EN 60073:2002

SLOVENSKI SIST EN 60073:2003
STANDARD
april 2003
Basic and safety principles for man-machine interface, marking and identification -
Coding principles for indicators and actuators
ICS 01.070; 13.110; 29.020 Referenčna številka
©  Standard je založil in izdal Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje ali kopiranje celote ali delov tega dokumenta ni dovoljeno

EUROPEAN STANDARD EN 60073
NORME EUROPÉENNE
EUROPÄISCHE NORM July 2002
ICS 01.070; 29.020 Supersedes EN 60073:1996
English version
Basic and safety principles for man-machine interface,
marking and identification -
Coding principles for indicators and actuators
(IEC 60073:2002)
Principes fondamentaux et de sécurité Grund- und Sicherheitsregeln
pour l'interface homme-machine, für die Mensch-Maschine-Schnittstelle,
le marquage et l'identification - Kennzeichnung -
Principes de codage pour les indicateurs Codierungsgrundsätze für
et les organes de commande Anzeigengeräte und Bedienteile
(CEI 60073:2002) (IEC 60073:2002)
This European Standard was approved by CENELEC on 2002-07-01. CENELEC members are bound to
comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European
Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.
Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on
application to the Central Secretariat or to any CENELEC member.
This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other
language made by translation under the responsibility of a CENELEC member into its own language and
notified to the Central Secretariat has the same status as the official versions.
CENELEC members are the national electrotechnical committees of Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta,
Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
CENELEC
European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique
Europäisches Komitee für Elektrotechnische Normung
Central Secretariat: rue de Stassart 35, B - 1050 Brussels
© 2002 CENELEC - All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CENELEC members.
Ref. No. EN 60073:2002 E
Foreword
The text of document 16/402/FDIS, future edition 6 of IEC 60073, prepared by IEC TC 16, Basic and
safety principles for man-machine interface, marking and identification, was submitted to the
IEC-CENELEC parallel vote and was approved by CENELEC as EN 60073 on 2002-07-01.
This European Standard supersedes EN 60073:1996.
The following dates were fixed:
– latest date by which the EN has to be implemented
at national level by publication of an identical
national standard or by endorsement (dop) 2003-04-01
– latest date by which the national standards conflicting
with the EN have to be withdrawn (dow) 2005-07-01
Annexes designated "normative" are part of the body of the standard.
Annexes designated "informative" are given for information only.
In this standard, annexes A and ZA are normative and annexes B and C are informative.
Annex ZA has been added by CENELEC.
__________
Endorsement notice
The text of the International Standard IEC 60073:2002 was approved by CENELEC as a European
Standard without any modification.
In the official version, for Bibliography, the following note has to be added for the standard indicated:
IEC 60204-1 NOTE Harmonized as EN 60204-1:1997 (not modified).
__________
- 3 - EN 60073:2002
Annex ZA
(normative)
Normative references to international publications
with their corresponding European publications
This European Standard incorporates by dated or undated reference, provisions from other
publications. These normative references are cited at the appropriate places in the text and the
publications are listed hereafter. For dated references, subsequent amendments to or revisions of any
of these publications apply to this European Standard only when incorporated in it by amendment or
revision. For undated references the latest edition of the publication referred to applies (including
amendments).
NOTE When an international publication has been modified by common modifications, indicated by (mod), the relevant
EN/HD applies.
Publication Year Title EN/HD Year
IEC 60027 Series Letter symbols to be used in HD 245 Series
electrical technology
1)
IEC 60050-441 - International Electrotechnical --
Vocabulary (IEV)
Chapter 441: Switchgear,
controlgear and fuses
1)
IEC 60050-721 - Chapter 721: Telegraphy facsimile--
and data communication
1)
IEC 60050-845 - Chapter 845: Lighting - -
IEC 60417 Series Graphical symbols for use on EN 60417 Series
equipment
1)
2)
IEC 60447 - Man-machine interface (MMI) - EN 60447 1993
Actuating principles
IEC 60617 Series Graphical symbols for diagrams EN 60617 Series
1) 2)
IEC 61310-1 - Safety of machinery - Indication, EN 61310-1 1995
marking and actuation
Part 1: Requirements for visual,
auditory and tactile signals
1)
IEC Guide 104 - The preparation of safety --
publications and the use of basic
safety publications and group safety
publications
1)
ISO 3864 - Safety colours and safety signs - -
1)
ISO 7000 - Graphical symbols for use on --
equipment - Index and synopsis

1)
Undated reference.
2)
Valid edition at date of issue.

