ISO 14971 – Buy the new 2012 version?…comment please

I’m sure that there are some that disagree with my determination that the latest revision of EN 14971, revision 2012, is unnecessary (the European Commission certainly does).

 You will have to go to my website to read my cheeky posting on this topic.

And here’s another cheeky attitude from the UK…(sorry, this is not a family channel).

Therefore, I would like to clarify why I feel this way by reviewing how risk is addressed in the MDD (93/42/EEC as modified by 2007/47/EC).

1. The term risk is mentioned only 4 times in the Articles in the MDD
2. The term risk is mentioned once in Annex II and III, twice in Annex VII, and three times in Annex VIII and X—for a total of 10 times.
3. The other 41 times risk is mentioned are in the Essential Requirements (i.e. – Annex I).

When companies submit a Design Dossier for review by a Notified Body, an Essential Requirements Checklist is included. This references, in table format, how all the requirements of Annex I are being met—including those related to risks. Throughout Annex I, a similar phrase is repeated many times. For example, in the first Essential Requirement (ER1) it states: “…any risks which may be associated with [a device’s] intended use [shall] constitute acceptable risks when weighed against the benefits to the patient and are compatible with a high level of protection of health and safety.” In ER2 it states: “the manufacturer must…eliminate or reduce risks as far as possible…”. There is no room in the MDD for consideration of cost or economic impact when the manufacturer is designing a device with regard to risks and benefits.

If a company’s Risk Management Procedure has been found to be acceptable by a Notified Body, and the company has addressed all the Essential Requirements (ERs) with regard to risk, then there should be no impact from these 7 deviations identified in EN 14971:2012. However, if your company has not addressed each of these ERs, then you might want to consider each of these areas:

1. Treatment of negligible risks
2. Discretionary power of the manufacturer as to the acceptability of risks
3. Risk reduction “as low as possible” (ALAP) verses “as low as reasonably possible” (ALARP)
4. Discretion as to whether as risk benefit analysis needs to take place
5. Discretion as to the risk control option/measures
6. Deviation as to the first risk control method
7. Information of the users influencing the residual risk

My final advice is to review Annex I and Annex X from the perspective of risk management. You may realize that you have some gaps that nobody noticed. After all, audits are just a sample.

PS – I think it’s ironic that the origins of the ALARP principle are UK case law (see link above).

Advertisement