ASME AS 11

Description / Abstract:

AS-11 complements AC-10. Where AC-10 includes the personnel of the Board of Governors, councils, boards, and technical and regional committees, AS-11 includes the personnel of the Council on Codes and Standards (CCS), boards, and Committees of the Codes, Standards, and Conformity Assessment Programs. The information contained herein reflects the Codes and Standards committee membership and staff assignments as of September 4, 2001.

A Society activity of prime importance has been the development, promulgation, and administration of the Codes, Standards, and Conformity Assessment Programs. In the ASME Constitution, Article C2.1 states:

The purposes of this Society are to:

• Promote the art, science, and practice of mechanical engineering and the allied arts and sciences;

• Encourage original research;

• Foster engineering education;

• Advance the standards of engineering;

• Promote the exchange of information among engineers and others;

• Broaden the usefulness of the engineering profession in cooperation with other engineering and technical societies; and

• Promote a high level of ethical practice.

In all professional and business relations the members of the Society shall be governed by the Code of Ethics as stated in the Society Policies.

The Society may approve or adopt any report, standard, code, formula, or recommended practice, but shall forbid and oppose the use of its name and proprietary symbols in any commercial work or business, except to indicate conformity with its standards or recommended practice.

ASME has a unique organizational structure which provides a great deal of autonomy for its Codes, Standards, and Conformity Assessment Programs, and yet provides the advantages inherent in a professional society of committees, boards, and councils that enhance due process. These inherent advantages result from the multifaceted purposes of the Society.

The Codes, Standards, and Conformity Assessment Programs include:

Council on Codes and Standards

Board on Conformity Assessment

Board on Council Operations

Board on Hearings and Appeals

Board on International Standards

Board on Metrication

Board on Nuclear Codes and Standards

Board on Performance Test Codes

Board on Pressure Technology Codes and Standards

Board on Safety Codes and Standards

Board on Standardization

Annually, the Board of Governors assigns the duties associated with the Codes, Standards, and Conformity Assessment Programs to the Council on Codes and Standards (CCS). This Council is responsible for Codes and Standards planning; reflection of advancing technological changes and safety needs in the structure; responsiveness to investigations and suggestions; providing procedural due process, review, and comment; and/or testimony on proposed legislation relating to ASME's codes, standards, and/or conformity assessment activities.

The supervisory boards (Conformity Assessment, Nuclear Codes and Standards, Performance Test Codes, Pressure Technology Codes and Standards, Safety Codes and Standards, and Standardization), within their respective scopes, have the following duties:

to assess the need for codes, standards, and related conformity assessment activities;

to determine the necessary charters of standards committees;

to interface with the American National Standards Institute, Inc. (ANSI);

to approve codes, standards, and conformity assessment criteria on behalf of the Society;

to recommend policy changes to the CCS;

to interact with regulatory bodies.

ASME develops standards under the ANSI Accredited Organization Method. The supervisory boards have standards committees using this method. As part of the overall public service role of Codes and Standards, it is the role of the supervisory boards to assure that any document presented to the Society whose scope interfaces with that of an ASME committee is reviewed under the ANSI Canvass Method.

Included in this publication are lists of committees, arranged by the board to which each committee reports, and a listing of the ASME Codes and Standards staff. For Society related codes and standards inquiries relative the CCS, boards, standards Committees, or accreditation and certification committees, the staff person indicated should be contacted. It is the responsibility of this staff to function within the parameters of B5.1.4 of the Society's Bylaws:

The primary role of staff assigned to boards and committees is to implement actions that are required to meet the objectives of the board or committee on a continuing basis. Working under broad lines of policy established by the board or committee, the staff will initiate programs, actively engage in the work, and make operating decisions necessary to carry forward the programs in a dynamic and efficient manner.