Why HSS Product Certification is so Important
CHICAGO, Nov. 4, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Right now it's virtually impossible to track the chain of custody of Structural Steel Tubing (HSS). It may be produced anywhere in the world, then travel through a series of distribution channels before it reaches the job site.
In addition, the documentation that accompanies the product, and the standards to which the product has been produced, have historically been self-certified, not independently or third-party certified.
Recently substandard product was found on job sites, which created a significant concern among both specifiers and end users throughout the U.S. and Canada. The liability issues with a product like HSS may include the designers, engineering firms, fabricators, contractors and project owners. These groups have shown concern about substandard products, or products that may not meet the proper standards, including ASTM standards.
That's why the Steel Tube Institute of North America, and the producers who make up its HSS Committee, were determined to create a system to assure their customers that the HSS they were specifying and buying had been produced to, and tested to meet, ASTM standards.
The result was the formation of a partnership between STINA and Intertek, one of the world's largest and most qualified product testing and certification companies.
The first step for the HSS Committee and Intertek will be to develop a Certification Program Procedural Guide, which will govern the HSS Product Certification Program. Work on the Guide will begin in November and should be completed early in 2011. The objective of the program is to provide an industry certification that assures specifiers and users that the HSS in their project has been independently certified to have been produced to ASTM standards and that sample tubes are periodically tested to assure they meet these standards.
SOURCE The Steel Tube Institute of North America
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