Publication Year Title EN/HD Year
1)
ISO 8201 - Acoustics - Audible emergency--
evacuation signal
1)
ISO 11429 - Ergonomics - System of auditory and--
visual danger and information
signals
1)
ISO/IEC Guide 51 - Safety aspects - Guidelines for their--
inclusion in standards
1)
CIE 2-2 - Colours of light signals - -

NORME
CEI
INTERNATIONALE IEC
INTERNATIONAL
Sixième édition
STANDARD
Sixth edition
2002-05
Principes fondamentaux et de sécurité pour
l’interface homme-machine, le marquage
et l’identification –
Principes de codage pour les indicateurs
et les organes de commande
Basic and safety principles for man-machine
interface, marking and identification –
Coding principles for indicators and actuators
© IEC 2002 Droits de reproduction réservés ⎯ Copyright - all rights reserved
Aucune partie de cette publication ne peut être reproduite ni No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any
utilisée sous quelque forme que ce soit et par aucun procédé, form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
électronique ou mécanique, y compris la photocopie et les photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from
microfilms, sans l'accord écrit de l'éditeur. the publisher.
International Electrotechnical Commission, 3, rue de Varembé, PO Box 131, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland
Telephone: +41 22 919 02 11 Telefax: +41 22 919 03 00 E-mail: inmail@iec.ch  Web: www.iec.ch
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Commission Electrotechnique Internationale PRICE CODE
International Electrotechnical Commission
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Pour prix, voir catalogue en vigueur
For price, see current catalogue

60073 © IEC:2002 – 3 –
CONTENTS
FOREWORD.5
INTRODUCTION.9
1 Scope.11
2 Normative references .11
3 Definitions .13
4 Coding principles.17
4.1 General .17
4.2 Visual codes.21
4.2.1 Coding by colours.21
4.2.2 Coding by shapes and/or position.25
4.2.3 Coding by changing of characteristics over time .27
4.3 Acoustic codes .27
4.4 Tactile codes.29
5 Application requirements .31
5.1 Indication modes .31
5.2 Actuation modes.41
5.2.1 Non-illuminated actuators .41
5.2.2 Illuminated actuators .43
5.2.3 Actuators as a part of pictorial presentation on a video display screen .45
Annex A (normative) Special requirements for mechanical indicators.47
Annex B (informative) Example for the application of indication coding (using colours) .49
Annex C (informative) Examples of visual, acoustic and tactile codes .53
Bibliography.61

60073 © IEC:2002 – 5 –
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
BASIC AND SAFETY PRINCIPLES FOR MAN-MACHINE INTERFACE,
MARKING AND IDENTIFICATION –
Coding principles for indicators and actuators
FOREWORD
1) The IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of the IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, the IEC publishes International Standards. Their preparation is
entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested in the subject dealt with may
participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-governmental organizations liaising
with the IEC also participate in this preparation. The IEC collaborates closely with the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by agreement between the
two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of the IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an
international consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation
from all interested National Committees.
3) The documents produced have the form of recommendations for international use and are published in the form
of standards, technical specifications, technical reports or guides and they are accepted by the National
Committees in that sense.
4) In order to promote international unification, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC International
Standards transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional standards. Any
divergence between the IEC Standard and the corresponding national or regional standard shall be clearly
indicated in the latter.
5) The IEC provides no marking procedure to indicate its approval and cannot be rendered responsible for any
equipment declared to be in conformity with one of its standards.
6) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this International Standard may be the subject
of patent rights. The IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
International Standard IEC 60073 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 16: Basic
and safety principles for man-machine interface, marking and identification.
This sixth edition cancels and replaces the fifth edition published in 1996 and constitutes a
technical revision.
Compared to the fifth edition, the following substantial modifications have been made:
– the field of application has been extended to include displays on screens;
– the concept of “message” has been adopted from IEC 60050(721);
– clarifications are provided in 4.2.1 and 5.2.3.2.
It has the status of a Basic safety publication in accordance with IEC Guide 104.
The text of this standard is based on the following documents:
FDIS Report on voting
16/402/FDIS 16/404/RVD
Full information on the voting for the approval of this standard can be found in the report on
voting indicated in the above table.

60073 © IEC:2002 – 7 –
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 3.
Annex A forms an integral part of this standard.
Annexes B and C are for information only.
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged
until 2007. At this date, the publication will be
• reconfirmed;
• withdrawn;
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
60073 © IEC:2002 – 9 –
INTRODUCTION
This basic safety publication is intended for use by technical committees in the preparation
of standards in accordance with the principles laid down in IEC Guide 104 and in
ISO/IEC Guide 51.
It should be noted that one of the responsibilities of a technical committee is, wherever
possible, to include or refer to the requirements of basic safety publications in standards for
equipment within its scope. Consequently, the requirements of this basic safety publication
apply only if they are included, or are referred to in those standards.
Supervision and intervention are the principal tasks of personnel engaged in the monitoring
and control of equipment or processes.
Indicator for the representation of conditions, and actuating devices to enable intervention
under normal and fault conditions, are essential to this purpose.
The information presented should me
...