ISO 25119 functional safety assessments

ISO 25119 defines general principles for the design and development of safety-related parts of EUC control systems (SRP/CS) on tractors, municipal equipment like street-sweeping machines, and other agriculture and forestry machines. The standard specifies the characteristics and categories required of SRP/CS to perform their safety-related functions. It refers to any possible hazard that could be caused by any interference behaviour related to the safety-related parts of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic systems (E/E/PES).

The ISO 25119 standard for tractors and machinery for agriculture and forestry is an industry-specific implementation of IEC 61508 and is a merger of modified and simplified ISO 26262 (automotive functional safety) and ISO 13849 (machinery functional safety). It mandates that safety goals conform to specified Agricultural Performance Levels (AgPL), which consist of four main parts:

• Part one – Defines the management aspects of a functional safety project and relates to the general principles for design and development.
• Part two – Deals with the necessary safety concept and the requirements for risk analysis.
• Part three – Deals with hardware and software development and the associated tests.
• Part four – Deals with the functional safety aspects of production, operation, modification and supporting processes.

TÜV SÜD supports you with functional safety assessments for agricultural and forestry machinery to meet ISO 25119 requirements.

Intelligent vehicles used in the agricultural and forestry industry like driverless tractors with combined harvester or automated felling and extraction equipment are often equipped with advanced electronics. Specific safety assessments are therefore required. Manufacturers must ensure compliance with the ISO 25119 standard, which requires safety targets to be in line with specified Agricultural Performance Levels (AgPL).  

This comprehensive approach must encompass the entire system during a vehicle or machine’s life cycle, from initial development to decommissioning. A thorough inspection ensures that intelligent vehicles operate safely and reliably throughout their operational life for increased agricultural and forestry safety. 

The functional safety assessment according to ISO 25119 considers all relevant requirements for your agricultural and forestry vehicles. It ensures, that neither the environment nor the user will be harmed due to incorrect functionality of the vehicle.  Using ISO 25119 to assess the overall tractor safety, and safety other agricultural and forestry vehicles and/or corresponding systems, therefore minimises the risk of harm to people.  

By demonstrating compliance to the relevant functional safety standards, the safe performance and high quality of your vehicles can be ensured. This helps you to maintain your competitive advantage, through increased customer trust in your agriculture and forestry machinery and successful access to global markets. ISO 25119 compliance will also avoid causing costly product recalls and reputational damage due to safety hazards. 

As a neutral and independent third-party service provider, TÜV SÜD has a long history of providing functional safety services along the entire vehicle value chain and across various industries. We provide guidance in the early stages of a project and continue to support you throughout the entire compliance process. We partner with you to ensure tractor safety, and that of other agricultural and forestry machinery, so that new mobility solutions can be brought safely onto the market. 

Our interdisciplinary experts are part of an international network that regularly exchanges knowledge about best practices and future-oriented services. We also participate in various safety committees to further develop relevant global safety standards and regulations. Our system safety services include electrical safety, environmental testing, cybersecurity, and much more.

TÜV SÜD´s functional safety assessments for agricultural and forestry machinery helps you to ensure that all safety requirements are met, and that your vehicles operate safely. We support you with the following services:

• ISO 25119 training
• ISO 25119 functional safety assessments
• Functional safety audits
• Verification and confirmation reviews
• Evaluation of hazard, risk, safety, and architectural analyses
• Evaluation of technical feasibility and concept studies
• GAP analyses (e.g. for development processes)
• Conformity assessments according to Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC
• Homologation, type approval and global market access support
• EMC testing
• Process certification
• Product certification of components and systems