I’ve traveled quite a bit in the last few months, covering various industry meetings, some of which I shared with you in December. Here are my notes from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), the American Society of Sanitary Engineering (ASSE) and the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO).

ASME and CSA standards

The ASME A112 Plumbing Materials and Equipment committee deals with plumbing materials and equipment standards, which cover a broad spectrum of product standards. 

The CSA provides testing, inspection, certification and evaluation solutions for a range of plumbing products, including plumbing fixtures, fixture fittings, water quality, piping, grease interceptors and testing for lead levels in plumbing products. 

It has testing laboratories to test products to industry standards, and offers inspection and certification services to manufacturers to demonstrate that their products comply with the industry’s safety, environmental, and performance standards. 

The CSA divides its plumbing standards into five product standards committees:

1. Fittings and Fixtures;

2. Water Quality and Health Effects;

3. Pipes and Pipe Fittings;

4. Grease Interceptors;

5. Low-Lead Content.

These ASME and CSA committees comprise people in the plumbing industry representing various plumbing product manufacturers, government officials, health and safety organizations, engineers, inspectors, contractors, laboratory personnel and consultants representing various manufacturers or industry associations. 

A significant number of these two main standards committees have the same people attending these two different standards association’s meetings. Over the years, these same people have proposed changes to the product standards to align them to use the same test procedures, pressures or temperatures in both industry standards. 

A little over a decade ago, the two associations started getting feedback from manufacturers wanting to reduce the cost of certifying their products to the two separate but very similar industry standards (ASME and CSA). The manufacturers suggested that the associations harmonize the standards; later, they asked the associations to consider meeting in one city to reduce travel costs associated with developing the standards for similar products. 

Harmonized standards would allow manufacturers to perform only one expensive laboratory test instead of two very similar tests for product certification to the application standard. When it was agreed to hold joint meetings, both associations had a summer meeting and a winter meeting. It made sense to meet in Canada in the summer and then meet in the United States during the winter. 

I attended the joint summer meeting of the ASME and CSA Plumbing Standards committees, held from June 10-14, 2024, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. During these meetings, the working groups and task force groups met face-to-face to work on various standards updates, and the main product standard committees for each association met later in the week. 

The winter 2025 meetings for the ASME/CSA committees are scheduled for Jan. 13-16, 2025, in Nashville, Tennessee, at the Sheraton Grand Nashville hotel.

The ASME/CSA summer 2025 committee meetings are scheduled for June 9-13, 2025, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, at the Westin Ottawa. 

ASSE update

ASSE has traditionally been a plumbing product standards writing organization. Around the time that it merged with IAPMO, it began developing professional qualification standards for various plumbing systems, starting with backflow prevention, medical gas systems, and residential fire protection systems. They now offer professional qualification and certification standards for a host of other plumbing system specialties. 

ASSE held its annual meeting Oct. 9-11 in Portland, Maine. Meetings were held for ASSE Series 12000, Professional Qualifications Standard for Water Management and Infection Control Risk Assessment for Building Systems; ASSE Series 13000, Service Plumber and Residential Mechanical Service Technician Professional Qualifications Standard; ASSE Series 15000/27000 Fire Protection Technical Committee; ASSE Series 5000, Cross-Connection Control (5000) Technical Committee; the main Product Standards Committee; the Seal Control board; the ASSE Code Development Committee; the President’s Luncheon and Government Relations update; a manufacturers’ forum; and the main Professional Qualifications Standards Committee.

During the E.J. Zimmer technical/educational seminar, Dan Cole, IAPMO’s senior director of technical services and research, presented “Treatment Methods for On-site Alternate Water Systems.” The seminar covered the need for standardization, education, training and professional qualifications for on-site alternate water system operators, including the differing water quality levels based on the intended water reuse. 

This is critically needed as water scarcity concerns increase domestically and globally. Alternate water sources include rainwater collection, greywater reuse for flushing, municipal reclaimed water utility systems, and in-house water recycling for irrigation, fixture flushing or drinking water reuse applications. Each system requires a different level of treatment. 

ASSE 12000 on a bar napkin

ASSE Series 12000, Professional Qualifications Standard for Water Management and Infection Control Risk Assessment for Building Systems, was initially intended to educate each person working on health-care facility projects about the dangers of bacteria and viruses spreading because of design, construction, renovation and maintenance activities. It can now be applied to all buildings.

The idea for ASSE Series 12000 began in the hotel bar at the ASSE annual meeting host hotel in Portland, Oregon, many years ago, discussing some plumbing war stories. It was shortly after the Series 5000 Cross-Connection Control and Series 6000 Professional Qualifications Standard for Medical Gas Systems Personnel were developed. 

