Registration opens for ANSI's April workshop.
Press Release Summary:
Scheduled for April 8-9, 2009, Toward Product Standards for Sustainability workshop will provide neutral venue where stakeholders can engage in discussion that will support and facilitate development, promulgation, and use of standards to address sustainability issues related to products. Some topics will include standards development process, characteristics of effective product standard, and to what degree should LCA and risk/hazard assessment issues be addressed.
Original Press Release:
Registration Opens for ANSI Workshop: Toward Product Standards for Sustainability
Registration is now open for the upcoming American National Standards Institute (ANSI) workshop, Toward Product Standards for Sustainability. The event will be held on April 8-9, 2009, at the Crowne Plaza - Washington National Airport in Arlington, VA.
The workshop, organized by ANSI with the support of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), will provide a neutral venue where all stakeholders can engage in discussions that will support and facilitate the timely development, promulgation, and use of standards to address sustainability issues related to products.
Interested stakeholders that represent standards developing organizations (SDOs), consortia and other fora, industry, government, and consumers are welcome to attend. Attendance at the event is complimentary, but advance registration is required for all meeting participants. Online registration is available here.
Topics of discussion at the workshop will include:
The Standards Development Process
Discussion of the various approaches to standards development
Does the development process affect market viability of the standard (e.g., stakeholder engagement, manufacturing, education/training, update of standards by purchasing communities)?
Characteristics of a Robust & Effective Product Standard for Sustainability
What type of guidance would be most valuable in steering the development of credible product standards that address sustainability issues? From whom?
What are the most important attributes to consider with respect to the development of product standards that consider/address sustainability? How are these different attributes being weighted? How should they be?
How or to what degree should LCA and risk/hazard assessment issues be addressed?
How do you ensure that there are measurable environmental and societal outcomes?
What is most needed to help increase the creation of credible and robust product standards that consider/address sustainability?
More information is available on the workshop agenda.
ANSI has created a brief form to enable registrants to provide a few details about their organization's activities in the area of product standards that address sustainability. Responses may be made available publicly and included in a workshop report.
Additionally, participants who register to attend the event are invited to post brief documents that provide information concerning their organization's initiatives as they relate to product standards that address sustainability. To post documents, a separate registration is required via the document posting site. The document posting registration link can found in the right hand column underneath the login box. After registration to post, a link labeled "Upload File" will appear below. As many as six documents can be uploaded at a time by adding the path to the document in each of the six boxes. The maximum file size is 15 MB.
Questions can be directed to Anne Caldas, ANSI senior director of procedures and standards administration (acaldas@ansi.org; 212.642.4914).
