NFPA 70 | 2020 National Electrical Code Balloting

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Many colleges, universities, trade and technical schools have stakeholders — either as faculty and students — in the United State manufacturing sector.   Many allocated significant resources to facilities and grant administrators that support this activity.  The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) encourages the US standards federation to participate in this process.  Some of the questions to inform development of the plan are as follows:

• In priority order, what should be the near-term and long-term objectives for advanced manufacturing, including R&D objectives, the anticipated time frame for achieving the objectives, and the metrics for use in assessing progress toward the objectives?
• How can Federal agencies and federally funded R&D centers supporting advanced manufacturing R&D foster the transfer of R&D results into new manufacturing technologies and United States-based manufacturing of new products and processes for the benefit of society to ensure national, energy, and economic security? What role can public-private partnerships play, and how should they be structured for maximum impact?
• What innovative tools, platforms, technologies are needed for advances in manufacturing? Of those that already exist, what are the barriers to their adoption?
• How can such Federal agencies and centers develop and strengthen all levels of manufacturing education and training programs to ensure an adequate, well-trained U.S. workforce for the new advanced manufacturing jobs of the future?
• How can such Federal agencies and centers assist small and medium-sized manufacturers in developing and implementing new products and processes?  
• How would you assess the state of the following factors and how they impact innovation and competitiveness for United States advanced manufacturing?

Comments are due March 7th.   You may access the page to review the complete document, to key in comments or to communicate directly with the agency leading this effort at this link: (Federal Register.)

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The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) releases draft standards Committee Drafts for Votes (CDV’s) that are open for public review and comment; contingent upon national policies and coordination with national standards bodies such as USNC/IEC.   (The Secretariat for Technical Committee 56 is the United Kingdom). We curate this action for the user interest in the education industry and university-affiliated medical research and healthcare delivery enterprises here (Recent CDV’s from IEC).

Of particular interest to subject matter experts in several building technologies may be a recent release by IEC Technical Committee 56 Dependability.   A “clean” version (i.e. a draft with strike-and-bold removed) of its dual-logo risk management document — IEC/ISO 31010 Risk management and risk assessment techniques — is now open for public comment.  This, and other documents produced by the IEC and ISO should be regarded as templates for the development of national technical and business policy; hence our frequent reference to consensus standards as “regulatory products”.

Dependability — or reliability as it is understood in other technical disciplines — affects decisions about electrical power generation, fire safety, information technology, finance — to name a few.  With so many stakeholders moving to meet the needs of economies that are growing, it is not unwise to at least be sensitive to the needs of other economies as reflected in the standards for dependable products and systems.

The CDV provides guidance on the selection and application of various techniques that can be used to help improve the way uncertainty is taken into account and to help understand risk.   Comments are due February 16th.   

Hybrid operating theatre | Rome, Italy

Because access to this document is “coordinated” we refer this the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee (which meets online again on Tuesday, January 30th) and we will also place this on the agenda of our Open Door teleconference this coming Wednesday, 11 AM Eastern time.  Anyone is welcomed to join this teleconferences with the login information in this link (Click here)

Issue: [11-4]

Contact: Mike Anthony

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The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) encourages its members and stakeholders to respond to a newly released draft report by the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), issued as a response to the May 11, 2017, Executive Order on Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure. The draft report highlights the role of globally relevant standards in strengthening cybersecurity worldwide.

The Executive Order called for “resilience against botnets and other automated, distributed threats,” directing the departments to “lead an open and transparent process to identify and promote action by appropriate stakeholders” with the goal of “dramatically reducing threats perpetrated by automated and distributed attacks (e.g., botnets).”

DOC and DHS identified five complementary goals that would improve the resilience of the ecosystem:

1. Identify a clear pathway toward an adaptable, sustainable, and secure technology marketplace
2. Promote innovation in the infrastructure for dynamic adaptation to evolving threats
3. Promote innovation at the edge of the network to prevent, detect, and mitigate bad behavior
4. Build coalitions between the security, infrastructure, and operational technology communities domestically and around the world
5. Increase awareness and education across the ecosystem

The draft report emphasizes the need to augment standards to improve the resilience of the ecosystem. According to the document, “the U.S. government and industry should also jointly engage with developers of international standards and specifications, such as the IETF and the Joint Technical Committee 1 of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) (ISO/IEC JTC 1), to establish globally relevant standards. As these standards evolve, federal profiles should be re-aligned or replaced as appropriate.”

Responses are due to DOC at Counter_Botnet@list.commerce.gov by 5 p.m. ET on February 12, 2018.

Link to original ANSI announcement