ANSI Panel Advises on Homeland Security Standards
(Milwaukee-September 10, 2003) ASQ is participating in a new ANSI panel advising the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on identifying and developing consensus standards to meet homeland security needs.
The Homeland Security Standards Panel (ANSI-HSSP) was established by ANSI in February 2003 with a goal of identifying existing consensus standards or, if none exist, assisting the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in accelerating the development and adoption of consensus standards critical to homeland security.
Working from the standards-related focus areas identified by DHS, the Panel established four coordinating committees: Critical Infrastructure Protection, Security Systems and Countermeasures, Countermeasures for Public Health Support, and Certification/Accreditation.
Patricia Kopp Ghanam, standards development coordinator on the ASQ headquarters staff, has attended meetings of the Panel and is involved in its ongoing workings. She reports that there are several potential areas of interest for ASQ.
"I was excited after I came back from the inaugural meeting," Ghanam stated. "I thought it would be focused mostly on product-specific standards-such as material specifications for haz-mat suits and that kind of thing. I was pleasantly surprised to see the possibility of multiple roles for ASQ."
She noted that DHS lacks a working familiarity with the standards development world, but she is pleased that the DHS has expressed interest in conformity assessment. She is currently cataloging ASQ's applicable standards for the Panel. She is also working on an International Workshop that the Panel has set up. This is one of six workshops being set up by the Panel to address immediate DHS standards needs. The other workshops, tentatively set to convene before the end of the year, include: Training Programs for First Responders Dealing with Weapons of Mass Destruction, Biometrics, Emergency Communications, Risk Assessment, and Biological Agents.
Additional information is available on the ANSI-HSSP web site.
