ASTM Standard helps make public bathrooms safer for disabled.
Press Release Summary:
ASTM International standard C1822, Specification for Insulating Covers on Accessible Lavatory Piping, provides guidance on protecting people from exposed pipes in accessible lavatories. Standard identifies insulation materials and also provides safety, health, and durability criteria for combinations of materials and performance. As part of that, it allows designers and specifiers to select from 4 fire performance classifications, depending on type of building being designed.
Original Press Release:
New ASTM Standard Helps Make Public Bathrooms Safer for People with Disabilities
A new ASTM International standard will help improve safety of public bathrooms for people with disabilities. Specifically, the new standard (C1822, Specification for Insulating Covers on Accessible Lavatory Piping) provides guidance on protecting people from exposed pipes in accessible lavatories.
As part of the Americans with Disability Act, exposed piping in public restrooms must be insulated or configured to protect people in wheelchairs or with other disabilities. Insulating covers must protect against burns and other adverse reactions due to contact with hot or cold pipes. Covers must also reduce the potential for injury from contact with sharp or abrasive elements of piping.
“The number of people that use accessible restrooms is growing in many parts of the world,” says ASTM member Howard Ahern, national sales and technical manager, Plumberex Specialty Products Inc. “Here in the United States, for example, we have an aging population, many disabled veterans, and a growing level of mobility for wheelchair users.”
According to Ahern, the new standard identifies insulation materials and also provides safety, health and durability criteria for combinations of materials and performance. As part of that, it allows designers and specifiers to select from four fire performance classifications, depending on the type of building being designed.
People who design public restrooms – including specifiers, engineers, architects, manufacturers, governing bodies and contactors – will be primary users of the standard.
To purchase standards, visit www.astm.org and search by the standard designation, or contact ASTM Customer Relations (tel +1.877.909.ASTM; sales@astm.org). ASTM welcomes participation in the development of its standards. Become a member at www.astm.org/JOIN.
For more news in this sector, visit www.astm.org/snconsumer.
ASTM Committee C16 on Thermal Insulation Next Meeting: April 10-13, 2016, April Committee Week, San Antonio, Texas
Media Inquiries: Nathan Osburn, tel +1.610.832.9603; nosburn@astm.org
Technical Contact: Howard Ahern, Plumberex Specialty Products Inc., Cathedral City, Calif., tel +1.760.250.1625;
howarda58@msn.com
ASTM Staff Contact: Mary Mikolajewski, tel +1.610.832.9678; mmikolajewski@astm.org
