WMIA's Involvement
WMIA is extremely proud to support the U.S. woodworking machinery industry as the American National Standards Institute- (ANSI) accredited Administrator to the Technical Advisory Group (TAG), which provides U.S. input into woodworking machinery safety standards being proposed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The primary purpose of the TAG is to develop and transmit, via ANSI, U.S. positions on activities and ballots of the international technical committee. WMIA formed the TAG with the goal to unify the U.S. industry behind one voice concerning international standards. It is paramount that the U.S. provides input into standards currently being written by ISO, as many U.S. manufacturers’ future sales will be subject to these standards.
WMIA Board Member Mark Craig, WMIA past Chairman of the Board, John Park, and former WMIA Executive VP Riccardo Azzoni, among others, were instrumental in the creation of the ANSI-accredited U.S. TAG to ISO/TC 39/SC 4. As a result of their leadership and groundwork in establishing the TAG, WMIA is well-positioned to represent the U.S. industry in this role.
Much of the work on the ISO standards, from the U.S. side, is performed by volunteers from the industry. The U.S. TAG reaches out to machine experts to participate in the drafting and review process of international standards. These standards ultimately provide state-of-the-art solutions and guidelines for safety features of woodworking machines. Manufacturers and end-users equally benefit from greater control, clearer guidelines, and simpler application and enforcement. Creating safer working conditions and working environments throughout the industry is valuable to all.
Addressing safety concerns in the industry is a continual process as accident prevention and improved safety features and processes have to keep pace with new technologies. Participation in the development of these standards is just one of the important ways that WMIA works to advance the industry.
The standards include:
- Horizontal beam panel circular sawing machines
- NC boring and routing machines
- Vertical panel circular sawing machines
- Dimension saws
- Single spindle vertical moulding machines (“toupies”)
- Surface planing, thickness planing, combined surface/thickness planing machines
- Wide belt calibrating and sanding machines
- Circular saw benches (with and without sliding table)
- Building site/contractor saws
- Combined machines
- Double end tenoning and/or profiling machines fed by chain
- Single end tenoning machines with sliding table and single end profiling machines with fixed table and feed rollers or feed chain
- Multiblade rip sawing machines with manual loading and/or unloading
- Four sided planing and moulding machines
- Bandsaws
- Presses and bending presses
CURRENT ANSI-accredited U.S. TAG to ISO/TC 39/SC 4 STRUCTURE
- U.S. TAG Chair: Bruce Rosenthal, SCM Group
- TAG Members: Industry professionals responsible for voting on matters brought before the technical committee by ISO as well as appointing machine experts to serve on ISO working groups.
- TAG Administrator: Woodworking Machinery Industry Association (WMIA)
- TAG Secretary: Jacob Slonim, WMIA
If you have questions about the ANSI-accredited U.S. TAG to ISO/TC39/SC4, please contact Jacob Slonim, Secretary, at jslonim@wmia.org.
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