This European standard covers safety requirements for cartridge operated fixing and hard marking tools which operate with an intermediate member (piston). This European standard deals with all significant hazards, hazardous situations and events relevant to cartridge operated fixing and hard marking tools, when they are used as intended and under conditions of misuse which are reasonably foreseeable (see Clause 4). It deals with the significant hazards in the different operating modes and intervention procedures as referred to in EN ISO 12100-1:2003, 5.3. Although the safe use of cartridge operated tools depends to an important extent on the use of appropriate cartridges and fasteners, this standard is not formulating requirements for the cartridges and fasteners to be used with the tools (see Clause 7). This European Standard applies to tools designed for use with cartridges with casings made of metal or plastic and with solid propellant and containing a minor quantity of primer with a composition different from that of the main propellant. The fixing tools in the scope are those intended for use with fasteners made from metal. NOTE Information about cartridges can be found in the publication of the Permanent International Commission for the Proof of Small Arms (C.I.P.). This European standard is not applicable to cartridge operated fixing and hard marking tools which are manufactured before the date of its publication as EN.