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The Standards That Quietly Matter: 62443, 13849, and Why 2026 Is the Year to Get Them Right
Standards do not make headlines. They shape every wire, every guard, and every line of PLC code we touch. Two updates this year are worth a plant manager’s time.
The 62443 update from December 2025
In December 2025, ISA announced a new technical report in the ISA/IEC 62443 series. It is called ISA-TR62443-2-2-2025. The short version: it gives a clear path for building, checking, running, and keeping a Security Protection Scheme for industrial control systems.
This matters because most Canadian plants do not get a choice. Insurers and primes are starting to ask buyers to line up with 62443. The new report adds guidance for cloud links and Industrial IoT devices that talk to field gear. That is the part of the plant that has grown the fastest and been documented the least.
What this means on the floor
A Security Protection Scheme sounds heavy. In practice it is a written plan for who can touch a PLC, how the network is split, and how changes are logged. It pulls together asset lists, zone and conduit drawings, account rules, and patch routines.
Most plants already have parts of this. The 62443 update gives a frame to tie those parts together. Bedford supports Allen-Bradley, Schneider, Omron, Phoenix Contact, and Unitronics, and the same scheme idea works across all five. The platform changes. The plan does not.
The EU Machinery Regulation transition
The second update is about safety, not security. Intertek’s April 2026 explainer on ISO 13849 lays it out plainly. ISO 13849-1:2023 has been in the Official Journal of the EU since May 2024. The older EN ISO 13849-1:2015 gets withdrawn after 15 May 2027. The old Machinery Directive is replaced by Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 on 20 January 2027.
For Canadian shops, this lands in two places. First, any plant that buys European machinery will see new safety paperwork. Second, any Canadian OEM that ships to Europe needs to start prep work now. The 2026 window is the prep window.
Why pneumatics belong in this talk
One nice detail in the Intertek piece: ISO 13849 covers pneumatic, hydraulic, mechanical, and electrical safety systems. IEC 62061 covers electrical only. That matters for plants with air-driven clamps, blow-off, and pick-and-place.
Pneumatic safety is often the last thing people document. It should not be. A stuck cylinder or a slow vent can hurt someone just as fast as a bad relay. Bedford works in pneumatic systems as a core service, and good 13849 work covers that gear properly.
A short checklist for 2026
The work is not glamorous, but it is doable. A few steps go a long way. Build a current asset list with firmware versions and network paths. Draw zones and conduits, then check what crosses each line. Lock down engineering software accounts and add change logging. For safety, walk each guarded area and write down the safety functions, then match each one to a category and performance level under ISO 13849.
None of this needs new hardware. Most of it can be done by a small team over a few months. The output is a plan an insurer, an auditor, or a new hire can read.
Standards work pays back over years, not weeks. The plants that take 2026 to sort their 62443 and 13849 paperwork will spend the next five years answering customer questions with a smile instead of a search.
What does this mean for your plant? Bedford reads the industry so you do not have to. If this story touches your line, we will tell you straight what it means for you.
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