Administration of Codes and Standards in the US 2

[Ussuri]

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?

 

[IFRs]

The short answer is "no". There is no central organization in charge of issuing all codes and standards. The closest organization to BSI would be ANSI. Their mission statement is "The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private, non-profit organization (501(c)3) that administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system.

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."

 

[mrMikee]

In short, in the US these organizations are the code writers and their codes by themselves have no legal effect. The design codes however do become legally binding when included by reference in local statues at state, county, or city levels.

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

 

[Ashereng]

In some cases, in order to get insurance, the insurers will have specific codes that must be met before they issue the policies, in addition to legal legislation.

 

[cvg]

In addition to ANSI...

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)

 

[henri2]

With regard to building and related codes, the situation is much better for design professionals than it was several years ago. Up to that point, there were three main regional model code writing bodies representing interests of jurisdictions in the west (ICBO), north east (BOCA), and south-west (SBCCI). In 1994 the three organizations got together and formed ICC.

http://www.iccsafe.org/news/about/#origin

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.fema.gov/hazards/earthquakes/nehrp/sty_codes.shtm

The insurance industry has also got involved and supports IAS (ICC subsidiary) accreditation of building departments

http://www.naco.org/CountyNewsTempl...Management/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=15112

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.

 

[henri2]

correction line 3 of first paragraph. south-west (SBCCI) should read south-east (SBCCI).

 

[bjb]

The local government, usually a State adopts a model building code, such as the IBC. There is a big push to get all of the States to adopt it, but not all have yet. The individual codes, say from AISC, ACI, become legally enforcable when they are adopted as a referenced standard by the governing code. For instance, in the 2000 IBC (which is what we use in New York State)it states that steel construction shall be in accordance with either the AISC LRFD spec of the AISC Allowable Stress Design. You have to know what the governing code is in the area where your project will be built. It might soud coonfusing because it's not centralized, but it's not too bad.