IEC SRD 63408:2024

Safety aspects – Guidelines for adult AAL care recipients in standards and other specifications

IEC SRD 63408:2024 supports the experts in identifying hazards when developing and revising standards, specifications, and similar publications that deal with products and services for adult AAL care recipients. This document aims to address potential sources of bodily harm to adult AAL care recipients from products they use or are likely to contact, even if not explicitly intended for adult AAL care recipients.
This document provides valuable information for stakeholders in the absence of a specific standard.
Stakeholders can include auditors, safety inspectors, product designers, architects, interior home designers, installers, etc.

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 04-Nov-2024
• ICS: 11.020.99 - Other standards related to health care in general
• ICS: 11.180 - Aids for disabled or handicapped persons
• Technical Committee: SyC AAL - Active Assisted Living
• Drafting Committee: WG 3 - SyC AAL/WG 3
• Current Stage: PPUB - Publication issued
• Start Date: 05-Nov-2024
• Completion Date: 29-Nov-2024

Overview

IEC SRD 63408:2024 - "Safety aspects – Guidelines for adult AAL care recipients in standards and other specifications" is an IEC Systems Reference Deliverable that helps experts identify and evaluate hazards when developing or revising standards, specifications and similar publications for products and services likely to contact adult AAL (active assisted living) care recipients. The document focuses on preventing bodily harm even when products are not explicitly designed for AAL users. It provides a risk‑based framework, hazard taxonomy and guidance on safeguards to inform standardization work and practical safety decision‑making.

Key topics and technical focus

• Scope and definitions: clear definitions for terms such as AAL care recipient, risk, hazard, ADL/IADL and AAL levels of assistance (Level 0–3) to support consistent use in standards.
• General safety approach: guidance on considering the full range of physical, cognitive and social abilities when assessing product or service interactions with adult AAL users.
• Risk assessment principles: structured process for identifying risks, evaluating likelihood and severity, and selecting risk control measures (prevention, reduction, mitigation).
• Hazard categories: comprehensive list of potential hazards relevant to adult AAL care recipients, including:
  • Fall hazards
  • Bodily injury, suffocation and strangulation
  • Fire and thermal hazards
  • Drowning and chemical hazards
  • Electric shock and radiation
  • Noise (sound pressure), biological, explosion/flash and exertion hazards
• Safeguards and mitigation: emphasis on the adequacy of safeguards across multiple layers:
  • Product safeguards
  • Installation safeguards
  • Personal and behavioural safeguards
  • Instructional safeguards
• Use‑case driven: aligns safety considerations with AAL use cases (see IEC TS 63134) and the Active Assisted Living vocabulary (IEC 60050‑871).

Practical applications

• Incorporate hazard identification and protective measures into standards, technical specifications and product requirements.
• Support risk‑based design reviews for consumer and building products that AAL recipients may use or contact.
• Inform safety audits, conformity assessment and inspection checklists for homes, care environments and public spaces.
• Guide architects, interior designers and installers to mitigate environmental and installation risks for AAL users.
• Aid product designers and manufacturers in documenting safety rationale where no dedicated AAL standard exists.

Who should use this standard

• Standards developers and committee experts
• Product designers and manufacturers
• Safety inspectors and auditors
• Architects and interior home designers
• Installers, integrators and facility managers
• Regulators and conformity assessment bodies

Related standards

• IEC 60050‑871 (International Electrotechnical Vocabulary - AAL)
• IEC TS 63134 (Active assisted living use cases)

IEC SRD 63408:2024 is a practical reference for embedding adult AAL safety into standards, design and inspection practices through robust hazard identification and layered safeguards.

Standards Content (Sample)

IEC SRD 63408 ®
Edition 1.0 2024-11
SYSTEMS REFERENCE
DELIVERABLE
colour
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Safety aspects – Guidelines for adult AAL care recipients in standards and other
specifications
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IEC SRD 63408 ®
Edition 1.0 2024-11
SYSTEMS REFERENCE
DELIVERABLE
colour
inside
Safety aspects – Guidelines for adult AAL care recipients in standards and

other specifications
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 11.020.99; 11.180 ISBN 978-2-8322-9967-8

– 2 – IEC SRD 63408:2024 © IEC 2024
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
INTRODUCTION . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms and definitions . 6
4 General approach to adult AAL care recipient safety . 8
4.1 General . 8
4.2 Risk assessment . 9
4.2.1 General . 9
4.2.2 Preventing and reducing harm . 10
4.2.3 Risk control measures . 10
5 Hazards related to adult AAL care recipient . 10
5.1 General . 10
5.2 Fall hazards . 11
5.3 Bodily personal injury hazards . 11
5.4 Suffocation hazards . 11
5.5 Strangulation hazards . 11
5.6 Fire hazards . 12
5.7 Thermal hazards . 12
5.8 Drowning hazards . 12
5.9 Chemical hazards . 12
5.10 Electric shock hazards . 12
5.11 Radiation hazards . 13
5.12 Hazards from noise (sound pressure). 13
5.13 Biological hazards . 13
5.14 Explosion and fire flash hazards . 13
5.15 Exertion hazards . 13
6 Adequacy of safeguards . 14
6.1 General . 14
6.2 Product safeguards . 14
6.3 Installation safeguards . 14
6.4 Personal safeguards . 14
6.5 Behavioural safeguards . 15
6.6 Instructional safeguards . 15
Bibliography . 16

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
SAFETY ASPECTS – GUIDELINES FOR ADULT AAL CARE RECIPIENTS IN
STANDARDS AND OTHER SPECIFICATIONS

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote international
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IEC SRD 63408 has been prepared by IEC SyC AAL: Systems Committee on Active Assisted
Living. It is a Systems Reference Deliverable.
The text of this Systems Reference Deliverable is based on the following documents:
Draft Report on voting
SyCAAL/370/DTS SyCAAL/374/RVDTS

Full information on the voting for its approval can be found in the report on voting indicated in
the above table.
The language used for the development of this Systems Reference Deliverable is English.

