Meeting Minutes
American Council For Electrical Safety (ACES)
NEMA Headquarters
1300 North 17th Street, Suite 1752
Arlington, VA
Vice-Chairman Meeker called the meeting to order at 9:30am and thanked
NEMA for hosting the meeting.
Participants introduced themselves. An attendance list is embedded at the end
of the meeting minutes.
The agenda was approved with an additional agenda item regarding smart
meters.
Chairman Meeker stated that ACES is again a council within ACIL and will fund
and handle secretariat duties.
Customs and Border Protection – Martin Canner
Mr. Martin Canner gave a presentation on counterfeiting and fraudulent issues
and application and protection of NRTL marks. Mr. Canner’s presentation
appears at the end of these minutes.
The e-recordation protection of intellectual property rights appears below:
https://apps.cbp.gov/e-recordations/
OSHA
Mr. David Johnson, OSHA’s new Director of Technical Support addressed
ACES.
He stated that the GAO findings in their investigation of OSHA matched what he
has found since his arrival at OSHA.
The biggest activity underway now is the updating of the guidance document.
Because the guidance is weak, applications can go back and forth for years.
Mr. Johnson asked the ACES members for input on what are the most important
pieces of the guidance.
Staffing issues have dominated the process in the past, but Mr. Johnson is
planning to double the size of the staff in the next year, align processes with staff
and free up engineers to do their jobs.
Mr. Johnson also stated that OSHA needs to improve their outreach to
stakeholders and asked ACES members to share best practices.
The leadership at OSHA is behind us and we have already briefed GAO.
On-line web access on status of an application was suggested and Mr. Johnson
felt like that was a good idea.
Mr. Bush asked who in the solicitor’s office is handling NRTL issues and Mrl.
Johnson stated that he would send that information along shortly.
Mr. Gillerman stated that NIST has a lot to offer OSHA in redesign of their
program. He noted that the EnergyStar and TCB program were two models to
emulate.
Following Mr. Johnson’s presentation and a question and answer period, a
working group was established to provide input to OSHA on improving the NRTL
program. Working group members include Paulsen, Martell, Quinlin, Morrison,
Furman, Kamer and Frier. Mr Johnson suggested that the group formulate their
suggestions in a form from ACES and submit them for consideration. He felt an
ACES suggestion would have significant consideration at OSHA.
Smart Meters
Mr. John Wagner, Deputy Chief State Fire Marshal, Maryland State Fire
Marshal’s Office, reported on the installation of smart meters in the state. He
noted that it appears that the source of fires is the meter socket. His report is
embedded at the end of the minutes. Mr. Paulsen will provide an update at the
next meeting.
NIST
Mr. Gordon Gillerman reported on NIST activities.
He stated that a NIST staffer recently won a Nobel Prize for observation of
quantum particles without destroying them.
He updated ACES on healthcare information technology software certification of
patient records. The program relies on ISO/IEC 17011, 17025 and Guide 65. All
conformity assessment work is being done in the private sector with the
exception of NVLAP, who is providing the accreditation.
He also stated that GSA has launched FedRamp. Initial conformity assessment
bodies will be ISO/IEC 17020 compliant. Any cloud service provider must meet
the required standards in order to do business with the federal government.
Mr. Gillerman also reported on the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP). Mr.
Bush reported that ACIL has been extremely active in Smart Grid activities and
that ACIL will be a founding member of the SGIP.
Mr. Gillerman concluded his remarks by talking about the incorporation by
reference issue.
IAEI
Mr. Baldwin reported on recent ACES PPT presentations at the Northwest and
Eastern section meetings of the IAEI.
There was redundancy in the presentation so it has been shortened. In a straw
poll of the inspectors following the meeting many thought that if you were an
NRTL you were capable of performing a field inspection.
Dave Clemons, President, IAEI, wants to know if ACES would consider doing a
webinar on 790 and 791.
It was noted that the City of Fremont is now accrediting FEBs to 790 and 791.
Concern was expressed that if all 40,000 jurisdictions offered their own
accreditations, it would be nearly impossible for FEBs to meet every city’s
requirements.
It was suggested that consideration be given to working with accreditation bodies
that offer accreditation under ISO/IEC 17020.
Two actions were taken. First, Chairman Meeker will e-mail out a soft copy of
the amended PPT presentation. Second, a conference call will be held with
NFPA and interested accreditation bodies to get the standards adopted in a
uniform way across the United States. Participants in the conference call will be
Mssrs. Baldwin, Gillerman, Meeker, Frier, Paulsen and Morrison. It was
requested that NFPA be invited to the next meeting so these issues can be
discussed.
Outreach to Other Organizations
There was a general discussion about what other organizations should be
involved in ACES.
It was suggested that a prospective membership list be developed prior to the
next meeting. Mssrs. Bush, Gillerman and Meeker conference on the subject.
Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held in November at a date and time to be determined.
There being no further business of discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 2:10
pm.
Milton Bush
Meeting Secretary
AttendanceSheet-Sig
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ACES_Meeting_1024
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Smart_Meters_Repor
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ACES_NRTL_FEB_Fie
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