Testing, Inspection & Certification

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Testing, Inspection & Certification

December 9, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
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“The Alchemists Laboratory” 1625 | Heinrich Khunrath

The size of the U.S. Testing, Inspection, and Certification (TIC) industry is approximately $48.19 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow to about $60.06 billion by 2032.  The industry is driven by factors such as increasing government regulatory action, consumer awareness about safety, and the rising need for quality assurance in various sectors like automotive, healthcare, consumer goods, municipal and campus building construction.  TIC standards are found in design guidelines, construction contracts, building commissioning and acceptance.

Today we focus on the public commenting facilities of the dominant standards developers relevant to our work:

ASTM International

Intertek

International Electrical Testing Association (Portage, Michigan)

NSF International (Ann Arbor, Michigan)

Underwriters Laboratories

Each of the foregoing organizations have global affiliates such as SGS, Bureau Veritas, and TÜV SÜD which we cover in a separate session at some point in the future.  We deal with electrotechnical TIC standards in any of our electrotechnology-oriented sessions every Tuesday.

Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

 

Acceptance Testing Specifications for Electrical Power Equipment & Systems

December 9, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
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Home | Kalamazoo County Michigan

 

ANSI/NETA Catalog

Mike Anthony’s Colleague Gary Walls (Going way back to 1983) President Emeritus of NETA


Current title undergoing revision: Standard for Maintenance Testing Specifications for Electrical Power Equipment and Systems

  • PINS: March 14 – April 13, 2025
  • Working Groups: November 2026 – March 2026
  • Ballot Pool Pre-canvas: Current – April 2026
  • Initial Ballot/Public Comment Period: July 2026
  • Recirculation Ballot/Public Comment Period: September 2026
  • BSR-9 Submission: January 2027
  • Anticipated Publication Date: February-March 2027 

N.B. The NETA stack runs on a 5-year revision cycle.

Energy Standard for *Sites* and Buildings

December 9, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
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Proposed Addendum bx to Standard 90.1-2022, Energy Standard for Sites and Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings.  This second independent substantive change draft addendum on laboratory ventilation. Consultation closes December 21.

Addendum av to ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2022, Energy Standard for Sites and Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. This addendum creates more exacting provisions for envelope alterations. The new format is intended to better communicate the requirements, triggers, and allowances associated with performing an envelope alteration to promote energy efficiency within the impacted area(s).  Consultation closes October 6.

ANSI Standards Action Weekly Edition | Given ASHRAE’s revision redlines are frequently uploaded here

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) is an ANSI-accredited continuous-maintenance standards developer (a major contributor to what we call a regulatory product development “stream”).   Continuous maintenance means that changes to its consensus products can change in as little as 30 days so it is wise to keep pace.

Among the leading titles in its catalog is ASHRAE 90.1 Energy Standard for Sites and Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings.  Standard 90.1 has been a benchmark for commercial building energy codes in the United States and a key basis for codes and standards around the world for more than 35 years.  Free access to ASHRAE 90.1 version is available at the link below:

READ ONLY Version of 2022 ASHRAE 90.1

Redlines are released at a fairly brisk pace — with 30 to 45 day consultation periods.  A related title — ASHRAE 189.1 Standard for the Design of High Performance Green Buildings — first published in 2009 and far more prescriptive in its scope heavily  references parent title 90.1 so we usually them as a pair because 189.1 makes a market for green building conformance enterprises. Note the “extreme prescriptiveness” (our term of art) in 189.1 which has the practical effect of legislating engineering judgement, in our view.

25 January 2023: Newly Released ASHRAE 90.1-2022 Includes Expanded Scope For Building Sites

ASHRAE committees post their redlines at the link below:

Online Standards Actions & Public Review Drafts

Education estate managers, energy conservation workgroups, sustainability officers, electric shop foreman, electricians and front-line maintenance professionals who change lighting fixtures, maintain environmental air systems are encouraged to participate directly in the ASHRAE consensus standard development process.

We also maintain ASHRAE best practice titles as standing items on our Mechanical, Water, Energy and Illumination colloquia.  See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.

Issue: [Various]

Category: Mechanical, Electrical, Energy Conservation, Facility Asset Management, US Department of Energy, #SmartCampus

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Larry Spielvogel, Richard Robben

Under Construction:  ASHRAE WORKSPACE


More

The fundamental concept in social science is Power, in the same sense in which Energy is the fundamental concept in physics. - Bertrand Russell

ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 90.1-2019: Energy Standard For Buildings

ARCHIVE 2002-2016 / ASHRAE 90.1 ENERGY STANDARD FOR BUILDINGS

US Department of Energy Building Energy Codes Program

ASHRAE Guideline 0 The Commissioning Process

Why Software is Eating the World


* Many standards-developing organizations aim to broaden their influence by entering the product standard and certification domain. Although our primary focus is on interoperability standards (within a system of interoperable products), we also consider market dynamics when product performance specifications are incorporated by reference into public law.


