In the past, opinions have frequently differed concerning the safety requirements applicable to agricultural machinery. On the one hand, calls have been made for the essential requirements contained in Annex I of the Machinery Directive to be applied directly. On the other, it has been pointed out that these provisions should be applied only on the basis of a risk assessment in consideration of the particular conditions prevailing in the agricultural sector, and with reference to the state of the art. KAN has commissioned a study into the safety of agricultural machinery, with the aim of describing the state of standardization in this area. European and international standards were analysed with regard to the extent to which they adequately support the requirements of the Machinery Directive.
A current focus of KAN's work is the topic of power take-off drive shafts on agricultural and forestry machinery. In 2021, KAN commissioned an expert report to determine the state of the art regarding power take-off drive shafts. The recommendations formulated in the report for revision of the standards were discussed at a KAN expert meeting in December 2021 and are to be presented to the standardization process.