One of the engineers was Phil Roach, who was the ASSE president at the time. We had been discussing the new ASSE Medical Gas Systems Personnel Certifications standard, and then the discussion turned to other plumbing systems where professional qualifications, training and certification would be useful. 

We discussed some recent health-care projects, where renovation work in hospitals was opening drains for drain tie-ins in occupied hospitals. These drains allowed raw sewage to spill all over the floor and splash onto the surroundings. We discussed what the interiors of the drains in a hospital full of sick people might have had in them. The waste and biofilm in the drain could contain infectious pathogens, viruses and bacteria, which could spill out into the entire hospital environment when the drain is opened. 

The need for planning and control (or containment) of liquid waste and sewer gas aerosols was also discussed. The discussion turned to tenting or isolating the work areas and evaluating/sealing off the HVAC system and being aware of pressures between hospital spaces for infection control. 

Workers needed to be aware of many other precautions to protect themselves and building occupants from exposures related to hospital construction that could spread bacteria to the workers and throughout the facility. 

We discussed the need for proper personal protective equipment and the sealing of temporary partitions, and precautions that could be taken to minimize exposure and ensure that infectious diseases, bacteria and viruses were not distributed to occupied spaces with workers and building occupants. 

I jotted down an outline on a bar napkin, and Phil Roach agreed to push this standard through the ASSE board to get it rolling. 

The ASSE 12000 Series standard was developed, and many ASSE members and industry professionals joined the working group that Ed Lyczko chaired. The standard was developed in the ANSI consensus process and had a lot of support; it was developed quickly. 

This standard has evolved since that time, and the title has changed to reflect new areas of interest, including waterborne and airborne pathogens and knowledge of water treatment and water management in buildings to minimize the risk of waterborne pathogen growth.

ASSE 12000 Series is a unique standard that sets minimum criteria for the training and certification of pipe trades craftspeople, engineers and other construction and maintenance personnel on how to safely work in an environment with the potentially deadly diseases that may be present within their worksites. 

This series of standards addresses the need for all construction and maintenance personnel and employers, including the pipe trades, to become proficient in identifying and managing potential situations where they, or other occupants of a building, may be exposed to bloodborne, waterborne and airborne pathogens. 

ASSE 12060-12063 certifications qualify contractors and tradespersons to participate with building water management teams. These certifications afford a verification and validation path to compliance with standards and guidelines related to cooling towers, water features, potable water systems, fire protection, ice machines, humidifiers and all piped systems currently residing in all occupied buildings.

ASSE Series 12000 includes these professional qualifications standards:

• ASSE 12010, Environment of Care, Infection Control and Construction Risk Assessment Professional Qualification Standard; 

• ASSE 12020, Environment of Care, Infection Control and Construction Risk Assessment Professional Qualification Standard for Construction and Maintenance Employers; 

• ASSE 12030, Waterborne Pathogens Professional Qualifications Standard for Construction and Maintenance Personnel; 

• ASSE 12040, Professional Qualifications Standard for Construction and Maintenance Personnel for Contamination/Infection Prevention Procedures to Protect Facility Occupants and Operations; 

• ASSE 12060, Water Quality Program Professional Qualifications Standard for Employers and Designated Representatives; 

• ASSE 12061, Water Quality Program Professional Qualifications Standard for Plumbers; 

• ASSE 12062, Water Quality Program Professional Qualifications Standard for Pipefitters and HVAC Technicians; 

• ASSE 12063, Water Quality Program Professional Qualifications Standard for Sprinkler Fitters; 

• ASSE 12080, Professional Qualification Standard for Legionella Water Safety and Management Specialist.

ASSE has another new professional qualification standard: ASSE 13000, Service Plumber and Residential Mechanical Service Technician Professional Qualifications Standard, a series to provide competent workers to maintain, install and repair plumbing systems. 

The ASSE 13000 should be popular with larger property owners or property managers. If owners or managers hire ASSE 13000 Series-certified maintenance personnel, it assures the worker is a certified professional competent with plumbing system installation, operation and maintenance. 

In addition, it helps protect the owners or managers from many premises liability cases associated with plumbing systems where the system’s failures were associated with hiring incompetent workers. 

ASSE International’s next meeting will be its mid-year meeting, April 8-9, 2025, at the Tributary Hub in Madison, Wisconsin, which will be hosted by UA Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 75.

IAPMO update

IAPMO and its subsidiary association, ASSE, will offer read-only access to their codes and standards. Many of these standards are referenced in the model codes; about 200 standards are referenced in the 2024 Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC) and the 2024 Uniform Mechanical Code (UMC). 

