This European Standard specifies the essential safety requirements applicable to the design and construction of blade granulators and shredders used to reduce the size of products made from plastics and/or rubber. Machines considered in this European Standard begin at the outer edge of the feeding device/feed opening and end at the discharge area. This European Standard deals with all significant hazards, hazardous situations or hazardous events during all phases of the machine life cycle (see Annex A), when blade granulators and shredders are used as intended and under conditions of misuse that are reasonably foreseeable by the manufacturer. This European Standard does not deal with: - equipment for feeding material or discharging processed material that is not an integral part of the machine; - machines intended to process materials that could be hazardous to health or flammable materials (e.g. expanded foam material). This European Standard is not applicable to blade granulators and shredders that are manufactured before the date of its publication.