Did You Know? offers a quick look at the broad scope of activities underway within the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Federation, highlighting the people and initiatives making waves in standardization.
NIST to Co-Host Workshop on Privacy Engineering on September 15-16
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC)'s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) announced plans to host a privacy engineering workshop in San Jose, California. The event, which will take place September 15-16, 2014, is expected to feature participants from industry, advocacy groups, government bodies, and nonprofit organizations, among others.
This workshop is the second in a series hosted by NIST as part of an effort to support the development and implementation of effective standards and best practices for the management of privacy risks. It is expected to build on work carried out at the initial privacy engineering workshop in April 2014, and to support the development of a privacy engineering report and the eventual creation of a privacy engineering framework that can be used by a wide variety of organizations to make informed, effective decisions regarding privacy and cybersecurity.
To learn more about the workshop or to register, visit the official event page.
NSF International Publishes Survey on Food Expiration Dates and Health
NSF International, an ANSI member and audited designator, recently carried out a survey to gather information about expiration dates on food packaging in connection with public health. The survey polled more than 1,000 adults in the United States and features a margin of error of 3.1%.
According to the survey, 27% of consumers regularly failed to throw out packaged food by its listed expiration date, potentially putting themselves and their family at risk of food poisoning, while 51% of consumers threw out food by its "best used by" date, wasting still edible food. The survey also found that 39% of respondents had avoided eating something at the home of a friend or family member due to safety concerns, and that 27% had held onto uncooked meat beyond the date listed on its label, among other findings.
For more information about the survey's findings, view this free infographic.
ASSE Foundation Seeks Proposals for Workplace Health and Safety Grant
ANSI member and accredited standards developer the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE)'s ASSE Foundation is seeking proposals from researchers regarding a potential study on health and safety in the workplace. Proposals will be judged on scientific merit, potential impact, and research design efficacy, and the selected proposal will receive a grant of $100,000 per year for three years, beginning in 2015.
For more information, visit the official grant program site. All proposals must be sent via email to Brenda Kay Zylstra at [email protected] and must be received by midnight on October 1, 2014.
PMI Releases New Study on Requirements Management
The Project Management Institute (PMI), an ANSI member and accredited standards developer, published a new report highlighting unnecessary waste caused by poor requirements management by organizations. Requirements management involves the planning, analysis, communication, and oversight of requirements related to a given task or project.
The report, 2014 Pulse of the Profession In-Depth Report: Requirements Management — A Core Competency for Project and Program Success, found that organizations on average wasted $51 million for every $1 billion spent on projects and suggested that improvements in requirements management could cut these unnecessary cost by up to 90%. In addition, the report recommended that organizations recognize the skills and resources needed to carry out effective requirements management, and work to standardize their processes on the project and program levels, among other recommendations.
To access the full report at no cost, visit www.pmi.org/pulse.