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Newsletters

Current issues of the IEEE Product Safety Engineering newsletters can be found in the society members only section of this web site.  Membership in the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society is required to access the newsletters.  See the society members only section for access instructions.

The IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society is seeking articles and papers for our newsletter.  Refer to the information page or download the author's guide for requirements and contact information.

Want to advertise in our newsletter?  Download the advertising brochure.

Back issues of the PSES newsletters can be found at the bottom of this page.

Latest Newsletters

 

March 2023, Vol. 20, No. 1

  • Editor's Message
  • President's Message
  • Chapter News
  • IEEE PSES Newsletter Call for Article
  • ISPCE 2023 Exhibitor & Patron Prospectus
  • ISPCE-AS 2023 Call for Paper
  • MIT Partnership for Systems Approaches to Safety and Security (PSASS)
  • Improving the Standard Risk Matrix: Part 1
  • EMC+SIPI Symposium Summary
  • ISPCE 2022 Recap: San Diego, California, USA

December 2021, Vol. 18, No. 3-4

  • Editor's Message
  • President's Message
  • Chapter News
  • Technical Committees
  • High-Pressure Steam Engines and Computer Software
  • IEEE Learning Network (ILN) PSES courses
  • IEEE PSES Conference 2021-2022 Overview
  • IET Wireless Symposium 2021 Report
  • Report of HKSTP and IEEE MoU Signing Ceremony
  • IoT harmonization with IEEE P2668 Standard towards Best Practice
  • People in the PSES News
  • Thanks for your Contributions to PSES
  • New IEEE PSES Corporate Sponsorship Program

September 2020, Vol. 16, No. 1-3

  • Editor’s Message
  • President’s Message
  • Chapter News
  • STAMP Workshop 2020
  • A History Lesson in Standardizing Voltage and Frequency in the Electrical Industry
  • Do We Really Need a New Safety Standard?
  • Enhancing Product Safety of Smart Metering with IEEE P2668
  • Product Safety vs. EMC – Which Testing First?
  • IEEE PSES in Memoriam
  • Call for PSES Board of Governors Nominations 2020
  • Call for PSES Nominations—IEEE PSES Distinguished Lecturers

December 2019, Vol. 15, No. 3

  • Editor's Message
  • President's Message
  • President Elect's Message
  • Chapter News
  • Internet of Things Safety Index
  • Conference on “SIoT Standard for Smart City & Inauguration of IEEE P2668 IDex”
  • IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society Activities Report for VP Membership Services
  • IEEE ISPCE-CN 2019 Report
  • 60601-1: MOPP vs MOOP Patient & Operator Electric Shock Protection
  • ELV, SELV, MOOP, HAZARDOUS LIVE, ES1
Advertise in the Newsletter

 

Current issues are only available to Society members.  Please visit the Society Members Only section of this website for current issues of the newsletter.

Previous Years Newsletter 2006 - 2015


2006

March 2006, Vol. 2, No. 1

  • Power over Ethernet (PoE)
  • UL Standards Technical Panels
  • Symposium Report

June 2006, Vol. 2, No. 2

  • Meeting One Country's Standards
  • ANSI Z535.6
  • Overall Residual Risk

September 2006, Vol. 2, No. 3

  • Standardization
  • Back to Basics
  • The New 60601

December 2006, Vol. 2, No. 4

  • The Role of Warnings and Instructions
  • Symposium Report
  • Comparison of IEC 61000-4-3

2007

March 2007, Vol. 3, No. 1

  • Technically Speaking - PSU Class 1 design
  • Defining and Designing for the Reasonable Person

June 2007, Vol. 3, No. 2

  • Technically Speaking - Safety Critical Components
  • Effect of Thin Solid Insulating Material
  • 2007 CSA/RIA Robot Safety Conference Report

October 2007, Vol. 3, No. 3

  • Technically Speaking - Principles of Thermally-caused Injury
  • PSEN Visits UL University
  • Changes to Bylaws

December 2007, Vol. 3, No. 4

  • Technically Speaking - Electric Shock and Electric Shock Safeguards In Digital Camera Flash Circuits
  • Safety Considerations for Liquid Filled Heat Sinks

2008

March 2008, Vol. 4, No. 1

  • Monitoring the Integrity of the Safety Ground
  • Novelty Shock Pens - Harmless Toy or Injurious Weapon?

June 2008, Vol. 4, No. 2

  • Touch Current Measurement Comparison, Part 1
  • Electric Strength Test:  What Voltage Should Be Used?

