In our profession, standards are referenced and employed as a basis of design in specifying materials and, to a certain extent, the means and methods of installation. However, not everyone knows what a standard really represents or the differences between various standards.
Let’s first look at a definition for “standard.” Standards are used to establish a level of quality or to set an acceptable level of design. Utilizing a standard allows the design professional to make judgments in determining the quality of the material or acceptability of the design approach. Standards allow all of those involved to have a common starting point for comparison of various materials and designs. They are used by the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) to evaluate the proposed materials and design against an established norm.
Many different types of standards exist: product, service, process, management, formal, informal, and proprietary.
- Product standards: These establish the characteristics of products so the consumer is generally given quality along with a reasonable assurance of a safety guarantee. These characteristics can also indicate the extent to which a product may be used in conjunction with other related products, systems, and components—a so-called interoperability.
- Service standards: These assure organizations of a continuous “minimum” quality in respect of a specific service. They establish rights and obligations for both the service provider and the user of the services so the responsibilities of each party are clear to everyone involved.
- Process standards: These refer to the conditions and requirements that apply to the production, storage, packaging, and testing of products.
- Management standards: These help organizations manage their activities in a broad sense. While certain management standards relate to quality, the environment, or sustainability, others describe the best way to carry out a specific task such as project management or outsourcing.
- Formal standards: These are developed by approved standardization bodies such as NBN (Bureau for Standardization), CEN (European Committee for Standardization), and ISO (International Organization for Standardization) in accordance with strict procedures. As a result, each standard contains a number of guarantees.
- Informal standards: These are mainly found in innovative sectors such as information technology. Consortiums play a leading role where this level of formality is concerned. The benefit of this more closed system is that standards are developed quicker because only the consortium members are involved in the development process. In the plumbing world, CISPI (Cast Iron Soil Pipe Institute) develops such standards with input from the various United States cast iron pipe manufacturers. They are not ANSI approved or developed through a consensus process, so they cannot be directly adopted within the codes.
- Proprietary standards: These are when companies record their own innovations in product or process specifications in a formalized document. Design, ease of use, and branding are often covered in standards of this type.
All of these types of standards are “voluntary” in nature as they are developed by “interested parties” to serve a specific purpose; generally they can be self-serving for those who develop the standard.
As we know in the built market, most of our standards have the same impact as law or code. Why is that? It has to do with the process by which the standards were developed and approved.
Welcome to the World of ANSI
The American National Standards Institute is the organization under which nationally recognized standards (American National Standards) are developed. ANSI is a private, nonprofit organization that administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standards and conformity assessment system. Founded in 1918, ANSI works in close collaboration with stakeholders from industry and government to identify and develop standards and conformance-based solutions to national and global priorities.
About 93 percent of global trade is impacted by standards and technical regulations. Globally, these relevant standards, and the conformance measures contained within them that ensure their effective use, help increase efficiency, open markets, boost consumer confidence, and reduce costs. ANSI is the U.S. leader in fostering that potential for the benefit of businesses across every industry and consumers around the world.
However, ANSI is not in itself a standards-developing organization! Rather, ANSI provides a framework for fair standards development and quality conformity assessment systems and continually works to safeguard their integrity. As a neutral venue for coordination of standards-based solutions, ANSI brings together private and public sector experts and stakeholders to initiate collaborative standardization activities that respond to national and global priorities.
ANSI serves as a strong voice on behalf of the U.S. voluntary standards community, protecting and strengthening its impact domestically and internationally.
ASPE Is an ANSI-Accredited Standards Developer
What does that mean? It means that ASPE worked diligently to meet the requirements of ANSI and paid the fees associated with becoming a standards developer as a service to its members and partner organizations.
This is important as it allows ASPE and its partner organizations to get their standards approved as American National Standards, and only nationally recognized standards can become part of codes. Once a standard is referenced within a code, it becomes part of the code language and carries the same impact as the code.
ASPE, as an accredited standards developer, is obligated to develop its standards under the ANSI process if it desires to have them approved. ASPE, as part of its commitment to ANSI, had to develop its set of Procedures for Design Standards Development, which can be found on the ASPE website. These procedures establish specific obligations that must be followed to advance a proposed standard through the process.
The Standards Process
Generally, when a standard is proposed by a member, an interested party, or a partner, it will be researched by the Chair of the Main Design Standards Committee (MC) and the staff liaison, Ms. Gretchen Pienta, ASPE’s Director of Communications & Publications.
Initially, a narrative description of the proposed standard will need to be developed. This descriptive document may become the Forward of the proposed standard or be used as a basis for that Forward. Also at this time, staff will work with ANSI through their Project Initiation Notification System (PINS) to establish a placeholder for the proposed standard. The narrative will be the basis, or scope, of the PINS application, the purpose of which is to ensure that no one else is working on a similar or competing standard. Should another organization have a PINS on a similar topic, ASPE would be obligated to see if it could join in that effort or ask the other organization to defer to ASPE. This process is intended to avoid duplicating efforts for similar or competing standards.
If no conflicts are found, the work will begin by forming a Working Group (WG), which will be responsible for developing the technical content of the proposed standard. The Main Committee will review and approve members of the WG and establish a chair, and the WG will then begin developing the standard based on the PINS. The WG is the backbone of standards development; it is where the real technical work is accomplished.
It is desirable to have a balanced makeup of the WG membership, but that is not always possible. By balanced, I mean that no particular industry group (engineers, manufacturers, etc.) within the WG has voting strength over another. While this is desirable, it is not required.
Once the WG has developed a draft of the standard, it will be forwarded to the Main Committee for review, comment, and ballot, as well as submitted for public review. The Main Committee, which must have a balanced makeup, can vote affirmative, affirmative with comment, or negative. Any comments from the MC are returned to the WG, and they must address the concerns, update the draft if needed, and return their response to the MC to repeat the process.
Similarly, the WG must address each and every public comment received. If the concern is valid, the draft will be edited to incorporate the comment. If the concern is not valid or does not have any basis in fact, the WG may reject it and state their reasoning. This process continues until all public comments have been addressed.
Once these processes have concluded and if a majority of the MC has approved the final draft, it will be sent to ANSI for approval as a nationally recognized consensus standard that may be referenced in model codes.
Why Nationally Recognized Standards Are Important
Within the vertical build market, we are primarily interested in nationally recognized standards, and our preference is to have them referenced within the code. While we may use other standards within our specifications, they are only binding because of the specification reference. It is up to us as the design professionals to both understand and enforce these specification-driven requirements. The AHJ is charged with enforcing the code requirements and is only involved in the specification because they are part of the Approved documents. However, most AHJs do not have much, if any, knowledge of the specification. Their review is generally based on the code and the graphical representation, the drawings, offered for review and approval.
I hope this gives you a better understanding of standards and the standard development process!
About the Author
David D. Dexter, FNSPE, FASPE, CPD, CPI, LEED BD+C, PE, is a Registered Professional Engineer, Certified Plumbing Inspector, and Certified Plans Examiner with more than 40 years of experience in the installation and design of plumbing systems. He specializes in plumbing, fire protection, and HVAC design as well as forensics related to mechanical system failures. Dave serves as Chair of ASPE’s Main Design Standards Committee, Chair of the Bylaws Committee, Co-Chair of the College of Fellows Selection Committee, and Co-Chair of the Professional Engineer Working Group. He also was the 2008–2009 President of the Engineering Foundation of Ohio, 2010–2011 President of the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers, and 2012–2014 Central Region Director for the National Society of Professional Engineers.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not the American Society of Plumbing Engineers.
