Common ANSI B20.1-5.9.3 Violations: Guarding Nip and Shear Points on Winery Conveyors

In wineries, where conveyors hum through crush pads, bottling lines, and barrel rooms, nip and shear points pose sneaky hazards. ANSI/ASME B20.1-5.9.3 mandates guarding these points—where fingers or clothing can get pinched between rollers and belts, or sheared by blades—unless equivalent safety measures like interlocks are in place. Yet, OSHA citations reveal wineries frequently trip over this rule during inspections.

What ANSI B20.1-5.9.3 Demands for Nip and Shear Points

This section of the ANSI/ASME B20.1 Safety Standard for Conveyors and Related Equipment requires guards on all nip points (converging surfaces that trap hazards) and shear points (edges that can amputate). Exceptions exist for specific conveyor types detailed in Section 6, like enclosed screw conveyors, but only if access is impossible during operation. In wineries, this hits hard on grape stemmers, bottle elevators, and case packers. Guards must be fixed, interlocked, or presence-sensing, preventing access while powered. We’ve audited facilities where ignoring this led to near-misses—operators reaching under belts to clear grape mash jams.

Top Violations We See in Winery Operations

From my inspections across California’s Napa and Sonoma valleys, here are the most cited breaches:

• Missing or Improper Guards: Exposed rollers where belts meet frames. A common fix-it failure: temporary tape or plywood instead of OSHA-compliant metal mesh.
• Guard Openings Too Large: Holes bigger than 1/2 inch allow finger entry, violating the standard’s access prevention rule. In bottling areas, this invites tweaks during high-speed runs.
• No Interlocks on Removable Guards: Operators bypass by propping guards open. We caught this on a destemmer conveyor—power stayed on, risking shear from rotating paddles.
• Inadequate Signage or Training: No warnings at nip points, leading to habitual unsafe reaches. Post-harvest chaos amplifies this.
• Neglecting Section 6 Specifics: Treating all conveyors the same, like unguarded bucket elevators when enclosures suffice.

OSHA data from 2022-2023 shows conveyor guarding as a top-10 citation in food processing, with wineries overrepresented due to sticky, debris-clogged belts.

Real-World Fixes from the Field

One winery client retrofitted their press feeders with perforated steel guards and magnetic interlocks—zero incidents since. Start with a hazard assessment: Map every nip (belt-to-roller) and shear (blade edges). Install guards per ANSI specs: strong enough to withstand 200 lbs of force, no sharp edges. For wet environments, use stainless steel to fight corrosion from wine residues. Train crews quarterly, emphasizing lockout/tagout before cleaning. Reference OSHA 1910.212 for complementary general machine guarding—B20.1 aligns closely. Limitations? Custom winery conveyors may need engineering tweaks; consult ASME for variances.

Proactive audits catch these before citations hit. Based on Cal/OSHA and federal logs, compliant guarding slashes injury rates by up to 70%, per NIOSH studies. Dive deeper with the full ANSI B20.1 standard from ASME.org or OSHA’s conveyor directive STD 01-12-019.