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Current consensus standards and power-transmission guarding

Summary An engineer asked about guarding mechanical power-transmission equipment under an older OSHA standard and a newer consensus standard. OSHA said its adopted rule remained effective until revised, but technical deviations caused by following a newer consensus standard could be treated as de minimis, with no citation, penalty, or abatement. OSHA now archives the letter as potentially outdated.
Document
Federal opinion letter
Agency
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
Document number
1990-03-13-2
Date issued
March 13, 1990
Status
Archived by the agency
OSHA archives this letter and says it may no longer represent OSHA policy.
Status last verified October 9, 2026
Topics
Workplace Safety OSHA 1910 Machine Guarding
Source
View the official document

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The current status of this document is unclear
OSHA archives this letter and says it may no longer represent OSHA policy. It may no longer reflect the agency's current position. Treat this page as historical context, not current guidance, and verify current law before relying on anything here.
About this page: The full text below is the official document from Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Ezel adds the plain-English summary and tracks the document's status. The official source linked on this page is authoritative for any reliance.

NOTICE: This is an OSHA Archive Document, and may no longer represent OSHA Policy. It is presented here as historical content, for research and review purposes only.

March 13, 1990

Mr. James B. Meehan, PE, PC
[Recipient address omitted]
Dear Mr. Meehan:

This is in response to your letter of February 6, concerning 29 CFR 1910.219, mechanical power-transmission apparatus.

Until such time as the standard at 29 CFR 1910.219, which was adopted from the industry consensus standard ANSI B15.1-1953, is revised, it remains the effective standard of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). However, under this agency's policy, technical violations of the OSHA standard created by compliance with a more current version of the adopted consensus standard (ANSI) may be determined to be de minimis violations. Violations of OSHA standards which have no direct relationship to employee safety or health are de minimis violations and citations are not issued, penalties are not assessed, and abatement is not required.

A complete explanation of de minimis vioaltions is presented by the enclosure. Current consensus standards are addressed at 6.a.(2) of the enclosure.

If we may of further assistance, please contact us.

Sincerely,

Patricia K. Clark
Director Designate
Directorate of Compliance Programs

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