ANSI: Setting Standards and Solving Problems through Consensus
By Joe Lazzara, Scientific Technologies Inc.
Workplace hazards are a problem (or, to quote optimists, a challenge). American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards are a solution to the problem.
It is as true today as it was in the 60’s: if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. If you follow ANSI standards to ensure a safe workplace or you are an active participant on an ANSI committee or part of an organization involved with standard-setting activity, then you are part of the solution. This month, we will take a closer look at the ANSI organization and the voluntary standard development process.
What is ANSI?
ANSI is a coalition of technical, trade and professional organizations, corporations, labor and government agencies concerned with the establishment of national consensus standards. ANSI is also internationally recognized as the U.S. organization that determines consensus standards policy. There are over 13,000 standards approved by ANSI which apply to all areas of industry and literally cover items from A to Z – from abrasive materials to zirconium welding rods.
It is important to clarify that the ANSI organization is not a government agency and does not actually write the standards, nor does it conduct tests or technical evaluations. What ANSI provides is an umbrella organization that has established consensus-writing procedures by which interest groups, generally referred to as ANSI standards committees, may write standards for ANSI approval and publication.
The job of these ANSI standards committees is to ensure that the prescribed procedures for the development of their standards are followed and that ANSI’s criteria for due process have been satisfied. In addition, these groups ensure a consensus for approval exists among the participants.
A critical aspect of the ANSI process is based on the word "consensus," which, in ANSI parlance, means "more than a simple majority vote but not necessarily unanimity." As a practical matter, consensus implies that all dissenting views have been carefully considered, and an objective attempt has been made toward a compromise.
A Standard’s Family Tree
ANSI standards have "parents" and "grandparents," groups of interested people who nurture (write) them, feed (provide appropriate input and research) them, discipline (revise) them and then send them off into the world. Since many plant automation centers are affected by the B11 Series Machine Tool Safety Standards, let’s use the B11 Subcommittees as an example of the standard development process.
The granddaddy for all the B11 activity is the B11 Parent Voting Committee (PVC). (By the way, "granddaddy" is the right moniker for the B11 Parent Voting Committee, as the first B11 standard was published in 1922!) The mother in an ANSI standard’s family tree is the Secretariat, the group that keeps things together, handles all the details and keeps everyone informed about what is going on with the standard. The Secretariat for the PVC is the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT), which handles the support staff and logistical coordination for committee members.
The concerned ANSI aunts and uncles are the members of the standards committees. You are probably familiar with many of the member organizations for the PVC committee: the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, National Fluid Power Association, Precision Metal Forming Association, Department of the Navy, OSHA, various labor unions and many others. Its members all have a substantial interest, concern and competency in the subject of machine tool safety.
The children in this family tree are the subcommittees, which in this case are devoted to various aspects of machine tool safety. These subcommittees report to the B11 PVC. A subcommittee has been created for each of the 27 B11 standards, including new standards under development and the B11 Technical Reports. The function of each B11 Subcommittee is to be a technical writing arm of the B11 Parent Voting Committee. Each subcommittee is staffed with knowledgeable people, representing a balanced mix of manufacturers, users, labor and government for the machine tool under scrutiny.
As is true with the children in most families, the subcommittees are where the action is. It is here that involved people who are "part of the solution" accomplish the difficult and tedious work of developing a draft standard that reflects the state of the art in safety for a specific machine tool. They examine previous ANSI standards, new research and technological information available since publication of the previous standards, any correspondence they have received about the topic of the standard, and information about similar standards used by other countries. They debate the merits and drawbacks of all the information they’ve gathered, and try to reach a consensus about the content of the standard.
Final Steps in the Process
Once a consensus is reached and a subcommittee completes its draft of a standard, two additional reviews are necessary. In the case of B11 standards, the document is submitted to the B11 Parent Voting Committee for review and comment and is made available for the 60-day ANSI public review period. After these two steps are completed and the suggestions made during the process are either discarded or acted upon, the standard undergoes a review by the ANSI Board of Standards Review. Upon acceptance, the standard is approved as an American National standard and published.
As with most organizational situations, the key to the success for the voluntary standard process lies entirely with the participants, who are guided by 80 years of ANSI tradition and procedures towards the development of voluntary standards. As perhaps best summarized by the B11 Procedures Manual, the impact of these individuals and subcommittees on the consensus standards process is deep, lasting and vital: "The message is clear for the B11 subcommittees. They remain the backbone of the B11 Parent Voting Committee and in turn are at the very foundation of the entire voluntary consensus community. Their expertise fills a much needed standards vacuum, not only for the industry they represent but for the various regulatory agencies having jurisdiction."
News Flash!
Last month, in "Preparing for the ANSI Onslaught," I reported about the newest draft version of the robot safety standard, ANSI/RIA R15.06.
Well, "draft" is no longer correct, as this standard was officially approved June 21, 1999 by ANSI as ANSI/RIA R15.06-1999: "Industrial Robots and Robot Systems – Safety Requirements." My congratulations to the Robot Industries Association and members of the subcommittee for their dedication and contribution toward this successful completion.
Next month we will look at the ANSI standard review process and examine more closely the relationship between the voluntary ANSI standards and the mandatory OSHA regulations. In the meantime … be safe out there!
Lazzara on Automation Safeguarding is a monthly column written for Safetyonline.com and Plantautomation.com.
Joe Lazzara is president and CEO of Scientific Technologies Inc. (STI, Fremont, CA), the largest provider of automation safeguarding solutions in North America. Lazzara began his career with Hewlett Packard in 1973 where he had responsibility for safety and environmental issues for one of HP’s largest divisions. He joined STI in 1981 as vice president and became president in 1989 and CEO in 1993. Lazzara received a bachelor’s of environmental engineering degree from Purdue University and an MBA from Santa Clara University.
