This European Standard presents guidance to the manufacturer of machinery or its component parts and the writer of C-standards in controlling health risks due to machine-related muscular force exertion. This standard specifies recommended force limits for actions during machinery operation including construction, transport and commissioning (assembly, installation, adjustment), use (operation, cleaning, fault finding, maintenance, setting, teaching or process changeover) decommissioning, disposal and dismantling. The standard applies primarily to machines which are manufactured after the date of issue of the standard. This standard applies on one hand to machinery for professional use operated by the adult working population, who are healthy workers with ordinary physical capacity, and on the other hand to machinery for domestic use operated by the whole population including youth and old people. The recommendations are derived from research on European population. This document is not applicable to specify the machinery which are manufactured before the date of publication of this document by CEN.