User Participation in the Development of Standards: Summary of a Symposium (1995)

(MORNING MODERATOR)

David A. Harris, FAIA
President, National Institute of Building Sciences

NIBS is delighted to co-sponsor this seminar in partnership withthe American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Construction SpecificationsInstitute (CSI), the Federal Facilities Council (FFC), and the NationalSociety of Professional Engineers (NSPE). We're equally delightedthat all of you could attend.

Participants in the standards development and use community can becategorized in many ways. One way is to identify the interest areas.There are three primary groups in the building community that usestandards. They are:

1. Standards writers—organizations whose members range from manufacturers to users anda host of other sectors in between.

2. Standards users—primarily designers and regulators on behalf of their clients andthe public; and

3. The organizations that bring groups 1 and 2 together—examples include AIA and CSI which write guide specifications, andmodel code organizations, all of which adopt many voluntary standardsby reference.

While for the most part, traditional and static needs are met quitewell by the voluntary standards process in this country, ever increasingdemands from rapidly emerging new issues are adding pressures onthese established systems.

In addition, the “business” of standards writing has resulted in significant costs associatedwith the use of voluntary standards. Users, especially smaller organizations,find it increasingly difficult to afford to obtain and maintain immediateaccess to needed standards. Yet, because of concerns about liabilityand increasing demands for improved quality, they need more accessto standards than ever before.

To address these new needs and to help our traditional activitieswork more efficiently, we have gathered here to better understandthe needs, the capabilities, and the best answers to these needsto effect positive improvements.

Some of the issues this program can address are:

• Professional associations need to support more active participationby their members in the standards writing process.

This is not a simple numbers game, but rather a process that demandsan understanding of the fragmented standards development processand guiding it to respond to demonstrated needs. For example, AIA and CSI committees and staff responsible for their specificationsprograms need to identify the performance needs associated with theirspecifications sections and formally communicate these needs to thestandards writing organizations which can translate the needs intotechnical criteria (standards) for adoption.

• Standards writing organizations need to examine and improve theircommunication processes with each other to avoid duplication andoverlap among standards from different, sometimes competing organizations.This is a concern in which standards referencing organizations needto play a major role.

• Keeping standards up to date is a major concern in the dynamic andfragmented building industry. Some studies indicate 25 to 30 percentof our standards are out of date.

• Not only is keeping the standards apace with technology difficult,but communicating the information about the updated standards tostandards referencing organizations can be an equally arduous problem.

I don't for a minute mean to imply that these issues can be resolved easily.The 100,000 active standards in the United States developed by severalhundred organizations illustrate the complexity of these issues.But this symposium can serve as a forum through which needed problemidentification and effective communications can begin!