Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been available to the general public since around 2022. Until now, there has been a large legal gray area, only a few laws and very few judgments relating to the use of artificial intelligence. However, this has already changed in the EU thanks to the EU AI Regulation. Some regulations will soon come into effect and must be observed and [...]
The use of AI systems is already an objective for the near future in many areas of mechanical and plant engineering. However, a 2020 report by the European Commission found that the current product safety legislation at the time, including in relation to the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC, had a number of gaps with regard to safety risks in [...]
Some of you have probably heard the term "digital product passport" (DPP for short) recently. But what is behind it and could it open up a new field of activity for technical writers? Background: The Ecodesign Regulation 2024/1781 Based on the new Ecodesign Regulation 2024/1781 from this year, manufacturers will in future be required to [...]
A number of new EU directives and regulations have been published in recent months, which also place requirements on technical documentation. In view of the numerous changes, it is not easy to keep track of everything. In this blog article, I will give you a quick insight into the upcoming developments. Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988 The new Product Safety Regulation comes into force on 13.12.2024 [...]
Some even want to turn it into an apprenticeship. This is certainly an exaggeration, but prompt engineering should not be underestimated. If you proceed correctly, GPT-4 is a great help and you can save a lot of time. GPT-4 helped me to create an Excel VB program. This opportunity also showed me what you can do with [...]
Fachkräftemangel als Chance: Quereinstieg in die Technische Dokumentation In Zeiten des Fachkräftemangels haben viele Branchen Probleme, offene Stellen zu besetzen – dieses Problem betrifft natürlich auch die Technische Dokumentation. Was also tun, wenn auf dem Arbeitsmarkt keine Technischen Redakteurinnen/Redakteure zu bekommen sind? Genau – man bildet sie selbst aus! Als Marktführer für die Aus- [...]
Date of issue: December 2022 DIN EN ISO 7010/A4, A5 and A6: Graphical symbols - Safety colors and safety signs - Registered safety signs - Amendment 4 to 6 Three supplemented drafts of DIN EN ISO 7010 have been published. The standard deals with safety colors and signs for accident prevention, fire protection, protection against health hazards and for escape routes. [...]
Note: This text is an initial, subjective assessment of the new guide to the Machinery Directive, which is currently only available in English. On April 18, 2024, the EU Commission published a new guide to the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC as version 2.3. The guide replaces version 2.2. By and large, with the exception of statements on technical documentation, there have been no [...]
It all started with the Product Liability Act, which first stipulated in 1989 that the safe operation of products must be guaranteed in every respect. This was followed in 1993 by the Machinery Directive, which explicitly stipulated this requirement for machinery and plant engineering. After a transitional period of 2 years, the Machinery Directive became a mandatory basis for manufacturers and [...]
I recently took a trip back in time. By chance, I got my hands on a set of instructions that I created around 20 years ago for a Cobi (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConferenceBike). I still have fond memories of the research and creation of the instructions. At the time, it was the company's first and only product and [...]
