Supervisory boards work closely with 4,000 experts on 700 committees to meet growing needs around the world.

ASME publishes about 500 codes and standards for a range of industrial technologies, and more are in development. More than 4,000 ASME Codes and Standards volunteers and staff are divided among about 700 technical and supervisory committees, all working toward the same goal: to keep standards abreast of technological development for the benefit of society."

It’s a large organization to carry out a big job. While the dedication and enthusiasm of the participants keep the process moving forward, a formal structure has grown up to manage their activities. The structure is easily understood: the ASME Codes and Standards Board of Directors oversees other, more specialized boards, which in turn supervise the work of technical committees.

Here’s a description of the actions that each board is taking to make the system work.

Board of Directors

The ASME Codes and Standards Board of Directors (BoD), under the direction of the ASME Board of Governors, has overall responsibility for the activities of ASME relating to codes and standards, and related conformity assessment programs. Those ASME activities currently involve more than 4,000 volunteer subject-matter experts working in 700 committees to develop and maintain approximately 500 technical codes and standards and to administer 13 conformity assessment programs, including accreditation, and product and personnel certification programs.

Supporting the C&S BoD are six supervisory boards that oversee specific areas of ASME’s standards development and conformity assessment activities. These supervisory boards are the Boards on Pressure Technology Codes and Standards, Nuclear Codes and Standards, Conformity Assessment, Safety Codes and Standards, Standardization and Testing, and New Development.

Also reporting to the C&S BoD is the Board on Hearings and Appeals (BHA). When individuals or companies raise an objection to the requirements of a proposed code or standard to be issued by ASME, they can present their arguments for consideration. ASME has a multi-level appeals process for consideration of grievances subsequent to committee action, and the BHA is the final level of appeal related to procedural due process issues.

The C&S BoD establishes broad strategic direction for ASME Codes and Standards. Objectives are adapted by each of the supervisory boards to apply to its specific area of coverage. Current key strategic objectives of the C&S Board of Directors include addressing the needs of governments and industries for the improvement of public safety and quality of life; identifying emerging markets and providing programs, products, and services to meet the needs of customers in these new markets; and attracting and retaining qualified volunteers from all over the world to participate on committees developing codes and standards products.    

Board on Pressure Technology Codes and Standards

The Board on Pressure Technology Codes and Standards (BPTCS) supervises standards development by committees covering a broad range of pressure equipment. Its standards are recognized and used worldwide.

The largest technical area under the board is the group of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Committees, which is responsible for non-nuclear codes covering power boilers, materials of construction, heating boilers, nondestructive examination methodologies, pressure vessels, welding and brazing qualification, fiber-reinforced plastic pressure vessels, and transport tanks. More than 800 volunteers participate in developing these codes, which have been referenced or recognized in over 100 countries worldwide.

In 2007 a complete rewrite of ASME Section VIII, Division 2 of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code was issued, representing a significant modernization of the code to provide for major technical advances in pressure vessel analysis, design, construction, and related sciences such as materials, welding, and nondestructive examination. This represents the first major change to this code in 40 years, and it is expected that it will serve industry for decades to come.

The BPE Standard for bioprocessing equipment is of particular importance to the pharmaceutical and personal care product industries, which use it worldwide.

The codes and standards produced by the B31 Committee are widely used around the world for pipelines and piping systems. B31.3 is the ISO normative reference for process piping and enjoys worldwide use.

The B16 Committee is responsible for product standards covering valves, flanges, pipe fittings, gaskets and valve actuators for use in pressure services.

The Post Construction Committee is responsible for codes and standards addressing issues encountered after initial construction of equipment covered by other pressure technology codes and standards. 

A committee has written a standard for reinforced thermoset plastic corrosion resistant vessels, which is widely used for construction of such equipment used in chemical plants.

Other committees address prevention of water damage in steam turbines, structures for bulk solids, and pressure vessels for human occupancy, ranging from hyperbaric chambers to diving bells.

The Joint ASME/API Committee on Fitness for Service has developed a new standard, API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 2007, which covers fitness-for-service assessment techniques for pressurized equipment used in all industries. A new FFS-2 Examples Manual is due for publication in 2009.

BPTCS instituted a new program that recognizes and promotes participation in ASME C&S technical committee activities as satisfying the registered professional engineer requirements for professional development hours. Many of the volunteers under the BPTCS structure are registered professional engineers. Implementation of this program provides for personal professional development and an incentive for continued committee participation.

