New tunneling standards to be proposed
8 December 2016North America – The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is working on putting forth standards for the tunnelling industry. During a meeting held in October by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Pressure Vessel for Human Occupancy (ASME PVHO) Committee, ASI Marine’s (ASI) Hyperbaric Tunneling Specialist, Jerry East was nominated and awarded a position on the Diving Subcommittee. East has extensive experience in compressed air tunnelling, commercial diving and marine construction. He will serve as both a Diving Sub-committee member and an active member of the Tunneling Task Group.
In the next few months the new proposed tunneling standard is expected to be considered by the ASME PVHO Main Committee as a "Code Case". A Code Case is effective immediately upon ASME approval, therefore considered the quickest, most efficient way for a new standard to be set in place. If the committee approves the code case, it effectively becomes part of the ASME Standard.
In Canada, ASI’s Stu Simms, Operations Manager in Vancouver, is involved in the standards industry for the tunneling market as an active voting member on all CSA z275 diving and tunneling committees and, Chair for the CSA z275.3 Committee for Compressed Air and Pressurized Environments.
ASI continues to be an industry leader by actively participating in both organizations and contributing to regulatory standards that protect the health and safety of both employees and clients alike.
The next edition of the ASME PVHO Standard is due in 2019.
