TECHNICAL
reissuing, interpreting, or otherwise producing technical standards to address the needs of a group of affected adopters. In UK we are well acquainted with organisations such as CEN ( Comité Européen de Normalisation/ European Committee for Standardisation) and BSI (British Standards Institution). In the USA some of the equivalent SDOs include ANSI (American National Standards Institute), BHMA (Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association), UL (Underwriters Laboratory) and NFPA (National Fire Prevention Association). In the same way that the BSI has a long history, having been established in 1901with over 40,000 standards, many of these SDOs can claim similar longevity. UL produced its first standard in 1903 for Tin Clad Fire Doors and ANSI was founded in 1918 and now have a catalogue of over 9,500 standards. BHMA started in 1925 and is the only SDO accredited by ANSI to develop and maintain over 40 hardware performance standards. NFPA can trace its origins back to 1896 and is a global self-funded non-profit organisation, devoted to eliminating death, injury, property, and economic loss due to fire, electrical and related hazards with more than 300 consensus codes and standards in its portfolio.
SAME BUT DIFFERENT Douglas Masterson compares BS/EN and standards in the USA
T
he Irish writer George Bernard Shaw said: “England and America are two countries separated by a common language.” We certainly know that both the UK and the USA have a huge amount in common, but it is not just our language that we share. In both countries our industries provide high quality specification and supply of critical life safety products in ironmongery/ hardware and we both have sets 30
of standards that we faithfully use, promote and help create, so this article will detail what the key standards are, and the process of how they are created. Standards Developing Organisations A Standards Developing Organisation (SDO) can be defined as an organisation whose primary function is developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending,
Product standards and building safety codes Similar to EN and BS standards, many ANSI/BHMA standards define different product grades for a particular hardware item. ANSI/BHMA product grades as 1, 2, or 3 – grade 1 is the highest – and these are defined by progressive levels of performance benchmarks in each applicable standard. These standards establish requirements for cycle tests, strength tests, operational tests, material evaluation tests, finish tests, and dimensional criteria for the products in the standard. While the performance requirements of most products’ standards are fairly stringent and not easily passed by products of lesser quality design or workmanship, they are also viewed by many in the US market as “minimum standards” and are therefore not always
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