Administration of Codes and Standards in the US
Administration of Codes and Standards in the US
(OP)
In the UK all the design codes are owned and published by the British Standard Institution (BSI) regardless of subject. For instance, BS5950 is steel design, BS8110 is concrete design BS5628 is masonry design, BS5268 is timber design etc etc.
We also have associations and institutes associated with the specifics, just as in America. But they only publish guidance documents.
US = UK
American Institute of Steel Construction = Steel Construction Institute
American Society of Civil Engineers = Institution of Civil Engineers
American Institute of Timber Construction = Timber Research and Development Association.
Etc, etc you get the drift.
I have noticed that each of these associations publish their own code (AISC, AITC, API, AWS, ASME, ASTM). In the UK these would all be published by the BSI.
After all that, my question is simple. Is their an equivalent to the BSI in the US, in charge of issuing codes and standards, or is to up to each institution to issue codes as they see fit?
We also have associations and institutes associated with the specifics, just as in America. But they only publish guidance documents.
US = UK
American Institute of Steel Construction = Steel Construction Institute
American Society of Civil Engineers = Institution of Civil Engineers
American Institute of Timber Construction = Timber Research and Development Association.
Etc, etc you get the drift.
I have noticed that each of these associations publish their own code (AISC, AITC, API, AWS, ASME, ASTM). In the UK these would all be published by the BSI.
After all that, my question is simple. Is their an equivalent to the BSI in the US, in charge of issuing codes and standards, or is to up to each institution to issue codes as they see fit?






RE: Administration of Codes and Standards in the US
The Institute's mission is to enhance both the global competitiveness of U.S. business and the U.S. quality of life by promoting and facilitating voluntary consensus standards and conformity assessment systems, and safeguarding their integrity."
RE: Administration of Codes and Standards in the US
For example the following link shows the status of the ICC codes in the US:
http://www.iccsafe.org/government/adoption.html
Typically the codes when adopted have local additions and subtractions which keeps things interesting I guess.
Regards,
-Mike
RE: Administration of Codes and Standards in the US
RE: Administration of Codes and Standards in the US
ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials
http://www.astm.org
AASHTO American Society of State Highway and Transportation Officials
http://www.transportation.org/
both of these provide a wealth of standards which are used by numerous agencies throughout the US (by reference)
RE: Administration of Codes and Standards in the US
Board Members of the ICC are mostly governmental (state and local) building dept officials, fire officials etc; so in a sense, the ICC is controlled by governmental jurisdictions and is essentially quasi-government...same was true of ICBO, BOCA and SBCCI.
As pointed out by MrMikee,after a set of codes is adopted at the state level, statutes typically require that code adoption at the locl jurisdiction level follow suite. Most states have now adopted one or more I-Codes (IBC-building, IPC-plumbing, IMC-mechanical etc) which leads to greater uniformity in the design process. http://www.iccsafe.org/government/adoption.html
As a result of the devastating effects of natural disasters, there has been a closer working relationship between federal agencies and model code organizations...example: FEMA and ICC http://www
The insurance industry has also got involved and supports IAS (ICC subsidiary) accreditation of building departments http://ww
Structural design codes and material standards developed by professional and or trade organizations like ACI, ASCE, AISC, and ASTM are incorporated into the IBC by reference and in some cases modifications are made to the referenced documents. This is dealt with in IBC Chapter 35 Referenced Standards; which is similar to the appendix entitled STANDARDS REFERRED TO which follows Section 5 of the UK Building Regulations Document A-Structure.
In addition to ICC, there are other model code organizations that also play a role. The largest one is the National Fire Protection Industry (NFPA) publishers of the National Electrical Code (NEC) and numerous other life and safety codes, some of which are referenced in the I-Codes. The NEC is used by almost all jurisdictions. ICC has not developed a model electrical code.
In the area of plumbing and mechanical provisions, the International Council of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) have a lot of clout in western states and some other parts of the country. There are now ongoing discussions between IAPMO and ICC to develop joint plumbing and mechanical codes for the whole country. http://www.iccsafe.org/news/nr/2005/1123IAPMO.html
On the whole, because of a variety of factors dealt with in the foregoing, there is now a lot of cooperation and coordination between trade organizations, professional organizations, academia, and government in the codes and standards development process.
RE: Administration of Codes and Standards in the US
RE: Administration of Codes and Standards in the US