OSHA Instruction STD 1-12.25A July 12, 1994 Office of General Industry Compliance Assistance

Subject: Awareness Barriers Installed on Metal Cutting Shears

A. Purpose. This instruction provides guidance for applying awareness barrier safeguards as installed on metal cutting shears.

B. Scope. This instruction applies OSHA-wide.

C. Reference. 29 CFR 1910.212(a)(3)(ii), General Requirements for all Machines: Point of Operation Guarding.

D. Cancellation. OSHA Instruction STD 1-12.25, February 23, 1981 is canceled.

E. Action. OSHA Compliance Personnel shall accept properly applied awareness barrier safeguarding specified by ANSI B11.4-1993, Sections 6.3.3 through 6.4 (which include references to ANSI B11.19-1990, paragraphs 4.2.1, 4.3, 4.4.3.3 and Section 5 for safeguarding methods), as an acceptable form of point of operation safeguarding on metal cutting shears for situations in which it is impossible to employ a fixed guard or point of operation device due to the diversity of operations on the shear (where it is not possible to conform with the guidelines of Table 1, Column B of ANSI B11.4-1993).

F. Federal Program Change. This instruction describes a Federal program change which affects State programs. Each Regional Administrator shall:

1. Ensure that this change is promptly forwarded to each State designee, using a format consistent with the Plan Change-Two-way Memorandum in Appendix P, OSHA Instruction STP 2.22A, CH-2.

2. Explain the technical content of the change to the State designee as requested.

3. Ensure that State designees are asked to acknowledge receipt of the Federal program change in writing to the Regional Administrator as soon as the State's intention is known, but no later than 70 calendar days after the date of issuance (10 days for mailing and 60 days for response).

4. This acknowledgement should include a description either of the State's plan to follow the guidelines in this Instruction or of the reasons why the change should not apply to that State.

5. Advise the State designees that a plan supplement is not required for implementation of this change. However, if the State's interpretation of its standard is different from OSHA's, the State shall submit a copy of its interpretation to the Regional Administrator.

John B. Miles, Jr., Director Directorate of Compliance Programs

DISTRIBUTION: National, Regional and Area Offices All Compliance Officers State Designees 7(c)(1) Project Managers NIOSH Regional Program Directors