EN 13557 (Crane Control Devices and Control Stations)
The standard that sets the health and safety design requirements for control devices and control stations for every type of crane. It covers levers, joysticks, buttons, pedals and their layout; it extends from a fixed cabin to a remote control station.
The focus of the standard is the interface the operator touches with their hand. Which direction a motion corresponds to, the lever returning to zero when released, the buttons being distinguishable from each other, and a layout that makes a wrong grip difficult are all within this scope.
- Direction consistency: the direction of the control movement must match the machine's direction of motion intuitively.
- Marking: the function of every control element is indicated permanently and legibly.
- Outside the scope: noise and cabin sound insulation are not the subject of this standard.
Control systems as a whole, that is the circuits and the electrical equipment, are dealt with in separate standards; this standard focuses on the device itself. On a radio-controlled crane what it means in practice is labelling the button layout on the transmitter consistently with the machine's motions. Mark the channel-motion mapping the same way on the panel and on the transmitter; during commissioning verify every channel without load.
The context in which this term is used: Wireless Crane Remote Control Selection Guide