Find the right standards path for your machine, panel, or safety system.
Practical standards guidance, design workflows, commissioning references, and engineering tools for industrial automation. Start from your project type, lifecycle stage, or market — an independent educational reference, not a substitute for the published standards or your authority having jurisdiction.
Start here
Pick the card that best describes what you are doing right now. Each one routes to the right reference, workflow, or module.
Common engineering scenarios
The quickest route into the atlas is an end-to-end worked example. Each scenario names the standards stack, the rationale, and the lifecycle path.
Start with: UL 508A + NEC Article 409 + NFPA 79
US market, UL listing required. NEC is the legal baseline, UL 508A governs panel construction and listing, NFPA 79 applies when the panel sits on a machine.
Full scenario →Start with: NFPA 79 (US) + IEC 60204-1 (EU) + ISO 12100
Machine sold in both markets — design to the most restrictive rule from each. EU machinery law requires a documented risk assessment and compliance with the applicable essential health and safety requirements. EN ISO 12100 is the harmonized methodology commonly used to perform and document it — voluntary, but conferring presumption of conformity for the requirements it covers.
Full scenario →Start with: IEC 61511 + IEC 61508 foundation
SIS / ESD for process industry. IEC 61511 is the application standard; IEC 61508 is the lifecycle foundation. Reviewed
Full scenario →Start with: ISO 13849-1 or IEC 62061 + IEC 62443
Safety PLC with network connectivity. Safety function design per PL or SIL path; cybersecurity overlay per IEC 62443.
Full scenario →Start with: 15-Standard Minimum Compliance Stack
Complex compliance stack for fab equipment. SEMI S2/S8/S14 in the reference library alongside the industry overlay.
Full scenario →Browse by lifecycle stage
A structured lifecycle from concept through operation and management of change — each page lists the standards and outputs that apply.
Explore the field guide
Beyond the entry routes above: browse by standards family or industry overlay, or open the power-user views of the underlying reference library.
Browse by standards family
Already know which family applies? Jump straight in.
US-market rules for industrial control panels and machinery electrical design. NEC is legally enforced; UL 508A covers panel listing.
View family →Electrical equipment of machines for CE-marked and global markets. Equivalent scope to NFPA 79 outside the US.
View family →Risk assessment and safety function design. PL path via ISO 13849-1; SIL path via IEC 62061 or IEC 61511 for process.
View family → ReviewedPLC programming languages and safety software lifecycle. Industrial cybersecurity series for networked control systems.
Routing guide →Side-by-side comparison tables mapping clause equivalencies between US and international standards.
View crosswalks →Cross-cutting reference models: machine architecture layers, universal safety architecture, semiconductor compliance stack.
View reference →Browse by industry
Every industry has an overlay that narrows the general standards. Six of the most common — see the full list on the industries page.
For power users — standards graph and source browser
Standards relationship graph
Interactive map of how standards reference and depend on each other.
Source material
Every page is backed by the project's reference library of clause-level source notes. Browse the raw notes in the source browser, or read how content is produced and reviewed on the About & methodology page.