I realize that this may be "opinion based" but I would like some general advice and feedback anyway and it is a engineering question after all.
I often feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information available with respect to European technical standards (EN standards) alone. There are just so many things to consider and most papers are for purchase only. So figuring out what documents to acquire is a first hurdle.
Working with only one or two engineers per project, I have a hard time feeling confident that we took everything important into consideration.
So far, we (small company) were mostly concerned to meet the basic safety aspects and to design with EMC in mind. Then we went to a EMC testing facility and checked that we don't exceed the emission limits, performed susceptibility testing and verified that our product is not sensible to ESD. But so far, it was more common sense engineering, than aiming to fulfill specific requirements with respect to application scope and type of device.
Is it maybe common to consult someone specialized on this topic?
Is there a good reference/book/on-line resource I should be aware of?
What is a good approach to evaluate normative requirements for a new device/design, maybe someone can share some experiences from a real world project?
Best Answer
If you are designing for a European market start with the directives that are needed to CE mark your product. These are all freely available on several websites. Work down these to decide what directives are applicable then it should become clearer what EN documents are required to be adhered to for your product.
Here is a good starting point. It's the UK government's CE marking guide and contains a list of all the directives that may apply.
Here is also another useful website where you can download pdf copies of all the directives. This one is the low voltage directive - wade through until you get to section 1 (general conditions) and you can seek further guidance from this site. If you download the pdf of the guidance and go to "scope" it begins to list the requirements and specifications that may be involved.
There is guidance available for all directives. You should also download the "Blue Guide" - it has a lot of good information and links but is more than a ten minute read.
And finally this document entitled "the new approach guide" contains flow diagrams of how you should approach testing your product.