Did You Know?

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.

ASHRAE Offers Free Webcast on Building Energy Performance
ANSI member and audited designator ASHRAE will broadcast a live web presentation focusing on building energy performance on Thursday, April 18, 2013, from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. EDT. The webcast will examine different approaches to assessing building energy performance, the application of ASHRAE building audit level, and will discuss the practical knowledge required to effectively assess performance in this area. Speakers will include Drury Crawley, Ph.D., director of building performance for Bentley Systems, and Christopher Mathis, president of MC Squared.

For more information, or to register for this free webcast, visit www.ashrae.org/ABEPwebcast. Registration will begin Monday, March 18, 2013, and only registered viewers will be able to access the video presentation. Please contact [email protected] if you have additional questions.

SES Offers Webinar on Utilizing HR Standards
ANSI member and accredited standards developer SES-The Society for Standards Professionals will hold a webinar on Using ANSI Human Resource Standards to Create a Business Advantage in the Workplace on Wednesday, February 20, 2013, from 1:00 to 2:30 pm ET. Lee Webster, director of HR standards at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), will be the featured speaker, and there will be an opportunity for interactive discussion.

A number of American National Standards for human resources have been published in recent years, and at least ten others are in development. The webinar will focus on how using HR standards can create a business and operational advantage in an organization, as well as how HR professionals will partner within their leadership to successfully adopt and implement the standards. The event is free to SES members and $50 for non-members. For further information and to register, visit www.ses-standards.org.

UL and ASTM Accredited to Develop Canadian Standards
The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) has announced that ANSI members and audited designators ASTM International and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) have been officially accredited to develop National Standards of Canada. The SCC serves as the official Canadian representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and sponsors the National Committee of Canada to the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

ASTM and UL both have development standards that are currently reference in Canadian federal regulations, and are the first two non-Canadian groups to receive SCC accreditation. Their accreditation is expected to bolster the future harmonization of U.S. and Canadian standards, potentially easing the flow of goods and services between the two countries.

SIOP Seeks Comments on Voluntary Standards Article The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP)'s journal, Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, recently accepted a focal article on the relationship between voluntary consensus standards and workplace diversity and inclusion (D&I) practices. The piece - titled "Professionalizing Diversity and Inclusion Practice: Should Voluntary Standards Be the Chicken or the Egg?" - examines whether the establishment of voluntary professional practice standards in D&I would elevate current and future practice and includes a recommended approach to establishing these sorts of standards.

An abstract outlining the article's contents is available here; the full article may be accessed by SIOP members from that webpage. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice strongly encourages interested SIOP members representing a broad range of perspectives to submit commentaries on the article for potential publication in the journal. Selected commentaries will be published following completion of the peer-review process. For more information about the commentary submission process, email Kevin Murphy, the journal's editor, at [email protected].

OASIS Accreditation as an ANSI ASD Approved
ANSI's Executive Standards Council (ExSC) has officially approved OASIS, an ANSI organizational member, as an ANSI Accredited Standards Developer (ASD) under its proposed operating procedures for documenting consensus on proposed American National Standards (ANS). The approval went into effect on Wednesday, February 6, 2013. For additional information, please write to Scott McGrath, OASIS chief operating officer (COO) at [email protected], or call him at 781-425-5073, extension 202.