October 2008, Vol. 4, No. 3

  • Insulation Coordination for High Frequencies
  • Touch Current Measurement Comparison

December 2008, Vol. 4, No. 4

  • Technically Speaking - Determining the R-C Discharge Time Constant for X- and Y-Capacitors
  • 2008 Symposium Report

2009

March 2009, Vol. 5, No. 1

  • Technically Speaking - Testing Purposes
  • The Engineer's Role In Product Liability

June 2009, Vol. 5, No. 2

  • New Brazil Inmetro requirements
  • Staying Connected

December 2009, Vol. 5, No. 4

  • 2009 Symposium Review

2010

March 2010, Vol. 6, No. 1

  • Evaluation of Fans
  • Ontario Electrical Safety Authority

June 2010, Vol. 6, No. 2

  • A New Approach to Product Safety
  • Medical Electrical Safety Under Attack

October 2010, Vol. 6, No. 3

  • Product Safety Management:  Its Time Has Come
  • Absence of Proof is not Proof of Absence

December 2010, Vol. 6, No. 4

  • Technically Speaking
  • Source Impedance as an Ignition Risk Factor
  • Background behind the "15W Rule"

2011

March 2011, Vol. 7, No. 1

  • Risk Management and the Truth of Murphy's Law

June 2011, Vol. 7, No. 2

  • Product Safety Requirements in Argentina
  • Israel Chapter Symposium Report

August 2011, Vol. 7, No. SE

  • 2011 Symposium preview
  • 2012 Symposium announcement

November 2011, Vol. 7, No. 3

  • 2011 Symposium coverage
  • CPSC's Public Product Safety Database

December 2011, Vol. 7, No. 4

  • Technically Speaking - ELV vs. SELV
  • Outgoing and Incoming President's messages

2012

March 2012, Vol. 8, No. 1

  • Technically Speaking - Clearance and Creepage
  • Emergency Stop
  • PSES Collaborates with CE Society

June 2012, Vol. 8, No. 2

  • Single and Repetitive Pulses in Accessible Circuits
  • Checking Emergency Stop Systems
  • Argentina workshop

September 2012, Vol. 8, No. SE

  • 2012 Symposium preview

October 2012, Vol. 8, No. 3

  • Acceptance of Validated Symbols
  • Guarding Emergency Stop Faults
  • Arcing Faults

December 2012, Vol. 8, No. 4

  • A Short History of the Evolved Power Supply
  • Busting the Emergency Stop Myths
  • New Requirements for Shipments of Lithium Batteries

2013

March 2013, Vol. 9, No. 1

  • Product Safety and Supply Chain Management
  • Emergency Stop Categories

June 2013, Vol. 9, No. 2

  • Multiple E-Stops and Resets
  • IEEE PSES Awards
  • 2012 Israel Chapter Symposium
  • Future Directions - A World of Opportunity

September 2013, Vol. 9, No. SE2

  • 2013 Symposium preview update

September 2013, Vol. 9, No. 3

  • Power Supply Cords
  • Interlock Architectures - Pt. 1

December 2013, Vol. 9, No. 4

  • 2013 Symposium Report
  • The IEEE Code of Ethics and YOU (and ME)
  • Out of Tolerance
  • Interlock Architectures - Pt. 2
  • Mentoring
  • PSE History

2014

March 2014, Vol. 10, No. 1

  • IEEE Future Directions
  • PSES History
  • New PSES Members
  • Institutional Listings

June 2014, Vol. 10, No. 2

  • South Korean Fan Death Mystery
  • Interlock Architectures - Pt. 3
  • ISPCE2014

September 2014, Vol. 10, No. 3

  • Officers of the IEEE PSES
  • Chapter and TAC safety Probes
  • Legal Column
  • Volunteer Position Available

2014, Vol. 10, No. 4

  • Changes on the board
  • Stefan Mozar Elevated to IEEE fellow
  • Product Safety Engineering as a challenge for Acamedia

2015

2015, Vol. 11, No. 1

  • Chapter and TAC safety Probes
  • Measurement of Touch Current : RMS v/s Peak

2015, Vol. 11, No. 2

  • 2015 ISPCE
  • OUCH! Hot Laptop

2015, Vol. 11, No. 3

  • Legal Column
  • Physical Body Parameter Calculations

2015, Vol. 11, No. 4

  • Conferences
  • Product Safety Regulations updates in Argentina

2016

September 2016, Vol. 12, No.2-3
(5.2 MB)

  • Chapter and TAC Probes
  • Call for BoD Nominations
  • Legal Column - REACH: Radio Equipment Directive: New requirements placed on radio equipemnt since June 2016
  • Product Safery Engineering Society Symposium Summary

March 2016, Vol. 12, No.1
(5.8 MB)

  • Chapter and TAC Probes
  • Call for BoD Nominations
  • Legal Column - REACH: ECI Ruling on SVHC
  • Tying the electrical event to the equipment problem

2017

December 2017, Vol. 13, No. 4
(15.6 MB)

  • Chapter News
  • News about Technical Activity
  • Senior Member News
  • Back to the Past - EMC+SIPI 2017
  • Report on Technical Talk & Workshop
  • The Risk Assessment Process
  • TOUCH CURRENT measurement; Showing how it works (3/3)

