U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) is conducting targeted outreach to add users and producers to its canvass list for ANSI B28.1, “Safety Specifications for Mills and Calenders in the Rubber Industry.”
Interest category examples include:
- Producers: Rubber Product Manufacturers who use this standard to design and produce their product.
- Users: Distributors, Engineering Firms, Designers and Specifiers, and Customers who use this standard as a reference in developing requirements.
- General Interest: Others interested in this basic standard of the rubber product manufacturing industry.
If you know of individuals or organizations from the user or producer categories interested in being added to the canvass list, please email Stephanie Schlea at SSchlea@USTires.org no later than August 24, 2026.
A copy of the current ANSI B28.1 – Safety Specifications for Mills and Calenders in the Rubber Industry standard may be found here.
Additional Information and History of ANSI B28.1
This standard is intended to present minimum criteria necessary for the safety of workers at the point of operation. It is not intended to represent the best conditions obtainable by modern engineering practices.
The project on Safety Code for Mills and Calenders in the Rubber Industry was initiated in 1924 by the Rubber Section of the National Safety Council. The sponsors were the National Safety Council and the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions. The code prepared by that committee was approved in March 1927 as a Recommended American Practice by the American Engineering Standards Committee. The code was printed by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and was circulated as Bulletin No. 447.
In 1940 a new committee was formed under the same sponsorship to revise the code under the procedure of the American Standards Association, Incorporated (now the American National Standards Institute). The war forced this work to wait until 1946 when the Chairman, Mr. Ernest W. Beck, appointed a subcommittee to begin work on the revision. In 1948 the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions resigned from all safety code activities and the National Safety Council was designated sole sponsor. In June 1949 the code was approved by its sponsor. The code was later reaffirmed in 1959, revised in 1967, and reaffirmed in 1972.
Following reaffirmation in 1972, no further action was taken on the standard. As a result, in 1982 the B28.1 standard was administratively withdrawn by ANSI as is their practice when no action is taken on a standard in a 10-year period. Despite the fact that the standard was withdrawn, the standard continued to be extensively used by those in the rubber and plastics industry. The guidelines contained in the standard were having a positive effect with respect to accident prevention within the affected industries.
In late 1993 the Rubber Manufacturers Association’s (RMA) Occupational Safety and Health Committee led by chairman Robert B. Walker, along with the other committee members from the RMA, agreed to sponsor and reactivate B28.1. According to ANSI guidelines, this would have to be done as if it were a new standard.
Since the new standard process had to be undertaken, the committee decided for the sake of continuous improvement to make minor revisions to the prior standard which would include additional guarding techniques for consideration that could further assist in the prevention of mill and calender accidents.
In February 1995, RMA had to recanvass due to comments received, which revised the scope to the rubber industry only. The contents of the standard did not change - only the title had changed. Unfortunately, the ANSI Standards Board denied the approval of the standard on the basis of canvass list balance. Subsequently, the approval process started over again in January 1998. This effort led to final approval by ANSI BSR in 2000. In March 2017, RMA and ANSI reaffirmed the ANSI B28.1 standard.
This standard was developed using the Canvass method.