Trade associations, development standards

Many companies, as well as industry insurers, trade associations, and standards organizations, have developed specific criteria for spacing between plants, buildings, equipment, and property lines. These criteria are meant to reduce the impact of explosions or fires on major equipment and facilities, including adjacent units and buildings. Table 1.2 illustrates the wide variations of spacing criteria that are suggested. 

The first orderly methods of identifying materials were developed by metal manufacturers trade associations. National standards organizations have also created materials identification systems. In the United States, the Unified Number System merges all systems into one method of identifying commercially available metals and alloys. 

Trade associations promote the common interest of their members. Many associations exist for a wide range of fields and interests. Some associations develop standards for products or operating procedures. These standards can address safety and health topics. Some organizations may provide testing services. 

Electronic Industries Association (EIA) A trade organization, based in Washington, DC, representing the manufacturers of electronic systems and parts, including communications systems. The association develops standards for electronic components and systems. 

A nonprofit professional and trade association sendng those engaged in the research, testing, measurement and remediation of radon. Formulates and promulgates measurement and remediation standards develops educational programs for the public and the radon profession seeks to enhance the remediation of radon. 

The first variation to be approved was the American Organic Standard, a private sector standard for North America developed in 2003 by the industry through the Organic Trade Association (lOAS 2003). 

In some cases, the standards developed by the trade associations, instead of the standards-making bodies, are included within the codes. However, such types of standards are frowned upon in recent years and it is rare that they are newly included. They are, however, often grandfathered (i.e., allowed to remain because they have been in the relevant code or in its predecessor for years). Such standards must still comply with some consensus rules, and many of them tend to be eventually replaced by standards issued by the major standards development organizations. 

Organizations such as FM Global and ULs compete with the broader-based standards development organizations (ASTM and NFPA) in developing some fire tests. However, in many cases, these tests are being replaced by those from ASTM and/or NFPA. A number of trade associations also develop test methods, but these are being replaced. Appendix A contains the key fire test standards from ASTM, NFPA, and UL. 

Apart from competing for markets, developing country producers and exporters face many challenges, including that of quality issues. Spice exports are subject to strict quality standards for food safety set by the American Spice Trade Association (ASTA) and the European Spice Association (ESA). Demand is growing for high quality and processed spices. This trend for value-added products offers new business opportunities in the spice trade. 

In response to these developments, the Organic Trade Association in the US has once more returned to developing its own independent national standards. A third draft of the American Organic Standards is being prepared at the time of writing. The aims of the American Organic Standards, as stated in draft 2 (September 1999), are to ... 

Standards may be developed by governments, standards organizations, companies, industries, technical associations, trade associations, professional societies, or even individuals. About 600 organizations in the United States are active in standardization for various reasons (5). These organizations may assist in the development of standards, they may issue standards, or they may disseminate standards. 

Trade Associations. Trade association standards normally are developed through a consensus of technical people in the industry, although user input also may be used to arrive at a consensus. Examples of trade associations that have produced standards are the Aerospace Industries Association, the American Petroleum Institute, the Association of American Railroads, and the Manufacturing Chemists Association. Some trade associations find it advantageous to develop standards under the sponsorship of a standards organization such as ASTM (8). 

There are now a number of organisations involving NGOs, governments, trade associations and multilateral bodies working to develop both performance indicators and reporting standards for social reporting. The activities of some of these, mostly located in the UK, will now be briefly reviewed. 

Most spices that are imported into the United States come in whole or unprocessed, There arc requirements that they meet minimum standards for purity and cleanliness The Food and Drug Administration performs inspections on the incoming spices mainly to confirm that they are free from undesirable filth and that they are safe for use in food. The American Spice Trade Association (I) and AOAC 2) have defined specific tests for spices, A complete list of typical tests for the quality of herbs and spices was developed a number of years ago by Heath (3), This provides a comprehensive listing of tests that can give information on the volatile oil content as well as other quality related factors in spices,... 

American Plastics Council (APC) This trade association site details the role of plastics in society, some key end-market applications, and other educational and environmental information, http //www.plastics.org American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) From the work of 132 technical standards-writing committees, ASTM has developed and published more than 10,000 specs, tests, practices, guides, and definitions that are used by industries worldwide. http //www.astm.org American Society of Materials (ASM) International Major diversified U.S. society for materials engineers. http //www.asm-ind.org... 

Standards are generally developed by consensus within professional societies, technical or trade associations, or governmental agencies. This section is primarily concerned with standards sponsored by the American Nuclear Society and the Reactor Physics branch of the USAEC Reactor Research and Development Division since it has been these efforts where nuclear practitioners have attempted to develop standards related to computing. 

The lEC, founded in 1906, oversees, on an international level, aU matters relating to standards for electrical and electronic items. Membership in the lEC is held by a National Committee for each nation. The United States National Committee (USNC) for lEC was founded in 1907, and since 1931 has been affiliated with ANSI. USNC has its members representatives from professional societies, trade associations, testing laboratories, government entities, other organizations, and individual experts. The USNC appoints a technical advisor and a technical advisory group for each lEC Committee and Subcommittee to help develop a unified United States position. These advisory groups are drawn from groups that are involved in the development of related U.S. national standards. 

The convention is to estimate CPR using the prepayment standard developed by the Public Securities Association, or PSA, the domestic bond market trade association now named the Bond Market Association. The PSA benchmark—100 percent PSA—assumes a starting prepayment rate... 

A trade association for electrical equipment manufacturers, historically responsible for developing U.S. standards and now contributing to global standards and harmonization. It is the author of the NEMA 250 standard, an alpha-numeric coding system defining the level of ingress protection for electrical enclosures. 

It is led by a 15-member Board of Directors representing product manufacturers, insurance underwriters, trade associations, and independent consultants. Its primary standard development includes the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) BlOl committee for the measurement of the coefficient of friction of various walkway surfaces to determine how slippery their surfaces are and therefore may contribute to an incident. It recently has introduced a listing of products for rating walkway surfaces resistance to slips and also can undertake testing of existing surfaces for slip resistance ratings. See also Slips, Trips, and Falls. 

In 1999, the Plastic Lumber Trade Association reported that RPL was growing at a 30 percent annual rate. Growth of plastic lumber was been fueled by growing knowledge about performance properties of the material and how they relate to composition, as well as by the develcmment of performance standards such as the standard test methods developed by ASTM. By 2005, nine ASTM test methods for RPL had been established, along with two standards for plastic/fiber composites. However, growth of plastic lum-her has slowed, and the Association has not placed an annual report on their web site since 2002. 

Safety professionals can draw upon voluntary standards and national consensus standards to develop safety performance programs, implement continuous improvement programs related to safety, and develop measures of safety performance. National consensus standards are developed through a process of obtaining input from industry representatives on the development of the standard. This representation can include manufacturers, trade associations, professional organizations, as well as other standards development bodies in the United States, in other countries, or from international coalitions such as the European Community. 

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