This European Standard specifies safety requirements, and their verification, for the design and construction of screw splitters with horizontal screws, designed to be used by one operator for splitting wood, irrespective of the nature of the power source used. On a dual purpose circular saw for firewood/log splitting machine only the log splitter part of the machine is covered by this standard, for circular saws. For firewood saws see prEN 1870-6:1997. This standard describes methods for the elimination or reduction of risks arising from their use. In addition, it specifies the type of information on safe working practices to be provided by the manufacturer. The list of significant hazards dealt with is given in annex A. Annex A also indicates the hazards which have not been dealt with. This European Standard applies primarily to machines which are manufactured after the date of issue of the standard.