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Functional safety is the part of machinery safety delivered by control systems: defined safety functions detect or respond to hazardous conditions to reduce risk. IEC 62061 and ISO 13849-1 provide different ways to design and assess those systems, but neither standard makes a machine safe in every respect or replaces risk assessment, safeguarding, applicable machine-specific requirements, or legal duties.
What is functional safety in machinery?
Functional safety concerns whether a safety-related control system performs its specified safety functions when required. A function might, for example, stop hazardous movement when an interlocked guard is opened, or prevent restart until a hazardous condition has cleared. Those examples illustrate the concept; the required functions depend on the machine and its risks.
The standards address how safety-related control systems are designed and integrated to reduce risk. They do not determine every hazard control a machine needs. Physical guards and other protective measures, electrical safety, security, and machine-level requirements may fall under other standards or duties.
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Both standards address machinery safety-related control systems, but use distinct frameworks. The right choice is not a universal preference for one standard over the other: begin with applicable machine-specific requirements and the risk assessment, then select an approach that fits the safety functions, technologies, and jurisdiction. Do not assume a SIL target can simply be converted into a PL, or vice versa.
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| Question | IEC 62061 | ISO 13849-1:2023 |
|---|---|---|
| What does it cover? | Safety-related control systems for machines. IEC describes it as a machinery-sector standard within the IEC 61508 framework. | Safety-related parts of control systems (SRP/CS) that perform safety functions. |
| Technology | The 2021 edition extended the standard to non-electrical technologies. | Applies regardless of technology or energy, including electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, and mechanical systems. |
| Operating mode | The main body addresses high-demand and continuous modes. | Applies to high-demand and continuous modes; it excludes low-demand operation. |
| Does it set the application’s required safety functions or level? | Those requirements must be established for the application; the standard does not replace the machine’s risk assessment or applicable machine-specific requirements. | No. ISO states that it does not specify the safety functions or required performance levels for particular applications. |
| Important exclusions | Does not replace machine-level safeguarding, address electrical hazards arising from the control equipment itself, or provide specific security measures. | Does not provide security measures or cover low-demand operation. |
When IEC 62061 may fit
IEC 62061:2021 applies to safety-related control systems used singly or in combination on non-hand-held machines, including coordinated groups of machines. It is a machinery-sector standard in the IEC 61508 family. The 2021 edition expanded coverage to non-electrical technologies and included changes to the design process, functional safety planning, configuration management, parametrization, periodic testing, software use cases, and independence for software verification and validation.
When ISO 13849-1 may fit
ISO 13849-1:2023, Edition 4, covers the design and integration of SRP/CS, including software, across technologies and energy types for high-demand and continuous modes. It does not cover low-demand operation. Crucially, the standard does not choose the safety functions or required performance levels for a particular machine; those come from the application’s requirements and risk assessment.
Additional guidance: IEC TS 63394
IEC TS 63394:2023 provides additional application guidance for IEC 62061 and ISO 13849-1; it does not replace either standard. Its topics include safety-function guidance based on ISO 12100 methodology, rarely activated high-demand functions, failure-rate calculation information for non-electronic technologies, and machine lifecycle phases.
How to choose and apply an approach
Choose the method after establishing what the machine must do to control risk—not by selecting a target label first. Applicable type-C (machine-specific) requirements can define relevant safety functions or performance requirements; the manufacturer’s risk assessment also informs the required functions and their performance.
- Identify the machine and its governing requirements. Establish its intended use, relevant hazards, jurisdiction, and applicable machine-specific standards.
- Assess risk and determine safety functions. Identify which control-system responses are needed to reduce the risks, and the performance each function must achieve.
- Select the applicable control-system standard. Use the method required or supported by the applicable requirements, considering the system technologies and operating mode. If the choice is unclear, resolve it against the machine-specific requirements and project jurisdiction rather than treating the standards as interchangeable.
- Design, integrate, and verify the system against its requirements. Document the safety functions and demonstrate that the implemented system meets the selected method’s requirements. IEC 62061:2021 includes requirements addressing planning, configuration, parametrization, testing, and software verification and validation.
- Address safety outside the control system too. Provide required safeguarding and deal with electrical, security, and other machine-level hazards through the applicable requirements; a control-system standard alone does not cover them all.
What is the difference between SIL and PL?
SIL means Safety Integrity Level and belongs to the IEC 62061 approach; PL means Performance Level and is used by ISO 13849-1. Both describe safety-related control-system performance in their respective frameworks. They are not interchangeable labels, and the evidence here establishes no universal conversion between them.
A required SIL or PL is not chosen in isolation. First identify the safety function and determine the required performance from the applicable machine-specific requirements and risk assessment; then design and assess the control system under the chosen standard. Do not assign a level from a generic rule of thumb or infer that a particular SIL automatically satisfies a PL requirement.
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What does the Machinery Regulation require?
For the European Union: Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 replaces Directive 2006/42/EC and, according to EU-OSHA, applies from 20 January 2027. It sets mandatory essential health and safety requirements for machinery and related products placed on the EU market; harmonised standards provide much of the technical detail. A functional-safety standard is one part of demonstrating that applicable requirements are addressed, not a standalone declaration of complete legal compliance.
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As of October 2026, EUR-Lex shows a consolidated version current to 27 July 2026 with later amendments. Check the latest consolidated text, applicable dates, and current harmonised-standard references for the specific product and market-placement date before making a compliance decision. This EU timing should not be read as a statement of law in the United States, United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction.
Which editions should you check?
Edition and amendment status matter when a specification names a standard. ISO’s official record identifies ISO 13849-1:2023 as Edition 4, published in April 2023, and lists the 2015 edition as withdrawn.
IEC’s catalogue lists IEC 62061:2021/AMD2:2026, published 20 March 2026. The consolidated listing identified here is IEC 62061:2021+AMD1:2024 CSV; that does not establish that AMD2 is incorporated into it. Confirm the current IEC catalogue and the exact text applicable to the project before citing a consolidated edition.
For legal and standards status, consult the official records from the International Electrotechnical Commission, the International Organization for Standardization, EU-OSHA, and EUR-Lex. No non-official or unverified edition should be treated as proof of current conformity.
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