As reported in a previous column, there has been ongoing litigation that addresses making construction (plumbing and mechanical) codes and standards available to the public for free. IAPMO and ASSE have agreed to give “viewing” access to their documents for free. The documents will be available for viewing, but copying, printing and saving of the documents will be prohibited unless the user purchases a licensed copy of the document. The documents are available to view only at https://bit.ly/4eIiU7W or https://bit.ly/4g65Udj.

IAPMO held the second round of hearings for the 2027 UPC and UMC at its annual meeting held Sept. 23-26, 2024, in Las Vegas (the first round of hearings was held in San Diego on May 6-8, 2024). The uniform code hearings have been completed, and now the committee will have a chance to comment and vote for the final version of the 2027 UPC. 

International Code Council hearings 

The International Code Council (ICC) has been through two rounds of code hearings for the 2027 international codes, starting with the first round of the Group A Code hearings April 7-16, 2024, in Orlando, Florida, and the second round Oct. 23-29, 2024, in Long Beach, California. 

• Group A International Codes: 

1. The International Building Code Egress; 

2. The International Building Code Fire Safety Provisions; 

3. The International Fire Code;

4. The International Fuel Gas Code; 

5. The International Mechanical Code; 

6. The International Plumbing Code; 

7. The International Private Sewage Disposal Code;

8. The International Residential Code - Mechanical 

Provisions;

9. The International Residential Code - Plumbing Provisions;

10. The International Swimming Pool and Spa Code;

11. The International Wildland-Urban Interface Code.

• Group B International Codes: 

1. The International Building Code – General Provisions; 

2. The International Building Code - Structural Provisions;

3. The International Existing Building Code – Structural 

Provisions; 

4. The International Existing Building Code - Non-structural 

Provisions;

5. The International Green Construction Code; 

6. The International Property Maintenance Code; 

7. The International Residential Code - Building Provisions;

8. The International Zoning Code.

International code change schedule

The deadline for submitting code changes for Group A Codes has passed, but comments can still be made to the code change proposals in the code change process online. 

As of Oct. 15, 2024, the ICC website accepts code change proposals for the Group B codes. The deadline for Group B code changes to be submitted on the cdpACESS website is before midnight on Jan. 10, 2025. The website for reviewing the international codes and submitting code changes is www.cdpaccess.com.

The following is the code change timeline for the 2027 international codes:

• Group B Codes: cdpACCESS open for code change submittals, Oct. 15, 2024

• Group A Codes: Web posting of “Report of the Committee Action Hearing No. 2,” Dec. 2, 2024

• Group A Codes: cdpACCESS open for public comment submittals for 2026 PCH, tentative Jan. 20, 2025

• Group B Codes: Deadline for cdpACCESS online receipt of code change proposals, Jan. 10. 2025

• Group B Codes: Web posting of proposed changes to the I-Codes (Monograph), Mar. 13, 2025

• Group A Codes: Deadline for cdpACCESS receipt of public comments for 2026 PCH, Mar. 14, 2026

• Group B Codes: Committee Action Hearing No. 1 (CAH No. 1), Orlando, Florida, April 27, 2005-May 6, 2025

• Group B Codes: cdpACCESS open for public comments for CAH No. #1 action, June 3, 2025

• Group B Codes: Web posting of “Report of the Committee Action Hearing No. 1,” June 3, 2025

• Group B Codes: Deadline for cdpACCESS online receipt of comments for CAH No. 1 actions, July 15, 2025

• Group B Codes: Web posting of comments to committee action comments on CAH No. 1, Sept. 10, 2025

• Group B Codes: Committee Action Hearing No. 2 (CAH No. 2), Cleveland, Ohio, Oct. 22-30, 2025

• Group B Codes: Web posting of “Report of the Committee Action Hearing No. 2,” Nov. 25, 2025

• Group B Codes: cdpACCESS open for public comment submittals for 2026 PCH, tentative Nov. 25, 2025

• Group B Codes: Deadline for cdpACCESS receipt of public comments for 2026 PCH, Jan. 5, 2026

• Group A and B Codes: Web posting of Group A and B public comment agenda, Mar. 4, 2026

• Group A and B Codes: Combined Public Comment Hearing, April 19-28, 2026 

• Group A and B Codes: Combined online government consensus voting period, two to three weeks after the public comment hearing

• Group A and B Codes: Web posting of final action after ICC board approval

Future ICC meeting sites 

• Committee Action Hearings, Group B, No. 1, April 26–May 6, 2025, at the Doubletree Hilton Hotel, Orlando, Florida

• 2025 Annual Conference, Expo and Committee Action Hearings, Group B No. 2, at the Huntington Convention Center, Cleveland, Ohio. Conference is Oct. 19–22, 2025; expo is Oct. 19–20, 2025 

• Committee Action Hearings, Group B, No. 2, at the Huntington Convention Center in Cleveland, Oct. 22–30, 2025.