BPTCS has developed a plan to address the identification of technology gaps to be filled in current or new pressure technology codes, standards, and guidelines. It provides a process for determining research projects to be undertaken each fiscal year.

The board has addressed emerging technologies that try to meet the world’s energy and environmental challenges. The energy industry uses ASME pressure technology codes and standards extensively, but new consensus standards will be necessary to accelerate the commercialization of emerging technology.

That is the reason behind the issuance of the new B31.12-2008 Code for Hydrogen Piping and Pipelines, which contains requirements specific to hydrogen service in power, process, transportation, and distribution applications.

Potential new areas for application of ASME pressure technology codes and standards include concentrating solar power plants, enhanced geothermal systems, production, transportation and distribution of hydrogen and biofuels, wind power, hydrokinetic power, and carbon capture and storage technology.

Board on Nuclear Codes and Standards

The Board on Nuclear Codes and Standards (BNCS) is responsible for promulgating codes and standards to ensure the safe operation of nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities. While the scope of the board’s work is limited to a single technology, the diversity of its activities is broad. ASME’s nuclear codes and standards mostly address the design, construction, inspection, and testing of the metal pressure boundary in Sections III and XI of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code; however, they also address cranes, air and gas treatment systems, operation and maintenance, qualification of mechanical equipment, nuclear quality assurance, probabilistic risk assessment, concrete containments, and waste transport packaging.

There are currently more than 435 commercial nuclear electric generating stations in operation worldwide. Many older plants are up for renewal of their operating licenses, and more than 200 new nuclear power plants are planned around the world. As a result, the board’s committees face a number of challenges. They must maintain current codes and standards to support the operating fleet of plants, and provide revisions to support new builds and new technology. They must support global supply chains, address knowledge transfer, build global relationships while they maintain domestic relationships, and support engineering education.

The board works with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for endorsement or acceptance of ASME’s codes and standards. Currently, 11 ASME codes and standards have been referenced or are in the process to be referenced by the NRC.

The BNCS, recognizing the global nature of the nuclear power industry, has reached out to engage industry and regulatory authorities around the world. Workshops have been held in the Czech Republic, France, Finland, Sweden, the Republic of Korea, Japan, China, and the Republic of South Africa. Since the supply chains that support the existing fleet of plants and the new builds are global, the workshops have not only provided a means to exchange information and ideas, but also have been critical to ensuring that the global experience is incorporated into ASME’s nuclear codes and standards. The board’s global initiative has been successful in attracting engineers from around the world to participate in the consensus standards-development process.

The recent revival of interest in nuclear power promises to end a period of contraction in the industry that began in the early 1980s. For more than two decades, few early-career engineers entered the nuclear industry. During that time, engineering schools cut back or eliminated nuclear-related course material from their curricula. To prepare for renewed activity in nuclear power, ASME has engaged universities in workshops at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Colorado at Boulder.

As the industry continues to ramp up for expected new construction of reactors in the United States, the BNCS has recognized that there is a shortage of experts available to support standards writing, and we have reached out to our sister standards-developing organizations to share resources by developing joint standards. Also, the board has initiated an aggressive strategy to develop standards for emerging technologies—gas-cooled reactors, liquid-metal-cooled reactors, and fusion.

Approximately 1,000 men and women meet regularly within eight consensus committees to support the development of ASME nuclear codes and standards. These 1,000 engineers are the leaders in their industry setting the standard for current technology and the future.

Board on Conformity Assessment

The Board on Conformity Assessment (BCA), supervises the accreditation and certification activities of ASME relating to codes and standards. One purpose of the conformity assessment program is to provide designated oversight for the use and protection of the ASME mark. Essentially, it gives teeth to the codes.

Manufacturers are certified when they demonstrate a capability of complying with the requirements of ASME standards, and accreditation is given to organizations that will carry out inspections during the manufacturing process. Although most BCA activity relates to standards developed by other C&S boards, it also directly supervises standards writing activities for three committees writing the certification requirements of resource recovery operators, fossil fuel fired plant operators, and hazardous waste incinerator operators. Under these certification programs individuals are certified as competent to perform in positions of responsibility. The programs provide a system that various states can adopt to protect the public.

BCA also supervises the standards committee that writes the Standard for Authorized Inspection. This standard has been adopted in the applicable sections of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, and provides requirements for authorized inspection agencies and inspectors that oversee the manufacturing process.

