeringtalk on safety-related topics, but it wasn't until we launched a specialist newsletter in this field at the start of the year that I really began to appreciate just how much is going on.
"Functional safety" seems to be what it's all about nowadays, and intimate knowledge of well-known standards like EN 954 Parts 1 to 4 is far from sufficient, although of course it's EN 13849 I should be referring to really. And then there's IEC 62061. And IEC 61508. And ...well, you get the drift.
What this is all leading up to is that I strongly suggest that any of you who need to keep up with developments in product safety or machine safety - and that must mean most of you - get on the circulation of the Industrialsafetytalk newsletter. It's fortnightly, it looks just like this newsletter, and of course it's completely free. Just send a blank email to join-industrialsafetytalk@news.pro-talk.com to be added to the circulation for the next issue. You may well be very glad you did.