To paraphrase Marc Andreessen: “Building standards are eating the world and ASHRAE is eating building standards” (– Mike Anthony, University of Michigan). Just when you thought ASHRAE’s claim to energy regulation could not get any larger, it has recently appropriated everything *between* buildings in its scope — that means all above-ground pathway lighting, steam, hot water communication cabling tunnels, water pumps, fire protections systems; among others.

2029 National Electrical Code Panel 1

December 9, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
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Electrical Safety Stack

The University of Michigan has supported the voice of the United States education facility industry since 1993 — the second longest tenure of any voice in the United States.  That voice has survived several organizational changes but remains intact and will continue its Safer-Simpler-Lower Cost-Longer Lasting advocacy on Code Panel 3 in the 2029 Edition.

Today, during our customary “Open Door” teleconference we will examine the technical concepts under the purview of Code Panel 1; among them:

Article 206 Signaling Circuits

Article 300 General Requirements for Wiring Methods and Materials

Article 590 Temporary Installations

Chapter 7 Specific Conditions for Information Technology

Chapter 9 Conductor Properties Tables

Public Input on the 2029 Edition will be received until April 9, 2026.

 

Bleachers, Folding Seating & Grandstands

December 5, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
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“View of the Colosseum” 1747 Giovanni Paolo Panini

 

Play is the making of civilization—how one plays the game

more to the point than whether the game is won or lost.

 

We follow development of best practice literature for spectator seating structures produced by the International Code Council,  the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA 102),  the American Society of Civil Engineers Structural Engineering Institute (ASCE SEI-7).  There are also federal regulations promulgated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.  (Note that some of the regulations were inspired by the several regional building code non-profits before the International Code Council was formed in year ~ 2000)

The parent standard from the International Code Council is linked below:

ICC 300 Standard on Bleachers, Folding and Telescopic Seating, and Grandstands

The development of this standard is coordinated with the ICC Group A Codes.  We have tracked concepts in it previous revisions; available in the link below.

2024/2025/2026 ICC CODE DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE

As always, we encourage our colleagues with workpoint experience to participate directly in the ICC Code Development process.  CLICK HERE to get started.

Issue: [15-283]

Category: Athletics & Recreation, Architectural, Public Safety

Contact: Mike Anthony, Jack Janveja, Richard Robben

Virtual reality technology in evacuation simulation of sport stadiums


LEARN MORE:

Standard for Bleachers, Folding and Telescopic Seating, and Grandstands ICC 300-2017 edition Public Comment Draft – October 2017

ANSI Coverage / ICC 300-2017: Standard for Bleachers, Folding and Telescopic Seating, and Grandstands

 

Writing Boards

December 4, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
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Liebfrauenschule Cloppenburg

The central element in any educational space is the writing board; sometimes a “blackboard”, “chalkboard” or a “dry-erase board” — all used for teaching.  During today’s session we survey the product and the installation standards with special attention to optics, illumination, mounting heights and distances.

EN 14434: Writing boards for educational institutions. The primary European standard specifically for school whiteboards and chalkboards. Covers safety requirements (no sharp edges, stable frames, non-toxic surfaces), magnetic performance, writability/erasure, durability, fire resistance, and hygiene (easy-to-clean surfaces).
§
ASTM F2957-13 (2021): Standard Specification for Whiteboards. American standard for dry-erase whiteboards.  Defines requirements for surface gloss, erasability, stain resistance, scratch resistance, and color fastness.

§

Some state level  procurement and installation standards — Kansas and Connecticut, for example — are de facto standards for visibility, accessibility and mounting hardware.

Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.


Legal Context: Writing Boards

Interiors

December 4, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com

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Donegan Acoustics

Today we unpack the latest in codes, standards, guidelines, recommendations and safety legislation that set the standard of care for the design, manufacture and maintenance of interior fixtures such as carpet, furniture, bookshelves and ceiling tiles, plumbing fixtures — a large part of what construction industry professionals find in CSIGroup MasterFormat Division 12 — Furnishings.  — i.e. “Things that are not nailed down”  Such things can elude infrastructure budgets that are dominated by real assets fixed in place.

Other accredited standards developers in this domain:

APPA Leadership in Education Facilities

ASHRAE International

ASTM International

BIFMA International

International Code Council

Illumination Engineering Society

National Fire Protection Association

National Floor Safety Institute

Simon Institute

Underwriters Laboratories

There are others.

In large research universities, it is common for building service personnel engaged in keeping facilities clean and tidy to constitute the largest proportion of permanent employees.

Standing Agenda / Interiors

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