OSHA 1910.212 and ANSI B11.19: A Practical Machine Guarding Alignment Guide

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between OSHA 1910.212 and ANSI B11.19?

OSHA 1910.212 sets the duty to guard employees from hazardous machine motion and related mechanical hazards. ANSI B11.19 helps employers choose, apply, and evaluate safeguarding methods in a more systematic way.

What tasks should be included in a machine guarding assessment?

The review should cover more than normal production. It should also include setup, changeover, clearing jams, tool changes, cleaning, preventive maintenance, troubleshooting, testing, and startup or restart after servicing.

How do I know if a machine guard is actually effective?

Check whether employees can reach over, under, around, or through the guard and whether the guard fully protects the hazard area. Also verify that interlocks work as intended and that the guard is not easy to remove, bypass, tape, wedge, or defeat.

Can administrative controls be used instead of physical machine guards?

Administrative controls can support safeguarding, but the post says they do not replace physical safeguarding. The safeguarding method should still prevent contact with the hazard during foreseeable use.

When should machine guarding be reassessed?

The post recommends reassessing guarding after machine changes, repairs, incidents, near misses, jams, or process changes. Revalidation is also useful after modifications that may have changed the hazard zone or access path.