Fire safety engineering:
Quarterly Newsletter - December 2017
Monideep Dey, PhD
This newsletter by Monideep Dey is published every quarter to inform subscribers of developments in Fire Safety Engineering (FSE), especially on topics related to conformity assessment of fire safety designs based on FSE. Monideep Dey, the principal of Deytec, Inc., served as Chairman (Convenor) of ISO TC 92 SC 4 WG 7 from 2013 to 2017 instituting significant improvements in ISO FSE technical standards.
Deytec, Inc. is a company member of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and a voting member of the International Conformity Assessment Committee which is the U.S. interface to the ISO Council Committee on Conformity Assessment (ISO CASCO). ISO CASCO writes standards and guides for the effective operation of conformity assessment bodies and activities.
Deytec, Inc. launches development of a scheme
for review of P-B fire safety designs
Conformity assessments of fire safety designs based on FSE presently is a costly process with a high level of uncertainty for the applicant. Generally peer reviews of designs are conducted by the AHJ or a 3rd party that can consume considerable resources. The costs of this process has deterred the more widespread use of modern fire safety design methods. Peer reviews of FSE designs vary significantly since there is no current conformity assessment standard. Formal certification of the FSE designs based on a standard will assure safety in the sector, especially for designs that utilize free software without certification.
Earlier, Deytec, Inc. had proposed development of an ISO Scheme for Use as a Review Guide or for Certification of Performance-Based Fire Safety Designs.The purpose of the proposed scheme was to address present issues faced by authorities and applicants in the review and approval of performance-based fire safety designs. Deytec, Inc. has now launched development of this scheme for conformity assessment of FSE designs which can be used for certification.
The 1st step in the development is the participation of Monideep Dey as an US expert to ISO CASCO WG 52 for the development of ISO/IEC TR 17032, Conformity assessment - Guidelines and examples of a certification scheme for processes. FSE is a process and Deytec, Inc. will use this document to develop a scheme for FSE. Please contact Monideep Dey if you or your organization has an interest in joining this effort.
40th ISO General Assembly, Berlin, GERMANY
ISO 2017 General Assembly, Berlin, Germany
Deytec, Inc. attended the 40th ISO General Assembly in Berlin, GERMANY hosted by DIN from 18-22 September, 2017. The theme of the conference was "Open-minded. Open for change. The path to standardization contains lots of new challenges. The world around us is changing at an enormous pace. New technologies and innovations call for new ideas and more flexible standardization processes.... " ISO issued a declaration at the assembly to guide its path forward to a changing world.
Of particular interest was the meeting of DEVCO, the ISO committee on standardization matters in developing economies, which included break-out sessions on standards, regulations and public policy; and the building of a national quality infrastructure (NQI). Conformity assessment plays a key role in a quality infrastructure.
