Although not always perfect, the harmonized European standards have made an essential contribution to progress in the safety of machines and other products placed on the European market. Improvements are however conceivable by which the standards may be made legally and technically more "robust".

Alain Mayer is an acknowledged expert on European standardization work in the area of personal protective equipment (PPE). Formerly a member of BTS 3, he has been Rapporteur of the CEN-BT for PPE since 1997. For 18 years, he led the test and certification department of INRS for PPE and machinery, and is therefore fully conversant with all aspects of the application of standards and European statutory regulations. Alain Mayer will retire at the end of 2007.

Within European standardization, Consultants are instrumental in ensuring that the specifications set out in harmonized European standards satisfy the requirements of the Single Market directives. The system of Consultants was evaluated in a study in 2006 with regard to its efficiency and to the satisfaction of the parties involved in standardization.

The number of formal objections or declarations of intent to submit formal objections to harmonized European standards is on the rise. Whereas, between 1998 and 2004, only a handful of such procedures were launched within the scope of the Machinery Directive, seven standards were under discussion in 2005 alone. In 2006, the number was nine, and by the end of March 2007, six standards were already being dealt with in the responsible Commission committees.

The EUROSHNET OH&S network is a platform for the exchange of information between experts, and currently offers 12 fora with 180 subjects within a restricted area. The existing system has been extended by the creation of a public area which, as of May 2007, contains four new fora for topical OH&S issues in addition to the existing forum for OH&S management systems.

The need for research in the area of vibration is currently being discussed in EUROSHNET, the European network of OH&S experts. The discussion was prompted in part by problems in recent years in the development of standards supporting the EU Vibration Directive (2002/44/EC). These problems were caused by a lack of scientific principles required in the standards.A meeting of the EUROSHNET forum yielded the basis for a solution.