Uniform ES goes beyond the minimal requirements of ISO/IEC 17065

Uniform ES goes well beyond the minimal requirements of ISO/IEC 17065 by fully addressing each aspect stated in the IBC and LABC: quality, effective time period of fire resistance, strength, effectiveness, durability and safety.   

Some of the Uniform ES policies and procedures that go beyond the minimal requirements of ISO/IEC 17065 include having all Evaluation Reports written by a registered Professional Engineer and/or licensed Structural Engineer, having each Evaluation Report peer reviewed by a senior engineer, and having every Evaluation Report further reviewed and approved by a committee of three or more Professional Engineers that were not involved in the report itself.

Additional Uniform ES requirements to assure safety (that are not required by ISO/IEC 17065):

• Uniform ES’s governing board consists of full-time building officials.
• Test reports and calculations must be signed by a registered design professional.
• Quality Control documentation in compliance with EC10 must be submitted by the manufacturer for each manufacturing facility.
• There must be an initial audit of each manufacturing facility by an independent and fully accredited inspection agency certified in compliance with ISO 17020.
• There must be on-going surveillance, by an independent and fully accredited inspection agency, of each manufacturing facility which includes a minimum of at least one inspection each year.

There is more to a model code agency than just ISO/IEC 17065

As a model code agency IAPMO goes way beyond the minimal requirements of ISO/IEC 17065.  Some of their many functions include writing the codes, conducting education and training classes, advocating for and supporting research to benefit public health and safety, and supporting governmental jurisdictions. All of these activities are with the interests of the publics’ health and safety at the forefront.

ISO/IEC 17065 establishes only minimal procedural requirements, it does not address building code requirements

Although accreditation to ISO/IEC 17065 is important, that by itself does not address the quality, fire resistance, strength, effectiveness, durability and safety requirements of Section 98.0501 of the LA Building Code. ISO/IEC 17065 provides minimal requirements for compliance with a particular standard. Accreditation to the ISO/IEC Standard is only meant to give a level of confidence that a certification body has provided sufficient evidence that they have the ability to “operate [their] certification scheme in a competent, consistent and impartial manner”, as least in regards to international norms. Because of the general nature of ISO/IEC 17065 the minimal requirements “may have to be amplified when specific industrial or other sectors make use of them, or when particular requirements such as health and safety have to be taken into account.”  (Introduction to ISO/IEC 17065).  In other words, ISO/IEC 17065 does not address the safety of any product nor the codes, engineering, design, construction or manufacturing of a product.  That is specifically left to others to approve, i.e. the building jurisdictions.

No government simply allows ISO/IEC 17065 to be the standard for accepting building products. 

 ISO is based in Geneva Switzerland and the standards they produce are largely reflective of European practices. Importantly, though is the fact that for building product approvals, the European countries do not rely on agencies accredited to ISO/IEC 17065 but rather on government agencies operating to a higher standard. To simply use ISO/IEC 17065 sets a lesser precedent for building product acceptance.