Aug 06, 2015

Colin Church, voluntary standards coordinator, Office of Hazard Identification and Reduction, at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in Bethesda, Maryland, has received the prestigious ASTM International 2015 William T. Cavanaugh Memorial Award.

The Cavanaugh Memorial Award commemorates W. T. Cavanaugh, chief executive officer of ASTM from 1970 to 1985, who firmly established ASTM International as the world leader in the development and dissemination of voluntary consensus standards. Church was honored for his extraordinary contributions to the safety of citizens worldwide through the development, promotion, harmonization and adoption of ASTM consumer product standards. He is the first CPSC employee to receive this award.

A member of ASTM Committee F15 on Consumer Products since 1988, Church serves on the F15 executive subcommittee as a member at large. As a member of both F15 and Committee F08 on Sports Equipment, Playing Surfaces and Equipment, he has played a pivotal role in identifying emerging threats to consumer safety and has transmitted incident data used by ASTM to mitigate hazards through standards. His work and dedication have contributed to ASTM consumer product safety standards being used to save lives and reduce serious injuries. An ASTM fellow who received the Award of Merit in 1998, Church was also honored with the F15 Margaret Dana Award in 1991.

Church joined the Office of Standards Coordination and Appraisal, Strategic Planning and Health Sciences at CPSC in 1975 as project manager for the Household Structures Program and assumed his current role in 1988. As voluntary standards coordinator, Church oversees activities to support the development of more than 80 voluntary standards to improve the safety of consumer goods and enhance cooperation between CPSC and industry. He is CPSC’s “standards executive” under OMB Circular A-119, and is a member of the U.S. Interagency Committee on Standards Policy. Church helped design the Commission’s worldwide laboratory accreditation program for third-party testing of selected consumer products, and has helped establish cooperative agreements with government health and safety agencies in several countries. He has received several agency awards in recognition of his performance.

A former U.S. Navy lieutenant, Church is a Harvard liberal arts graduate and also holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a current member of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Board of Directors and Executive Standards Council and previously served on the UL Consumer Advisory Council.

ASTM PR Contact: Erin K. Brennan, tel: +1.610.832.9602; ebrennan@astm.org

Release #9887