As was announced in the March issue of Standardization News, A2LA has signed an agreement to provide the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) with assessment services for ANSI’s ISO/IEC Guide 65 accreditation program for product certifiers. The information in the March issue was not correctly represented and this notice clarifies the agreement. ANSI will continue to set program requirements and to make decisions on granting, maintaining, extending, reducing, suspending, or withdrawing accreditation for product certifiers. Technically qualified A2LA assessors will conduct ISO/IEC Guide 65 assessments of ANSI-accredited certification bodies and applicant certification bodies and will submit their reports to ANSI. For more information on the ANSI program, visit the ANSI Web site (Conformity Assessment) or contact Rick James, ANSI (202/331-3614).

Clinical Lab Systems Meetings

Members of Subcommittee E31.13 on Clinical Laboratory Systems are cordially invited to the Laboratory Information Systems Division meetings of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) July 23-27 in San Francisco, Calif. A speaker will address aggressive work by the division with both domestic and international society counterparts, particularly with the Association of Clinical Biochemists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Contact: Arden Forrey
(206/616-1875).

Free Poster

Free single copies of the popular centennial poster, created for ASTM’s 100-year anniversary in 1998, are still available from Headquarters. The handsome unframed poster features historical measurement instruments kept at Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute, where the photo was taken, and some memorabilia from Headquarters: a framed photo of an early-20th century ASTM Annual Meeting, a 1922 Annual Meeting program, and a memorial book published by ASTM titled The Life and Life-Work of Charles B. Dudley (ASTM’s founder). The instruments and other equipment reflect some of the technology available during the early years of ASTM’s history. Contact: Josephine Felizzi, ASTM (fax: 610/832-9623).

Do the Sea Horse

The 52nd Sea Horse Institute, a marine corrosion conference, will be held Aug. 14-17, 2000, in Wrightsville Beach, N.C. The conference provides an open dialogue format to discuss the use, performance, corrosion, and protection of materials in marine environments. Technical topics include: materials for and protection of seawater handling systems (pumps, valves, piping systems, and heat exchangers); coatings, cathodic protection, and other corrosion control methods; atmospheric corrosion; biofouling; and corrosion testing techniques. Contact: LaQue Center for Corrosion Technology, PO Box 656, Wrightsville Beach, N.C. 28480 (910/256-2271; fax: 910/256-9816; e-mail: info@laque.com) .

C09 Co-Sponsored Concrete Conference—Korea

The American Concrete Institute/Korea Concrete Institute 2000 International Conference on Repair, Rehabilitation, and Maintenance of Concrete Structures, and Innovations in Design and Construction will be held Sept. 19-22 at the Swiss Grand Hotel, in Seoul, Korea. This conference is co-sponsored by ASTM Committee C09 on Concrete and Concrete Aggregates. Contact: American Concrete Institute, PO Box 9094, Farmington Hills, MI 48333-9094 (248/848-3800; fax: 248/848-3701).

Off-Beat Contests

Two new contests may be of interest. Firestone Industrial Products Company has announced a year-long contest to find the oldest, continuously running air spring (the generic name for Firestone Airstroke actuators and Airmount isolators) in an industrial (non-transportation) application in North America. Contact: Brian Hoaglan (317/818-8745) or obtain a Contest Rules and Application Form from the Web site.

Reliabilityweb.com (click on Hall of Fame link) has announced the first “Reliability Hall of Fame” in honor of the world’s oldest machine reliability instruments. To qualify, instruments must be over 20 years old and a photo must be submitted together with basic information about the instrument.

New ISO Subscriber Member for Lesotho

The Standards and Quality Section of the Lesotho Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Marketing has been accepted as ISO Subscriber Member for Lesotho. Lesotho is a mountainous enclave within South Africa. Contact: D.M. Rantekoa, Standards and Quality Assurance Section (LSQAS), Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Marketing, POB 747, Maseru 100 (266 31 28 02; fax: 266 31 03 26). //

Copyright 2000 ASTM