American Society For Testing And Materials

Programs: Founded in 1898, astm international provides a forum for a broad range of international stakeholders to come together to create voluntary consensus standards. These standards serve as the building blocks of international trade, product quality, and public safety. They are developed by some 30,000 individual members who represent multinational corporations, small businesses, government, and academia. Astm also offers ways for business and industry to better use our standards through training, certification programs, and laboratory proficiency testing. Following are examples of how astm staff and members support our mission to serve global societal needs and positively impact public health and safety, consumer confidence, and overall quality of life helping our world work better. Helping drive innovation astm internationals responsive, stakeholder-based standards development process is a key enabler of innovation in emerging industries: - commercial spaceflight: partly in response to a mandate for voluntary consensus standards in the u. S. Commercial space launch competitiveness act, stakeholders in this arena came together in 2016 to form a new astm committee on commercial spaceflight (f47). This committee plans to define core competencies for human spaceflight safety and create standards for design, manufacturing, and use of spaceflight vehicles. Subcommittees will focus on unoccupied launch and reentry vehicles, spaceports, occupant safety in both suborbital and orbital vehicles, and more. - 3d printing: standards are critical to fostering innovation in the additive manufacturing industry. Also known as 3d printing, additive manufacturing can advance u. S. Manufacturing and innovation by streamlining product design and reducing manufacturing costs. In 2016: astm and the 3mf consortium (an industry association that supports a new file format for 3d printing) signed an agreement to jointly work on standards and roadmapping to help bring state-of-the-art 3d-printing technologies to market. Astm international and the international organization for standardization (iso) celebrated five years of partnership in additive manufacturing by jointly releasing the additive manufacturing standards development structure, which guides the work of experts and standards development organizations, ensuring cohesion among additive manufacturing standards. Astms committee on additive manufacturing technologies (f42) created a standard to help manufacturers and buyers who want to use 3d-printed stainless steel alloys, and another standard that covers directed energy deposition, an important metal additive manufacturing process. - drones: with the faas 2016 promulgation of comprehensive regulations for drones, the work of astms committee on unmanned aircraft systems (f38) took on new relevance. This group of stakeholders developed a new standard that defines how to prepare the risk assessments that are needed for approvals in drone airworthiness, design, and operations. - response robots: astms committee on homeland security applications (e54) began work on expanding an existing suite of 15 test methods in 2016 for response robots that enhance public safety and protect the lives of emergency responders, such as bomb squads. The tests evaluate robot capabilities, reliability, and remote operator proficiency. - small and medium sized enterprises: in the u. S. , smes are the primary source of jobs and account for a large proportion of the gross domestic product. Smes are the largest group of u. S. Exporters and are a major user of imported goods. In response to their similarly significant impact on standards development, astm celebrated the year of the sme in 2016, encouraging entrepreneurs and small business owners to join while also thanking them for their contributions to creating high-quality technical standards. Astms membership structure is especially sme-friendly. With low fees and open membership for individuals and companies, sme executives and employees can impact the standards being developed in their industry through their astm membership. Helping consumers and workers home and workplace safety is a top result of many astm international standards. Here are a few examples of how the work of astms technical committees keeps individuals safe at home, work, and play. - toy safety: manufacturers and retailers around the world use astms renowned toy safety standard (f963) to design and sell products that comply with laws such as the u. S. Consumer product safety improvement act. After diligent collaboration over five years, hundreds of leading experts and advocates completed a major revision to this standard in 2016. It includes new and updated requirements for battery safety, projectiles, toys that expand if swallowed, and more. - hockey: astms open membership structure was evident in the 2016 approval of a standard aimed at protecting hockey players from potential throat injuries. The committee on sports equipment, playing surfaces, and facilities (f08) developed the document, which was initiated by a father and son who had brought the issue to them a few years ago. - amusements: as it has for decades, astms committee on amusement rides and devices (f24) develops and maintains standards for the evolving global amusement ride industry. In 2016, the group developed the first safety standard specifically for conveyors used in water parks and another standard that will help designers and manufacturers design and build safe attractions that simulate surfing. - certification: in april 2016, the astm international board of directors unanimously voted to make the safety equipment institute a subsidiary of astm international. Sei, founded in 1981, provides third-party certification for a wide range of products such as sports and athletic equipment, safety and protective products used by firefighters and emergency responders, eye and face protection for industrial workers, and more. The move broadened astms overall certification capabilities while also bolstering sei, a top certification provider. Since joining astm as a subsidiary, sei: was selected by the u. S. Department of agriculture to manage its biobased certification program, a labeling program that helps consumers find and purchase products that are made and packaged using renewable materials. Introduced a new certification program, with u. S. Lacrosse, for womens lacrosse headgear and goggles. The new program will certify headgear and goggles to meet the requirements of two key astm standards. Helping the environment from water safety to sustainable manufacturing practices, new and updated astm international standards did their part in 2016 in ensuring a cleaner environment. - landfill management: astms committee on environmental assessment (e50) developed a new guide that will help people who want to assess or repurpose landfills and chemically impacted sites. The guide will help rehab decades-old landfills and establish criteria for chemical cleanup and post-cleanup use. - water: on world water day in 2016, astms committee on water (d19) approved a new standard that will help labs monitor the presence of radioactive material in water. The standard provides a rapid and accurate way to measure radioactives using mass spectrometry. The committee also approved a standard that will help ensure the safety of drinking water by allowing for simultaneous analysis of total nitrogen and total phosphorus in water. - sustainability: many of astms technical committees develop standards that encourage sustainable practices. Examples that show the breadth of astms reach include: development of a standard that helps manufacturers incorporate more sustainable practices into production. The new standard, approved by astms committee on sustainability (e60) will ultimately help companies reduce costs, improve quality, incorporate best practices, reduce environmental impact, and more. Promulgation of a standard that will help reduce the amount of old roofing materials that go to landfills. Developed by the committee on roofing and waterproofing (d08), the new standard will help building owners and contractors who want to minimize their environmental impact. The revision of an existing standard that provides a method for experimentally measuring biobased content using radiocarbon analysis. The standard is used by u. S. Government agencies and others to help improve the sustainability of plastics. Helping emerging economies one of the world trade organizations principles defining an international standards development process requires that the needs of developing countries be taken into account. 2016 marked another year in astm internationals long history of helping industry leaders in emerging economies find their voice in our standards development process. - memorandums of understanding: astms longstanding memorandum of understanding program reached a milestone in 2016 with the signing of the 100th mou. The mou program supp