Basic safety

IEC TC 3 has a Basic Safety Function related to  marking, identification and arrangement of information in electrical installations, equipment and man machine interfaces.
The Basic Safety Publications provided are essential to achieve a safe and reliable interface between electric products, electric machines and humans. The application of these publications will provide a common and recognizable means for the safe operation of electric products, electric machines and electrical installations.

Basic Safety publications are mandatory for IEC technical committees to apply in the development of their publications.

The publicationr listed were transferred from the earlier IEC TC 16 “Basic and safety prinispoles for man-machine interfase, marking and identifications” which was disbanded in 2012 and the work transferred to TC 3.

IEC 60073 “Basic and safety principles for man-machine interface, marking and identifications – Coding principles for indicators and actuators”
This publication establishes general rules for assigning particular meanings to certain visual, acoustsic and tactile indications.

IEC 60445 “Basic and safety principles for man-machine interface, marking and identifications – Indetification of equipoment terminals, conductor terminations and conductors”
This publication provides general rules for the use of certain colours or alphanumeric notations to identify conductors with the aim of avoiding ambiguity and ensuring safe operation. These conductor colours or alphanumeric notations are intended to be applied in cables or cores, busbars, electrical equipment and installations. The publication do also provide rules for the identification and marking of terminals of electrical equipment and for the dentification of terminations of certain designated conductors.

IEC 60447 “Basic and safety principles for man-machine interface, marking and identifications – Actuating principles”
This publication provides eneral actuating principles for manually operated actuators forming part of the man-machine interface associated with electrical equipment, in order to increase the safety through the safe operation of the equipment and facilitate the proper and timely operation of the actuators.

IEC 60757 “Codes for designations of colour”
This publication specifies letter codes for designation of colours and provides rules for their combination to designate colour combinations. The letter codes are intended to be applied in the technical documentation of electrical installations, electrical equipment and products, and in markings of electrical equipment and products.

These publications are closely related to the Basic Safety Publication, and provides requirements that may have an safety impact, particulary on electrical installation .

IEC 60152 “Designation of phase differences by hour numbers in three-phase AC systems“
This publication specifies methods and rules for the designation of phase difference between two items in a three-phase AC system. The designations are intended to be applied in the technical documentation of industrial installations, equipment, and products, and also on markings of equipment and products.

IEC 62193 “Marking of electrical equipment with ratings related to electrical supply – Safety requirements“
This publication establishes minimum requirements and general rules on marking electric equipment with ratings and other characteristics to enable the proper and safe selection and installation of electric equipment related to any supply of electricity.

The object of this document is to:

• provide general requirements for the marking of the characteristics related to any supply system, such as voltage, current, frequency and power, without any restrictions.
• provide technical committees with uniform methods for the marking of electrical ratings of products.