NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting
Technologies, supports and administers the activities of the ANSI-accredited B65 Committee. For more information contact standards@npes.org.

The B65 Committee is a standards-developing committee accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). It has been in existence since the early 1950's, administered at that time by the National Safety Council and Printing Industries of America. However, in the early 1970's the committee became inactive for some time. The committee was re-activated and re-accredited by ANSI in 1983, under the administration of NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies.

The purpose of the B65 Committee is to develop ANSI safety standards for printing presses, bindery machines and other printing equipment. Work relates to the design, arrangement, designation, and color scheme of controls and signaling devices, as well as to guarding and interlocking of guards. Also addressed are other mechanical safety devices, symbology and safe practices as they apply to printing equipment. As the printing machinery industry becomes more globally oriented, it becomes increasingly important to have uniform international safety standards for the machinery. This allows manufacturers to design and build equipment to a single set of safety standards, regardless of the country of import/export. Thus, the B65 Committee is attempting to coordinate with similar activities in the European community and with other countries through participation in related work in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

The B65 Committee provides input to the international activities on issues relating to safety. ISO TC 130, the technical committee for the graphic arts within ISO, has a working group (WG5) that deals with ergonomics and safety. The United States, in the form of NPES, is the convener of this international working group and is responsible for the management of work done by that committee. The B65 Committee provides technical experts to attend the meetings of ISO TC 130 WG 5, and reviews and comments on the international work. The B65 subcommittee members also serve as advisors to the US TAG to ISO TC 130, advising on the U.S. position on international safety standards. Much of the B65 work is now being incorporated into safety standards being developed by ISO TC 130, and the international work is being incorporated into the revisions of the B65 standards. In 1983, NPES became the Secretariat and reorganized the committee in order to revise a safety standard for printing press drive controls (B65.1). This work has been followed by the development of other safety standards for printing, bindery and ink-making equipment.

Participation on B65 committees and at meetings is open to anyone having an interest. Minutes and other committee documents are available online (see links above), or from the NPES Standards Department, standards@npes.org.

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