ANSI Revises Printing Press Safety Standards

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has recently approved ANSI B65.1-2005, Graphic technology - Safety standard - Printing press systems. This standard revises and replaces the 1995 edition, and is currently available from NPES.

The revision was done by ANSI-accredited B65 Subcommittee 1, and incorporates significant changes, the majority of which were made in an attempt to harmonize this ANSI standard with international standards. Such harmonization is important to facilitate international trade while adhering to U.S. safety regulations.

The first version of B65.1 was issued in November of 1954 and focused primarily on control systems. There have been subsequent revisions in 1972, 1985 and 1995 and 2005, during which other areas such as guarding, personnel warning systems and safe operating practices have been incorporated.

The B65 Committee consists of several subcommittees addressing safety for binding/finishing equipment and systems, cutting machines, stand-alone platen presses and ink making equipment, as well as printing press systems.

Much of the work done by the B65 subcommittees is submitted to, and incorporated into, similar work being done on the international level by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee 130 (Graphic Technology) Working Group 5 (Safety and Ergonomics). NPES chairs and administers the work of ISO TC 130 WG 5.

Membership on B65 is open to anyone having an interest in the work, and we are seeking increased involvement of the user community to help ensure that the standards meet their needs. Applications for B65 membership are available from the NPES Standards Workroom at http://www.npes.org/standards/workroom.html For more information, or to participate in this work, contact Mary Abbott at 703/264-7229 or mabbott@npes.org