This document specifies safety requirements and measures for their verification for the design and construction of portable, hand-held, pole-mounted powered pruners with a backpack power unit (hereafter referred to as “machine”). These machines use a power transmission shaft to transmit power to a cutting attachment consisting of a combination of saw-chain and guide bar, a reciprocating saw blade or a single-piece circular saw blade with a 205mm maximum outside diameter. Methods for the elimination or reduction of hazards arising from the use of these machines and the type of information on safe working practices to be provided by the manufacturer are specified.

This document, together with the relevant sections of ISO11680-1:2021, deals with all significant hazards, hazardous situations or hazardous events, with the exception of electric shock from contact with overhead electric lines (apart from warnings and advices for inclusion in the instructions) and whole-body vibration from the backpack power unit, relevant to these machines when they are used as intended and under conditions of misuse which are reasonably foreseeable by the manufacturer.

NOTE1 A standardized test procedure for measuring whole-body vibration from the backpack power unit is not available at the date of publication.

NOTE2 See AnnexA for a list of significant hazards.

This document is applicable to portable, hand-held, pole-mounted powered pruners with backpack power unit manufactured after its date of publication.