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.
Center for Responsible Enterprise and Trade Collaborates with Stanford on Responsible Supply Chain Research
ANSI member the Center for Responsible Enterprise and Trade and Stanford University's Global Supply Chain Management Forum have announced plans to carry out a research study investigating responsible supply chain practices and examining related business benefits. The study is expected to touch on intellectual property protection, workforce management, and environmental sustainability issues related to the global supply chain.
In order to carry out this research, the Center for Responsible Enterprise and Trade and Stanford are reaching out to multinational corporations to encourage them to take part in two related surveys. In exchange for taking part, companies will be provided with exclusive access to relevant benchmarking information and advanced access to a report linked to the study, as well as a $200 discount on the cost of admission to Stanford's February 2014 Responsible Supply Chains Conference.
To learn more about the planned research, or to take part, click here.
ASSE's SPALW Establishes Campaign to Reduce Workplace Falls
ANSI member and accredited standards developer the American Society of Safety Engineers' (ASSE) Safety Professionals and the Latino Workforce (SPALW) common interest group recently announced the creation of a national campaign intended to increase awareness about the dangers associated with workplace falls and methods of workplace fall prevention.
In 2010 more than 10,000 construction workers were injured and more than 250 were killed in connection with workplace falls, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, with Latino workers disproportionately likely to die as a result of such a fall. SPALW's new campaign, known as "SPALW Against Falls," is focused particularly on Spanish-speaking workers and their employers and includes outreach to community organizations and other groups associated with the Spanish-speaking Latino subset of the U.S. workforce. Beginning in May 2013, the campaign distributed bilingual educational materials with the goal of reaching out to 100,000 Spanish-speaking workers.
For more information about SPALW and its activities, visit its official site.
APCO International Establishes Website for Public Safety and Emergency Response Apps
ANSI member and accredited standards developer APCO International recently announced the creation of a new website focused on emergency response and public safety apps. The website, Application Community, known as "AppComm," is intended to provide a forum where such apps can be downloaded, reviewed, and rated.
As market penetration of smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices increases, public safety-focused apps have grown more popular, creating a need for a centralized place for public safety professionals to provide feedback on the effectiveness of popular apps and to take part in the development of new ones. AppComm allows users to post comments on existing public safety apps and to suggest ideas for needed apps in this sector; the site also includes links to apps that are available for download on other webpages.
To access AppComm, click here.
CAP Establishes Online Professional Practice Evaluation System
ANSI member and accredited standards developer the College of American Pathologists (CAP) has launched an online professional practice evaluation system intended to ease data collection and analysis in connection with medical practitioner competency assessments, including the Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation (OPPE) and the Focused Professional Practice Evaluation (FPPE), among other features.
The system, known as Evalumetrics, automates the data collection process and provides a tool allowing for easier quality management and internal benchmarking during competency assessment work. Evalumetrics allows users to specify an unlimited number of metrics related to clinical pathology, procedural practice, and anatomic pathology; the metrics developed by CAP for the system are based primarily on core competency areas drawn from guidelines provided by the American Board of Medical Specialties and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
For more information about this new service, visit www.cap.org/evalumetrics.
ANSI Applies for TAG Accreditation on Cookstoves and Clean Cooking Solutions
ANSI has submitted an application for accreditation for a proposed U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to ISO Technical Committee (TC) 285, Clean cookstoves and clean cooking solutions. The proposed TAG will operate using the Model Operating Procedures for U.S. Technical Advisory Groups to ANSI for ISO Activities as contained in Annex A of the ANSI International Procedures.
For more information, or to offer comments on the application, please contact Sally Seitz, ANSI senior manager for standards facilitation ([email protected]; 212-642-4918), with a copy to [email protected]. The comment deadline is July 29, 2013.
ASSE International Now an ANSI Accredited Standards Developer
ANSI's Executive Standards Council (ExSC) has approved ANSI organizational member the ASSE International Chapter of IAPMO, LLC (ASSE International) as an ANSI Accredited Standards Developer under its proposed operating procedures for documenting consensus on ASSE International-sponsored American National Standards, effective July 2, 2013. The American Society of Sanitary Engineering was dissolved in 2012 and reconstituted under the IAPMO Group as ASSE International. For additional information, please contact Sara Marxen, ASSE International's compliance coordinator, by email at [email protected], or by phone at 440-835-3040.