Codes & Standards Development

How to Define an ASTM Standards

ASTM International’s Regulations Governing ASTM Technical Committees (“Green Book”) defines a standard as “A document that is developed and established within the consensus principles of the Society and that meets the approval requirements of ASTM procedures and regulations.”

The Green Book further defines six distinct standard types:

1. Classification
   • “A systematic arrangement or division of materials, products, systems, or services into groups based on similar characteristics such as origin, composition, properties, 
     or use.”
2. Guide
   • “A compendium of information or series of options that does not recommend a specific course of action.”
3. Practice
   • “A set of instructions for performing one or more specific operations that does not produce a test result.”
4. Specification
   • “An explicit set of requirements to be satisfied by a material, product, system or service.”
5. Terminology
   • “A document comprising definitions of terms; explanations of symbols, abbreviations, or acronyms.”
6. Test Method
   • “A definitive procedure that produces a test result.” Discussion offers examples including “identification, measurement, and evaluation of one or more qualities, characteristics, or properties.”

The Balloting Process

1. New Need
   • An idea for a new standard or a revision to an existing standard
2. Task Group
   • A task group forms, and a work item registers to draft the standard
3. Subcommittee Ballot
   • Once the new standard or revisions are drafted, a subcommittee ballot is initiated.
   • To Initiate
     • A motion passed by voting majority
     • At least 30 days between issue and closing date
   • To Proceed to Next Level
     • 60% ballot return required
     • 2/3 affirmative of the combined affirmative and negative votes cast
     • All negative votes resolved or not considered persuasive
4. Concurrent Ballot
   • Revisions/withdrawals, or new standards that have undergone at least one subcommittee ballot, can be initiated concurrently.
     • To Initiate
       • Main/subcommittee chair approval or motion passed by voting
       • Ballots for revisions/withdrawals or new standards that have undergone at least one subcommittee ballot
     • To Proceed
       • Same process as the Subcommittee ballot
5. Main Committee/Society Review
   • All standards are reviewed by the main committee/society.
     • To Initiate
       • Ballot items that passed the subcommittee ballot process will automatically be included on the next main ballot
       • Ballots for reapproval authorized by subchair/voting majority of subcommittee
     • To Proceed
       • 60% ballot return required
       • 90% affirmative of the combined affirmative and negative votes cast
       • All negative votes resolved or not considered persuasive
6. Committee on Standards Review
   • All not-persuasive and not-related actions for items passing main committee ballot are reviewed and approved by the Committee on Standards (COS).
     • To Initiate
       • Staff submits actions to COS after successful main committee ballot review
     • To proceed to next level
       • COS states that procedures were followed correctly
7. Editorial Review
   • An ASTM Editor sends a review copy to the technical contact for final review and approval to publish

The NFPA Standards Development Process

The NFPA safety standards are used by companies around the world because they are effective. Their standards are even used to create many governmental regulations regarding safety in the workplace. While the current NFPA standards are clearly effective, they can always be improved. Understanding how they develop new standards over time will help companies to not only understand the best practices, but also to predict how improvements will progress over time.

Scheduled Revisions

The NFPA typically updates or revises their standards every three to five years. If a major change is needed, it can be rolled out quickly, but in general this timeframe allows the NFPA to carefully review all ideas.

Public Input

During the revision process, the NFPA solicits public input. This usually comes from private businesses that use the existing NFPA standards, and have recommendations on how they can be improved. The input helps to create a first draft of the new set of standards. Once the first draft is completed, it is published for public comment and review. This gives additional people the option to go over the proposed changes, and provide further insights as to whether or not they should be adopted. Based on this input, a new draft is created.

Technical Meeting

After the new draft is created, the NFPA holds a technical meeting. During this meeting the various technicians and engineers review the second draft, and make motions on what parts should be kept, which ones should be revised, and what should be adopted. This helps to ensure the updates are both effective and practical.

Standards Council

Finally, the Standards Council crafts a final draft, which is implemented according to the normal schedule. In most cases they release the information early so companies can have time to review and adopt the changes before they become official standards. If OSHA or other regulatory agencies want to update their standards to reflect the NFPA updates, they can begin working on that process at this time as well.

Are the NFPA Standards law?

People often ask if NFPA standards are actually legally required, or if they are recommendations. The answer is somewhat more complex than most people would like.

When are NFPA standards mandatory?

The NFPA creates a variety of safety standards that are designed to help reduce the risk of fire, and allow emergency responders to safely put fires out should they occur. The NFPA, however, does not have any enforcement authority on its own, which means on the surface these codes are not legally mandatory.

Many of the NFPA codes have been adopted by OSHA and other regulatory agencies, which does make them required in many situations. OSHA commonly takes on safety standards that are created by third parties such as the NFPA. This allows them to always keep up with the best safety ideas in all the different areas, including fire protection.

Not all NFPA codes are legally required

While some of the NFPA codes have been implemented into OSHA standards, that is not the case for all of them. However, many companies choose to implement all the safety recommendations from the NFPA because they have been proven effective. In addition, companies want to be ready to comply with any future updates from OSHA, which will likely include additional NFPA codes.

When it comes to planning out safety improvements in a company or agency, however, it is often best to start with those standards that are required by law. Once those have been successfully added to the facility, it can be easier to justify expanding the adoption of the NFPA codes.