Standardization News

“Caribbean Roadshow” Celebrates Partnerships in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana

ASTM International staff hosted several events in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana during a “Caribbean Roadshow” from June 4 to 8. The events included industry workshops, outreach visits to local industries and government, and forums with university students and laboratories. The overall focus of these events was the growing use of ASTM International standards and International Code Council codes.

The roadshow team highlighted longstanding Caribbean partnerships, focusing on how standards and codes are the foundation for quality and safety in construction projects.

ASTM International has signed a memorandum of understanding with the CARICOM Regional Organization for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) as well as all its member states, including Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana. These agreements encourage participation of technical experts worldwide in the standards development process, while also broadening the global acceptance of ASTM International standards.

Jamaica

While in Jamaica, the roadshow participants conducted an industry workshop that drew more than 50 stakeholders. Working with the Bureau of Standards Jamaica, a memorandum of understanding partner, the session included key presentations and attendance from Jamaica’s Ministry of Industry of Commerce, Agriculture, and Fisheries; the University of Technology; and others.

In addition, BSJ arranged a session during which ASTM and ICC representatives spoke, and two student groups presented senior design projects.

ASTM International board member R. Christopher Mathis, Mathis Consulting Co., closed the morning session on the first day of the roadshow in Jamaica.

Trinidad and Tobago

The Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards hosted a workshop on sustainable construction for 100 industry stakeholders. The workshop highlighted how ASTM International standards are applied to the built environment, as well as the state of codes and standards in Trinidad and Tobago. ASTM, ICC, and TTBS also held a roundtable to share information about their laboratory services with local labs.

The Caribbean Roadshow team met with staff of the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards on June 6.

Guyana

The roadshow team began their visit to Guyana by prerecording a 30-minute television show that aired on the Guyana National Communications Network. Following that taping, 100 students from six universities gathered for a lecture on standardization.

At an opening ceremony, David Patterson, MP, minister of Guyana’s Ministry of Public Infrastructure, gave opening remarks at a session attended by more than 100 stakeholders. The session continued the next day with a meeting of government stakeholders and an outreach trip to Gafoors, a local building materials manufacturer.

The Guyana National Bureau of Standards has been an MOU partner with ASTM since 2010.
For photos from the roadshow’s educational events, see the NextGen section.

On the last day of their trip, roadshow team members met with staffers at the Guyana National Bureau of Standards.

4th ASTM Cement Conference and Workshop held in Kuwait

ASTM and the Kuwait Cement Co. held the 4th ASTM Cement Conference and Workshop in Kuwait on May 8 and 9. The event is organized by the Kuwait Cement Co. in partnership and cooperation with ASTM International and Sesam Business Consultants, UAE.

The conference provides two days of training on testing standards and quality control for the cement and concrete industry in Kuwait. ASTM International member Anthony F. Bentivegna, senior civil engineer, Jensen Hughes, led a series of workshops throughout the event.

Technical Experts from Kenya and Saudi Arabia Visit ASTM International

Technical experts from Kenya and Saudi Arabia are visiting ASTM International headquarters this summer.

Albert Nyagechi is a standards officer from the Kenya Bureau of Standards with 20 years of experience in standardization. Nyagechi serves as technical secretary to the petroleum, plastics, and rubber committees at KEBS.

Abdrabalameer Al Saqer is a director of the quality department at the Eastern Region Office of the Saudi Standards, Metrology, and Quality Organization. Al Saqer, an engineer, has 25 years of experience working in the field of petroleum products.

The technical visitor grant program is a key initiative of ASTM’s Memorandum of Understanding program. ASTM annually hosts two technical experts who spend three to six weeks participating in an educational program about ASTM standards in a specific sector.

Memorandums of Understanding Established and Celebrated

ASTM International has signed memorandums of understanding with the national standards bodies
of Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Georgia, bringing the total number of MOUs to 110.

The MOU program supports the use of ASTM International standards while also encouraging global participation in the continued development of new and revised standards.

Katharine Morgan, ASTM International’s president, signed the three newest MOUs. Sardar Abul Kalam, director general of the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution, signed the MOU with BSTI. The group supports standardization, metrology, testing, and quality control as prerequisites of infrastructure necessary
for sound economic development.

Director General Chan Borin signed the MOU for the Institute of Standards of Cambodia. ISC is the national standards body responsible for Cambodian standards and guidelines for products, commodities, materials, services, and operations.

Davit Tkemaladze, director general for the Georgian National Agency for Standards and Metrology,
signed that MOU. GeoSTM supports metrology and standardization.

In addition to establishing new MOUs, ASTM has recently celebrated anniversaries of three MOUs with the standards bodies of the Philippines, Mozambique, and Singapore.

ASTM International’s MOU program was launched in 2001. To date, ASTM International has identified more than 7,700 citations of its standards in laws, regulations, codes, and more in countries outside the United States. For more information on the program, visit www.astm.org/GLOBAL/mou.

ASTM Global Cooperation VP Attends Events in Bhutan, Thailand

Teresa Cendrowska, vice president, global cooperation, ASTM International, attended several events while traveling to Thailand and Bhutan in May.

Cendrowska participated in the “Ensuring Quality Through Standards” workshop organized by the Bhutan Standards Bureau. The workshop brought together ministry representatives, BSB technical committee chairmen, testing labs, and staff in Thimphu to discuss ASTM and its standards, ASTM’s COMPASS platform, and other services. Cendrowska also met with staff members of the BSB metrology, certification, and technical standards divisions to review information about the MOU that ASTM has with BSB.

During the same trip, Cendrowska visited the Thai Industrial Standards Institute, where she met with representatives of TISI’s technical, international, and legal departments to discuss ASTM’s MOU with TISI.

ASTM Gains Additional Accreditations for Proficiency Testing Programs

ASTM International recently announced the addition of accreditation from the globally recognized American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) for nine of its proficiency testing programs.

The new accreditations cover programs including:

• Cetane,
• Crude oil,
• Engine coolants,
• In-service diesel oil,
• Insulated fluid quality,
• Polypropylene,
• Thermal analysis of plastics, and more.

The recent additions bring the total number of ASTM International programs that have achieved A2LA accreditation to 28, including automotive lubricant additives, biodiesel, and many more. Nearly 60 percent of ASTM’s proficiency testing programs have now been accredited.

Programs accredited through A2LA are assessed against criteria from a key standard: conformity assessment – general requirements for proficiency testing (ISO/IEC 17043:2010).

More than 2,300 laboratories use ASTM’s statistical quality assurance tools in the proficiency testing programs. For more information, visit www.astm.org/ptp.

Snapshots

Sara Gobbi (fourth from right), director of European affairs, ASTM International, discussed the openness and fairness of the ASTM standards process, and how it benefits small and medium-sized enterprises at the Small Business Standards Conference held in Brussels, Belgium, on May 30. Also speaking at the conference was Gunilla Almgren (third from right), president of Small Business Standards, which represents European SMEs in the standardization process.

On April 26, ASTM board members Deryck Omar (left), CEO of the CARICOM Regional Organization for Standards and Quality, and Cesar Constantino, Ph.D., (right), director of business development,  Separation Technologies LLC, a Titan America business, joined ASTM vice presidents Teresa Cendrowska (center) and Jeff Grove (not pictured) to present at the World Bank Group. Their presentations addressed standards in regulation, the ASTM Memorandum of Understanding program, and ASTM standards for resilience, sustainability, and quality infrastructure.