The invention relates to a safety switching apparatus and to a method for safely switching on and off an electrical load, in particular an automated installation. The apparatus comprises a first port for a first signaling element, a second port for a second signaling element, a first switching device coupled to a first switching activator, and a second switching device coupled to a second switching activator. A time monitoring apparatus activates the first and the second switching activators only if a time between an actuation of the signaling elements is smaller than a predetermined maximum duration. The activation of the switching activators in turn causes the switching devices to be switched-through and thus the load to be switched on. For the activation of the switching activators, a first and a second switching element, which are each arranged in series with the switching activators, need to switched-through. According to one aspect of the invention, at least a first microcontroller is provided for the time monitoring, which microcontroller is designed to detect actuations of the signaling elements and to activate the switching elements in the event of the maximum duration being undershot.