EN 50274:2002

Low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies - Protection against electric shock - Protection against unintentional direct contact with hazardous live parts

This standard applies to low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies with a rated voltage not exceeding AC 1 000 V or DC 1 500 V. It sets out the requirements for the provision of additional features to provide protection against electric shock from direct contact with hazardous live parts only for skilled and instructed persons when they are required to manually actuate devices within the assembly and where a level of protection for the operating face of not less than IPXXB cannot be achieved. These devices are those only accessible via a door or cover requiring a key or tool to open it or in an assembly located in an area set apart and where the access to that area is restricted solely to skilled or instructed persons. This standard does not apply to – manually operated devices and their locations where access is available to ordinary persons, – low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies where the operating voltage does not exceed AC 50 V or DC 120 V and there is protective separation, in accordance with EN 61140, between these circuits and any other circuits, NOTE Voltages generated by means of auto-transformers, potentiometers, semiconductor components etc. do NOT meet these requirements. – low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies where protection of persons is provided by limitation of steady-state touch current or charge in accordance with EN 61140.

Niederspannungs-Schaltgerätekombinationen - Schutz gegen elektrischen Schlag - Schutz gegen unabsichtliches direktes Berühren gefährlicher aktiver Teile

Ensembles d'appareillage à basse tension - Protection contre les chocs électriques - Protection contre le contact direct involontaire avec des parties actives dangereuses

Sestavi nizkonapetostnih stikalnih in krmilnih naprav - Zaščita pred električnim udarom - Zaščita pred nenamernim neposrednim stikom z nevarnimi deli pod napetostjo (vsebuje popravek AC:2009)

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 04-Apr-2002
• Withdrawal Date: 31-Jan-2005
• ICS: 29.130.20 - Low voltage switchgear and controlgear
• Technical Committee: CLC/SR 121B - Low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies
• Drafting Committee: IEC/SC 17D - IEC_SC_17D
• Parallel Committee: IEC/SC 17D - IEC_SC_17D
• Current Stage: 9060 - Closure of 2 Year Review Enquiry - Review Enquiry
• Start Date: 03-Mar-2020
• Completion Date: 03-Mar-2020
• Directive: 2006/95/EC - Directive 2006/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on the harmonisation of the laws of Member States relating to electrical equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits (codified version)
• Directive: 2014/35/EU - Directive 2014/35/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to the making available on the market of electrical equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits
• Directive: 2014/53/EU - Directive 2014/53/EU of The European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to the making available on the market of radio equipment and repealing Directive 1999/5/EC
• Directive: 73/23/EEC - Electrical equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits
• Ref Project: SIST EN 50274:2002 - Low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies - Protection against electric shock - Protection against unintentional direct contact with hazardous live parts

Overview

EN 50274:2002 (CLC/CENELEC) is a European standard for low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies that defines requirements for protection against electric shock from unintentional direct contact with hazardous live parts. It applies to assemblies with rated voltages up to AC 1 000 V or DC 1 500 V and is intended to complement EN 60439-1 by providing additional measures where an operating face cannot achieve an IPXXB level of protection.

Key topics and technical requirements

• Scope & exclusions
  • Applies when devices are accessible only through a door/cover requiring a key or tool, or where the assembly is in an area restricted to skilled or instructed persons.
  • Does not apply where access is available to ordinary persons, or where operating voltages ≤ AC 50 V / DC 120 V have protective separation per EN 61140, or where touch‑current limits under EN 61140 apply.
• Protection approach
  • Preferred: achieve degree of protection IPXXB (EN 60529). If not possible, EN 50274 specifies separation measures (screens, obstacles) and design rules to prevent unintentional contact.
  • Measures can include functional design, minimum distances, and fixed obstacles (protected against displacement).
• Space definitions
  • Space of protection defined by a base area (side/around the actuator) and an access area (in front of the operator).
  • Base area requirements: back‑of‑hand protection overall, with a finger‑protected zone near the actuator.
    • Finger protection depth up to 80 mm; hand‑protection extends 25 mm behind the base area.
    • For pushbuttons: base area extends 100 mm from actuator rim; finger protected area 30 mm from rim.
  • Access area: rectangular area 400 mm wide and 700 mm (standing) or 500 mm (kneeling) high; nominal distance from base area 500 mm.
  • Mounting heights and permitted operating envelope (standing/kneeling) are specified.
• Testing
  • Clause 5 covers verification tests for operating devices and finger/back‑of‑hand protection using standard probes (see EN 61032).