The largest conformity assessment activity under BCA is the Boiler and Pressure Vessel program. Under this activity, there are product certification programs for manufacturers of boilers and pressure vessels, nuclear components, nuclear materials, and an accreditation program for laboratories testing pressure relief devices. The ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code has been adopted in regulations of all 50 states, the provinces of Canada, and in many other countries. Certificates are held by approximately 5,500 companies in 75 countries. More than 2,500 of those companies are based outside of the United States.

The growth in certifications outside of the United States over the last few years has been approximately 10 percent per year.

There has also been a recent expansion of certificate holders in the nuclear industry, which is expected to have significant additional growth over the next few years. For nuclear codes activity, ASME interacts with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The NRC has a member, for instance, on the ASME Committee on Nuclear Certification, which reviews team reports for approval of companies both domestically and internationally.

The NRC has a regulatory interest in products made for use in the U.S. Since these products can be manufactured anywhere, the NRC is concerned with the global supply chain.

BCA also oversees conformity assessment programs for the manufacture of reinforced thermoset plastic corrosion resistant equipment, qualification of elevator inspectors, and certification of geometric dimensioning and tolerancing professionals.

In addition, there are a number of new conformity assessment activities being developed or under consideration. The Standards Committee on Bioprocessing Equipment is adding a section to its standard that will cover certification of manufacturers. New programs for boiler and pressure vessel parts fabrication, BPV material supply, pressure technology post construction, and pipeline operator certification are under consideration.

Information on ASME Conformity Assessment programs can be found at http://www.asme.org/Codes/CertifAccred/, where there are pages for each current program.

Board on Safety Codes and Standards

Often little conscious thought is given to safety until an incident reminds us of the hazards of everyday life. We seldom reflect on the marvel of just how safe we are in a complex and dynamically changing world. That’s because there are those who have made it a mission in life to enhance public safety. They are continuously evaluating and updating the way we do things to take advantage of improvements in technology, to apply lessons learned from experience, and to identify best practices. ASME plays an active role in protecting the public through the development of safety codes and standards, such as the elevator codes, which are managed by the Board on Safety Codes and Standards (BSCS).

Committees under the BSCS address a wide range of topics, from identification of hazardous materials conveyed in piping systems to safety provisions for inclined stairway chairlifts.

The 12 committees under the board issue standards for elevators, escalators, cranes, suspended powered platforms (scaffolds) used outside buildings, manlifts, conveyors, portable automotive lifting devices, permanent traveling ladders and gantries, rail transit vehicles, and controls and safety devices installed on automatically operated boilers. Besides ensuring safety, the standards also assist in efforts to standardize products. For example, ASME publishes a standard that contains design criteria for below-the-hook lifting devices.

Elevator ridership in the United States is estimated at more than 200 billion passenger rides per year. The safety record is unsurpassed by any other vehicle system.

In most U.S. and Canadian jurisdictions, passenger elevators are required to conform to ASME A17.1/CSA B44, Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators. This is a bi-national code, jointly developed by ASME and the Canadian Standards Association.

Technology has led to buildings that are ever taller, more efficient, and more resistant to natural forces. Elevator technology is also advancing faster than the prescriptive code can be adapted. As a result, developers can find themselves limited in their ability to deploy new technologies.

The ASME A17 Standards Committee considered this potential issue and in January 2003 formed the New Technology Committee to develop Performance-Based Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators that would allow the latest state-of-the-art technology, design, and materials in the engineering of new and renovated elevator systems in the U.S. and Canada. The code, ASME A17.7/CSA B44.7 (also a binational code), was issued in March 2007. When it is adopted by regulatory authorities, the code will allow the United States to keep up with elevator technology while maintaining or exceeding the safety and performance requirements under the current code.

Elevators and escalators are not the only area under the Board on Safety Codes and Standards. The Safety Standards Committee for Cableways, Cranes, Derricks, Hoists, Hooks, Jacks, and Slings reviews and updates the more than two dozen volumes of the B30 standard, which sets forth definitions and guidelines on design, manufacture, inspection, maintenance, and use of cranes and other lift devices, with safety as the primary focus.

The committee is constantly working on the volumes to include provisions that might help reduce confusion and accidents. For example, ASME B30.5-2007 for mobile cranes updated the section on the responsibility of the operation of the cranes. The new provisions clearly define the lines of responsibility for owner, user, supervisor, lift director, and operator.

