Roll-over protective structures, ROPS

Roll-over protective structure (ROPS) are systems of structural members whose primary purpose is to reduce the possibility of a seat-belted operator being crushed if the machine rolls over.

ROPS installed on demolition machine shall comply with the requirements stablished in the standard EN ISO 3471:2008 (Earth-moving machinery. Roll-over protective structures. Laboratory tests and performance requirements), although they must not comply with the requirements stablished for ROPS in the standard EN 474-1:2007+A6:2020.

How should they be identified and labelled?

All ROPS must have its correspondent label in accordance with the standard EN ISO 3471:2008 (Earth-moving machinery. Roll-over protective structures. Laboratory tests and performance
requirements).

The label must be permanently attached to the ROPS, located on the place of the structure where it can be easily read and protected from the weather, and its contents must be legible.

The minimum information provided by such label should be the following:

Name and address of the manufacturer or constructor of the ROPS
Designation of the ROPS
Mandatory marking, if applicable
Designation of series or type/model of machine for which the ROPS is intended
Serial number
Year of construction
Maximum machine mass for which the ROPS structure meets all of the performance requirements of the standard ISO 3471
International standard number(s) for which the structure meets all of the performance requirements
Other information that the manufacturer considers necessary

What tests, according to EN standards, should they passed?

According to the EN ISO 3471 (Earth-moving machinery – Roll-over protective structures – Laboratory tests and performance requirements), ROPS must be tested for force resistance with
the following tests:

Lateral loading: The procedure to carry out this test will vary depending of the characteristics of the ROPS, always in accordance with the requirements of the standard EN ISO 3471.
Vertical loading: The centre of the vertical load shall be applied in the same vertical plane, perpendicular to the longitudinal centreline of the ROPS structure.
Longitudinal loading: The longitudinal load shall be applied to the upper structural members of the ROPS along the longitudinal centreline of the ROPS and the direction of loading (fore or aft) shall be selected in order to place the most severe requirements on the representative specimen. The initial direction of loading shall be horizontal and parallel to the original longitudinal centreline of the machine.

Additionally to the loading test, there are material and temperature requirements needed to ensure that the ROPS will have resistance to brittle fracture.

The temperature and material requirements may be met by applying the static loadings with all ROPS structural members at, or below, −18 °C if material specifications and procurement guarantee that materials in ROPS subsequently manufactured will have toughness characteristics similar to those in the representative specimen tested.

If ROPS structural members, except those made of thin steels, are made of steels that meet or exceed one of the Charpy V-notch (CVN) impact strengths no test in this regard is needed.