September 2017, Vol. 13, No.3
(12.7 MB)

  • Chapter News
  • News about Technical Activity Committees
  • Conference News
  • Book Review: EMC Made Simple-Printed Circuit Board and System Design
  • Selecting Safety Standards for Machine Safeguarding Requirements
  • TOUCH CURRENT measurement; Showing how it works (2/3)

June 2017, Vol. 13, No.2
(9.8 MB)

  • Chapter News
  • News about Technical Activity Committees
  • In Memoriam - Jack Burns & Senior Member News
  • Legal Column
  • Lessons Learned. In the Use of Li-On Battery Technology
  • TOUCH CURRENT measurement; Showing how it works

March 2017, Vol. 13, No. 1
(2.8 MB)

  • Chapter and TAC Safety Probes
  • Conference News
  • Looking at SMPS development history and the effect on electric shock protection

The Product Safety Newsletter

The Newsletter was first published in March of 1985. It included a Chairman's Message and Chapter Activity report. Soon after the first edition, Rich Nute began writing the widely popular Technically Speaking column. In 15 years of publication, it peaked at around 1100 copies, sent out every other month by mail, supported by institutional listings. In November 1998, with a tiring staff and shortage of income from listings, it was decided to stop mailing hard copies and start a web-based publication. In December, 1996, Roger Volgstadt, editor of the Newsletter started an email list server, "emc-pstc" for the benefit of the engineering community worldwide related to EMC and product safety.

Members of PSES have collected most of the newsletters from 1988 to 1998, converted them to PDF, and they are now available here on the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society's web site. Enjoy!

The web-based version of the Product Safety Newsletter (new issues stopped in 2003) and were found on the EMC Society's TC-8 web site (this site is apparently no longer maintained by the EMCS). The Product Safety Engineering Society's Newsletter and Journal pick up where the Product Safety Newsletter left off.

Previous Years Newsletters 1988 - 1998

 

Vol/# Date Technically Speaking Feature
1/1 1988 none
1/2 1988 none
1/3 1988 Apr Understanding creepage distances
1/4 1988 May CSA 1402A: energy discharge
1/5 1988 Jun Double fusing or fusing both sides of the line
1/6 1988 Jul Energy hazard
1/7 1988 Aug Behavior of air and solid insulations in series
1/8 1988 Sep-Oct Resistor value for measuring leakage current
1/9 1988 Nov-Dec The hazards of multiple grounding
2/1 1989 Jan-Feb Thermocouples and temperature measurement
2/2 1989 Mar-Apr Characteristics of air as an insulator
2/3

1989 May-Jun The hi-pot test
2/4 1989 Jul-Oct Theory of equipment grounding impedance
2/5 1989 Nov-Dec Electrically-caused fire in multi-layer boards
3/1 1990 Jan-Feb The pitfalls of pass-fail testing
3/2 1990 Mar-Apr The use of over-current protection in
plug-and-socket connected equipment
3/3 1990 May-Jun Selecting a fuse value
3/4 1990 Jul-Aug Selecting a fuse value
3/5 1990 Sep-Oct none
3/6 1990 Nov-Dec Some thoughts about interlocks
4/1 1991 Jan-Feb Capacitive discharge shock from CRT faceplates
4/2 1991 Mar-Apr none
4/3 1991 May-Aug Testing purposes
4/4 1991 Sep-Oct Testing purposes
4/5 1991 Nov-Dec none
5/1 1992 1st half Limited current circuits
5/2 1992 2nd half none
6/1 1993 Jan-Feb Body Resistance: A Review
6/2 1993 Mar-Apr Electric Shock From Radios - A Review
6/3 1993 May-Jun Testing safety into products
6/4 1993 Jul-Sep Working Voltage, Electric Strength and Spacings
6/5 1993 Oct-Nov none
6/6 1993 Dec The Myth of Accessibility
7/1 1994 Jan-Feb Leakage Current Measuring Circuits
7/2 1994 Mar-Apr Transients in Secondary Circuits
7/3 1994 May-Jun Electrically-caused fire
7/4 1994 Jul-Aug Fire enclosures
7/5 1994 Sep-Oct Fire Prevention
7/6 1994 Nov-Dec Markings and other aggravations
8/1 1995 Jan-Feb none
8/2 1995 Mar-Apr Two measures, two levels
8/3 1995 May-Aug Operational insulation in IEC 950
8/4 1995 Sep-Oct Absolute Safety
8/5 1995 Nov-Dec Power systems and polarization
9/1 1996 Jan-Mar Derivation of grounding impedance
9/2 1996 Apr-Jun Models for protection against injury
9/3 1996 Jul-Sep none
9/4 1996 Oct-Dec The dielectric withstand test
10/1 1997 Jan-Mar The 25-amp grounding impedance test
10/2 1997 Apr-Jul More 25-amp grounding impedance test
11/1 1998 Jan-Mar Hi-pot test current