ASME is always open to creating new standards to address industry needs and enhance public safety. For example, this year ASME published a new standard, RT-2, Safety Standard for Structural Requirements for Heavy Rail Transit Vehicles that was developed to address vehicles, mechanical systems, components, and structural requirements for heavy rail cars, and the committee is currently working on a standard for light rail vehicles.

Board on Standardization and Testing

It has been said that standards, which started out as agreements among makers and users of manufactured items on their dimensions and other characteristics, are crucial to the workings of advanced industrial economies.  Codes and standards serve society in various roles. They serve, for example, as key supports of global trade, and they promote the transfer of technology and knowledge. 

For 125 years ASME has supported the needs of government, industry, and consumers by providing solid, valuable, and needed standardization services. 

A typical example of the influence of standards dates to the 1940s, when ASME quietly served the United States during the Second World War. The U.S. government had begun discussions with Britain and Canada concerning the modifications to a certain screw thread. These meetings were later expanded to consider the wider prospect of a possible unification of inch-based screw threads and of other basic engineering practices. This later evolved into the ABC (American-British-Canadian) projects for the unification of engineering standards. ASME members were involved in these efforts in such areas as unified screw threads and gauging practices, pipe thread, bolts, nuts and screws, engineering drafting practices, and other issues.

By standardizing on these and other basic engineering practices, interchangeability of parts of manufactured products was greatly enhanced and led to increased trade and commerce among the three countries.

In 2005 the Board on Performance Test Codes was merged into the Board on Standardization to create the Board on Standardization and Testing (BST), which currently oversees 19 standards-writing committees.

The department’s codes and standards cover a very large assortment of topics. It has dimensional standards on screw threads, fasteners, plumbing fixtures, and many other products. These standards also provide test procedures. There are measurement standards on metrology, fluid flow, pressure and temperature. There are specifications for chemical pumps, steel stacks, and hoists.

The committee on drawing practices has written Y14.5, which establishes uniform practices for stating and interpreting design language of geometric dimensioning and tolerancing. ASME offers two levels of certification for Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing Professional. In recent years the committee has prepared a standard which establishes requirements and reference documents applicable to the preparation and revision of 3-D digital models.

Performance test codes are applicable to the determination of performance of specific mechanical equipment used in power generation, which is designed to meet specified criteria for performance and operability. The codes provide requirements for instrumentation, test procedure, test environment, and interpretation of test results. They provide a basis for evaluation of performance compared to the specifications for equipment acceptance tests or qualification criteria to demonstrate operability.

The first ASME standard, published in 1884, was a performance test code, a method to test boilers. As technology has advanced, so have test standards. One of the more recent developments is a code on procedures for performance testing of integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power generation plants to determine fuel gas flow and quality, thermal efficiency, and power output at specified operating conditions. Four additional publications on IGCC are under development.

The Board on Standardization and Testing recently formed a new committee on Verification and Validation in Computational Modeling and Simulation. A Guide for Verification and Validation in Computational Solid Mechanics was published in 2006. A second standard, Verification and Validation in Computational Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer will be available later this year. Five other related verification and validation documents are being considered.

In 2008, the Committee on Industrial System Energy Assessment was formed to prepare standards for conducting energy improvement assessments for steam systems, compressed air systems, process heating systems, and pumping systems. The development of these drafts is being expedited to meet the needs of industry. It is expected that four energy assessment standards will be published by the end of 2009.

Other committees are working on standards for alternative energy sources. One is a published code which provides test procedures and definitions for the performance characterization of fuel cell power systems, which convert input fuel and oxidizer into output electrical and thermal energy. Another is a project to prepare a performance test code for concentrated solar power using parabolic troughs, dishes, or towers to heat a circulating fluid. Committees are also initiating projects to update existing standards on flue gas desulfurization units, and flue and exhaust gas analyses.

Board on New Development

The newest supervisory board is the Board on New Development (BOND), which was formed in November 2006 to oversee standards-related projects in areas of technology and application outside the current realm of ASME Codes and Standards.

ASME expects that many new standards-development needs and opportunities will arise in multidisciplinary technology areas that may not fit well within any part of ASME’s traditional structure, or may span multiple technology areas. The structure of the Board on New Development allows for rapid formation of consensus standards committees with volunteer subject-matter experts familiar with the technology.