Applications and users

• Practical for designers, manufacturers and assemblers of: low-voltage switchboards, motor control centers, distribution panels, industrial control panels, and bespoke switchgear for restricted-access areas.
• Used by: electrical designers, safety engineers, panel builders, installation contractors, inspection and certification bodies, and maintenance personnel.
• Typical use cases: assemblies located in plant rooms, restricted control rooms, and installations where operators are trained and access is controlled.

Related standards

• EN 60439-1 (assembly requirements - complementary)
• EN 61140 (protection against electric shock / protective separation)
• EN 60529 (IP Code - degrees of protection)
• EN 61032 (test probes)
• IEC/IEV vocabulary references

EN 50274 is essential where mechanical design and spatial arrangements must ensure safe manual actuation without achieving full IPXXB enclosures - helping balance practical access and electric shock protection in restricted environments.

Standards Content (Sample)

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-september-2002
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XGDURP=DãþLWDSUHGQHQDPHUQLPQHSRVUHGQLPVWLNRP]QHYDUQLPLGHOLSRG
QDSHWRVWMRYVHEXMHSRSUDYHN$&
Low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies - Protection against electric shock -
Protection against unintentional direct contact with hazardous live parts
Niederspannungs-Schaltgerätekombinationen - Schutz gegen elektrischen Schlag -
Schutz gegen unabsichtliches direktes Berühren gefährlicher aktiver Teile
Ensembles d'appareillage à basse tension - Protection contre les chocs électriques -
Protection contre le contact direct involontaire avec des parties actives dangereuses
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN 50274:2002
ICS:
13.260 9DUVWYRSUHGHOHNWULþQLP Protection against electric
XGDURP'HORSRGQDSHWRVWMR shock. Live working
29.130.20 Nizkonapetostne stikalne in Low voltage switchgear and
krmilne naprave controlgear
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

EUROPEAN STANDARD EN 50274
NORME EUROPÉENNE
EUROPÄISCHE NORM April 2002
y 2009
ICS 29.120.60 Incorporates corrigendum Jul

English version
Low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies -
Protection against electric shock -
Protection against unintentional direct contact with hazardous live parts

Ensembles d'appareillage à basse tension - Niederspannungs-
Protection contre les chocs électriques - Schaltgerätekombinationen -
Protection contre le contact direct Schutz gegen elektrischen Schlag -
involontaire avec des parties actives Schutz gegen unabsichtliches direktes
dangereuses Berühren gefährlicher aktiver Teile

This European Standard was approved by CENELEC on 2002-02-01. CENELEC members are bound to
comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European
Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.

Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on
application to the Central Secretariat or to any CENELEC member.

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other
language made by translation under the responsibility of a CENELEC member into its own language and
notified to the Central Secretariat has the same status as the official versions.

CENELEC members are the national electrotechnical committees of Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

CENELEC
European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique
Europäisches Komitee für Elektrotechnische Normung

Central Secretariat: rue de Stassart 35, B - 1050 Brussels

© 2002 CENELEC - All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CENELEC members.

Ref. No. EN 50274:2002 E
Foreword
This European Standard has been prepared by WG 3 of Technical Committee CENELEC TC 17D, Low-voltage
switchgear and controlgear assemblies. It is intended as a complementary document to EN 60439-1. EN 60439-1
does not address in detail the issue of protection of skilled and instructed persons from electric shock when they
are required to gain access into the assembly to manually operated devices. The intent of this standard is to
provide additional requirements for the protection of these persons against electric shock.
The text of the draft has been submitted to the formal vote and was approved by CENELEC as EN 50274 on
2002-02-01.
The following dates were fixed:
– latest date by which the EN has to be implemented at
national level by publication of an identical national
standard or by endorsement (dop) 2003-02-01
– latest date by which the national standards conflicting
with the EN have to be withdrawn (dow) 2005-02-01
Annexes designated "informative" are given for information only.
In this standard, annex A is informative.
The contents of the corrigendum of July 2009 have been included in this copy.

