Protection objectives are generally worded provisions in legal documents which do not allow literal implementation. Phrases like “if necessary”, “reduce to the lowest practically acceptable level”, “as low as possible” or “if required by in-company conditions” have to be evaluated and implemented on a case-to-case basis, especially during a procedure of risk assessment at work. The Essential Safety Requirements (Grundlegende Sicherheitsanforderungen, GSA) of the Machinery Safety Regulation of 2010 represent protection objectives which can be implemented, for example, by means of harmonised standards.