– 4 – IEC SRD 63408:2024 © IEC 2024
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INTRODUCTION
As the world population continues to experience increases in physical and cognitive limitations,
a thorough understanding of the special needs/concerns of the active assisted living (AAL) care
recipients is important so that these aspects can be considered in the development of
technology and service standards. Ensuring the safety of an AAL user is a shared responsibility.
Injury prevention can be addressed through design, engineering, manufacturing controls,
legislation, education and raising awareness. These guidelines aim to provide information for
consideration by providing specifications related to areas identified based on an extensive
series of AAL use cases.
– 6 – IEC SRD 63408:2024 © IEC 2024
SAFETY ASPECTS – GUIDELINES FOR ADULT AAL CARE RECIPIENTS IN
STANDARDS AND OTHER SPECIFICATIONS

1 Scope
This document supports the experts in identifying hazards when developing and revising
standards, specifications, and similar publications that deal with products and services for adult
AAL care recipients. This document aims to address potential sources of bodily harm to adult
AAL care recipients from products they use or are likely to contact, even if not explicitly intended
for adult AAL care recipients.
This document provides valuable information for stakeholders in the absence of a specific
standard.
Stakeholders can include auditors, safety inspectors, product designers, architects, interior
home designers, installers, etc.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies.
For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any
amendments) applies.
IEC 60050-871, International Electrotechnical Vocabulary – Part 871: Active assisted living
(AAL) (available at www.electropedia.org)
IEC TS 63134, Active assisted living (AAL) use cases
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in IEC 60050-871 and the
following apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following
addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
3.1
risk
combination of the probability of occurrence of harm and the severity of that harm
[SOURCE: IEC 60050-351:2013, 351-57-03]

3.2
hazard
potential source of harm
Note 1 to entry: The term hazard may be qualified in order to define its origin or the nature of the expected harm
(e.g., electric shock hazard, crushing hazard, cutting hazard, toxic hazard, fire hazard, drowning hazard).
[SOURCE: IEC 60050-351:2013, 351-57-01]
3.3
injury
damage to the body caused by trauma
3.4
harm
physical injury or damage to persons
[SOURCE: IEC 60050-903:2013, 903-01-01, modified – The words "property and livestock"
have been removed at the end of the definition.]
3.5
adult
person who is over 18 years of age
Note 1 to entry: Definition of adult varies per country/region.
3.6
AAL care recipient
person who receives and consumes AAL care services
Note 1 to entry: The concept denoted by the term "AAL user" (IEV 871-02-05) includes a wider range of people,
including people who do not necessarily require AAL care services.
[SOURCE: IEC 60050-871:2023, 871-02-18]
3.7
ADL
activity of daily living
basic human action that involves physical self-maintenance ability
Note 1 to entry: ADL comprises the following six areas: transferring; bathing; eating; dressing; continence; grooming
and toileting.
[SOURCE: IEC 60050-871:2023, 871-01-10]
3.8
IADL
instrumental activity of daily living
human action that involves physical/social/cognitive skills related to independent living in
addition to ADL
Note 1 to entry: IADL includes various actions: transportation, communication (i.e., use of a phone, e-mails),
shopping, meal preparation, housekeeping, managing medications and managing personal finances.
[SOURCE: IEC 60050-871:2023, 871-01-12]

– 8 – IEC SRD 63408:2024 © IEC 2024
3.9
AAL
level of assistance
designation indicating the degree of assistance needed by an AAL care recipient
Note 1 to entry: There are four AAL levels of assistance:
Level 0 – Independent: able to live independently with minimal assistance.
Level 1 – Some assistance: able to live independently but some assistance is needed occasionally
(not on a permanent basis).
Level 2 – Assistance with IADL: level of assistance that involves physical/social/cognitive skills
related to independent living in addition to ADL. This can include transportation, communication
(i.e. use of telephone, e-mails), shopping, meal preparation, housekeeping, managing medications
and managing personal finances.
Level 3 – Assistance with ADL: level of assistance that includes basic human activities like walking
and moving around, going up a few steps, bathing (plus eating, clothing, continence, grooming).
[SOURCE: IEC 60050-871:2023, 871-07-03]
4 General approach to adult AAL care recipient safety
4.1 General
AAL systems are developed based on user requirements from the use case categories
described in IEC TS 63134, i.e. safety, security, privacy, resilience, usability, accessibility, and
training. This document deals with the safety aspects of the user requirements.
When developing or revising a standard for a product for adult AAL care recipients, stakeholders
should consider if and how the AAL care recipient will interact with that product or service. As
the level of physical, cognitive and social abilities can vary widely, care should be taken upon
assessment to provide awareness of the range of physical, co
...