- 3 - EN 50274:2002
Contents
Page
Introduction . 4
1 Scope . 5
2 Normative references . 5
3 Definitions . 5
4 Requirements . 7
4.1 General requirements . 7
4.2 Positioning of operating devices . 7
4.3 Measures . 7
4.4 Space of protection . 7
4.5 Base area . 7
4.6 Access area . 8
4.7 Equipment installed on movable parts . 8
5 Tests . 8
5.1 Operating devices and access area . 8
5.2 Finger protected and back of the hand protected locations . 8

Annex A (informative) Figures for explanation . 9

Figure 1 – Permissible area for locating of operating devices . 9
Figure 2 – Maximum and minimum height of the base area depending on the service position .10
Figure 3 – Operating space for pushbutton actuation .11
Figure 4 – Operating space for actuation by rotary means .12
Figure 5 – Example for operating space during activation by pushbutton.13

Introduction
Within the European Community there are a number of Directives which impact upon electrical equipment
including switchgear and controlgear assemblies with regard to the health and safety of the users and others
when at work. The Framework Directive (89/391/EEC) on Health and Safety sets out in article 6 - General
Obligations on Employers. These include a set of criteria to be observed. This listing is in a preferred order, and
in the case of switchgear and controlgear assemblies and their operation, the intent can be summarised as
follows.
a) Remove the danger - in the case of assemblies where access inside for the operation of certain devices is
required, this can be achieved by either isolating the assembly before entry is permitted or ensuring that the
degree of protection of these devices and the accessible surrounding areas is not less than IPXXB
according to EN 60529. For assemblies located in areas set apart with access restricted to skilled and
instructed persons the assembly can be isolated before access is permitted or the operating device has a
degree of protection of not less than IPXXB according to EN 60529.
Or if this is not possible
b) Separate the person from the danger by means of screens, barriers or obstacles.
This standard sets out requirements according to b) for assemblies where the measures for the protection
of persons as set out in a) above cannot be achieved.
Or if this is not possible
c) Provide personal protective equipment to ensure the health and safety of the person – this is a measure of
last resort and is not considered suitable for these assemblies.
In addition, the requirements set out in both the Low Voltage Directive (73/23/EEC) and the use of Work
Equipment Directive (89/655/EEC) together with both of their Amending Directives (93/68/EEC and 95/63/EEC)
need to be observed. The particular article of the LVD to be considered is article 2 together with clauses 1 and 2
of annex 1.
Within the use of Work Equipment Directive, article 3 is particularly relevant to the design and construction of
switchgear and controlgear assemblies. Controls of any description should be sited in locations such that when
they are actuated, the operator is not exposed to any danger nor risks to health.
The preferred approach is to ensure that the assembly has a degree of protection not less than IPXXB at the
operating faces. Alternatively, the assembly should be designed and constructed so that the controls are set
apart in a safe location within the assembly where there are no hazardous live parts. It should be noted that the
Basic Safety Publication (EN 61140) sets a minimum level of protection against electric shock of IPXXB for
equipment.
- 5 - EN 50274:2002
1 Scope
This standard applies to low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies with a rated voltage not exceeding
AC 1 000 V or DC 1 500 V. It sets out the requirements for the provision of additional features to provide
protection against electric shock from direct contact with hazardous live parts only for skilled and instructed
persons when they are required to manually actuate devices within the assembly and where a level of protection
for the operating face of not less than IPXXB cannot be achieved. These devices are those only accessible via a
door or cover requiring a key or tool to open it or in an assembly located in an area set apart and where the
access to that area is restricted solely to skilled or instructed persons.
This standard does not apply to
– manually operated devices and their loc
...