2.2 · Portable hand-held or hand-guided machinery or related products

What it requires

2.2 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 requires: portable hand-held or hand-guided machinery: supporting surface, handles, start/stop and hand-arm vibration emission in the instructions. It is unchanged in substance compared with Directive 2006/42/EC and applies to machinery placed on the market from 20 January 2027.

When it applies

Portable hand-held or hand-guided machinery.

What the instruction manual must reflect

Only if the machinery belongs to this category: the specific information and instructions required by the section.

Official text

2.2.1 General: Portable hand-held or hand-guided machinery or related products shall: (a) depending on the type of machinery or related product, have a supporting surface of sufficient size and have a sufficient number of handles and supports of an appropriate size, arranged in such a way as to ensure the stability of the machinery or related product under the intended operating conditions; (b) except where technically impossible, or where there is an independent control device, in the case of handles which cannot be released in complete safety, be fitted with manual start and stop control devices arranged in such a way that the operator can operate them without releasing the handles; (c) present no risks of accidental starting or continued operation after the operator has released the handles; equivalent steps shall be taken if this requirement is not technically feasible; (d) permit, where necessary, visual observation of the danger zone and of the action of the tool with the material being processed; (e) have a device or a connected exhaust system, with an extraction connection outlet or equivalent system to capture or reduce emissions of hazardous substances; this requirement does not apply if it leads to a new hazard or where the main function of the machinery or related product is the application of hazardous substances and to emissions of internal combustion engines; (f) be designed and constructed in such a way that the handles of portable machinery or related products make starting and stopping straightforward. 2.2.1.1 Instructions for use: The instructions for use shall give the following information concerning vibrations, expressed as acceleration (m/s2), and transmitted by portable handheld or hand-guided machinery or related products: (a) the vibration total value from continuous vibrations to which the hand-arm system is subjected; (b) the mean value of the peak amplitude of the acceleration from repeated shock vibrations, to which the hand-arm system is subjected; (c) the uncertainty of both measurements. The values referred to in the first subparagraph shall either be those actually measured for the machinery or related product in question or those established on the basis of measurements in respect of a technically comparable machinery or related product, which is representative of the state of the art. If harmonised standards or common specifications adopted by the Commission in accordance with Article 20(3) cannot be applied, the vibration data shall be measured using the most appropriate measurement code for the machinery or related product. The operating conditions during measurement and the methods used for measurement, or the reference of the harmonised standard applied, shall be specified.

Source: Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, OJ L 165, 29.6.2023, Annex III, 2.2. The sections ‘What it requires’ and ‘What the instruction manual must reflect’ are our own summary and do not replace the official text.