ASME’s approach to staff support of BOND standards committees involves assignment of staff managers rather than the more traditional staff secretaries. This approach recognizes that many volunteer subject-matter experts on BOND standards committees may be new to the consensus standards development process and to working on technical committees. The staff managers will assist with the formation of committees and with the training of volunteers. The staff managers will also advise on process issues and interface with ASME publishing.

Current development activities under BOND include aerospace engineering drawings; Risk Analysis Methodology for Critical Asset Protection (RAMCAP); reliability, availability, and maintainability of power plants; and the translation into Spanish of ASME’s codes and standards.

The Aerospace Engineering Drawings Standards Committee will develop and maintain supplements to the standards, currently under the jurisdiction of the Y14 Standards Committee on Engineering Drawings and Related Documentation Practices, in support of practices unique to the aerospace industry.

The RAMCAP Standards Committee will develop a standard which will include the general framework necessary to perform asset characterization, threat characterization, consequence analysis, vulnerability analysis, threat assessment, risk and resilience assessment, and risk and resilience management for protection of critical assets and infrastructure from natural and man-made events.

The Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability Committee is being formed and will develop a new standard based on a draft document developed under the ASME Power Division’s RAM committee.

The Spanish Committee on ASME Codes and Standards is made up of international subject matter experts from Latin America and the Caribbean, all of whom are new to ASME standards development. Translation of ASME Section I of the Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code for Power Boilers and B31.3 Code for Process Piping is in progress. Translations of other ASME Codes and Standards are planned.

To submit a standards development suggestion for the BOND to consider, please contact Umberto D’Urso by e-mail at dursou@asme.org.

SPEAKING OF CODES “What has remained constant … is the openness and transparency of the way we operate, not just in ASME Codes and Standards but also ASME as a society. … We had our first overseas meeting as an entire board in Prague back in 2006, and we were in France in early 2008, and we had people come from countries who had never been to an ASME meeting before. And when we concluded the week of workshop and the meetings, we asked for what they saw, and the number one thing that people recognized was how open and transparent our organization is. A visitor can come into a meeting and actually contribute.” — Kenneth R. Balkey, consulting engineer, Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC; vice chair of ASME’s Codes and Standards Board of Directors; member of the Board on Nuclear Codes and Standards.   “I like the exposure that my job at ASME gives me to some of the major figures in a particular industry … but also I’m exposed to the concerns and the hot topics of the industry. As the days and months and years go by, I can see what progress we’re making in a particular industry and how we can address different problems. … It will be very beneficial for societies around the world as we move into the 21st century of power generation to get away from some older technologies, and I think it has environmental benefits as well as societal benefits. So I’m hoping that we can make a difference.” — Christian A. Sanna, project engineering administrator, ASME   “The global economy is going to have a large impact on the elevator industry. … It’s not just the way we do it here in North America that’s going to matter. We need to pick up on the new technologies, the new improvements of efficiency, that are continuing to come onto the marketplace. … I think we’re going to find more and more penetration into the marketplace from the global economy that will continue to impact how we have to look at standards and elevator safety. And as such, the marketplace is going to have to continue to be opened to allow that equipment to be able to have its chance to be accepted in the marketplace.” — Norman B. Martin, chief elevator inspector, State of Ohio; A17 Committee on Elevators and Escalators   “I was volunteered by my manager. He was also on the performance test code board and they needed somebody who was actively engaged in developing new and better methods of instrumentation for monitoring the performance of equipment in power plants and other types of industrial activities. … I’ve never regretted a day of it. “I’ve had a very unique opportunity to gain experience both with the companies I’ve worked for and the industry that I’m involved in. … When I first started on codes and standards, the technology was nowhere near as developed as it is today … and it’s been very satisfying to see what has happened to the growth of the industry in the 50 years that I’ve been on codes and standards.” — John C. Westcott, principal consultant, Mustan Corp.; Performance Test Codes Standards Committee (a C&S volunteer since 1958).   “I think the main thing of volunteering is you get a very, very good feeling that you're contributing to society. You're helping make the U.S. and the world a better place by putting standards in place, whether it's standards for drawing practices, like we do, or for light bulbs or for connectors on computers. There's a lot of standards out there that people don't even realize. The classic one is for the light bulb: screw it into a socket. There's a standard for that. So for the big picture, it's a rewarding feeling that you're making the world a better place.” — Frank Bakos, consultant; Y14 Committee on Engineering Drawing and Related Practices.