Hello and welcome to the first 2022 edition of E-News.

As I write this, Australia is gradually lifting the COVID-19 health restrictions and welcoming tourists back to our shores for the first time in two years.

The opening of international borders is good reason to celebrate. I’m delighted families can be reunited for the first time in years, and visitors can return and enjoy our beautiful country.

As a company, we have plans to re-commence hosting face to face technical committee meetings in the near future with more information to be made available in the coming weeks. We appreciate many people may still be anxious or unwilling to travel. As such we will continue utilising our virtual ways of working to accommodate as many people as we can in hybrid meetings where practical to do so. A guide to our hybrid meeting approach can be seen here.

I’m also looking forward to reuniting in person with our regional partners and international counterparts after a long time apart. And pleased that our technical experts can, once again, bring their skills overseas to positively impact global standardisation.

In addition to re-engaging personally with colleagues in Australia and overseas, there’s a lot to look forward to in the international space this year.

We are continuing to work with our neighbours in the Pacific and Southeast Asia. The next phase of the ASEAN-Australia Digital Trade Standardisation Initiative is being prepared for 2022 , and we continue to engage with partners in South East Asia on areas of mutual priority, from digital trade to critical and emerging technologies.  In the Pacific, last month, we facilitated mentoring sessions with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), and in March, we’ll be preparing to host the first regional standards committee meeting.

The intention of this meeting is to foster regional collaboration in standard development. This collaboration will address unique and shared challenges, develop a regional strategy to prioritise key standard development initiatives, and better integrate Pacific neighbours’ technical expertise and infrastructure to promote the development of sustainable quality infrastructure.

Back at home we announced that nominations are now open for the 2022 Standards Awards. These awards are given to those who have made significant contributions to standard development and demonstrated outstanding service in enabling Standards Australia to attain its objectives. I strongly recommend you nominate your peers and can read more about the awards and how to enter below.

I look forward to working with you all in the year ahead.

— Adrian O'Connell, Chief Executive

We’re pleased to announce that nominations for the 2022 Standards Awards are now open for entry.

The Standards Awards, presented in Standards Australia’s centenary year, are awarded to those who have made significant contributions to standards development and demonstrated outstanding service in enabling Standards Australia to attain its objectives.

We look forward to receiving entries for these prestigious awards via the Standards Australia website.

Winners are chosen by a panel including Standards Australia’s executives and standards development senior managers. Winners will be announced in May.

Previous winners are eligible for renomination, and self-nominations are welcome.

Read more about the awards and how to enter here.

For 100 years, Standards Australia has been keeping Australian’s safe through guidance on practice across many aspects of life, including tennis.

Standards Australia supports the safety of tennis players so they can play with peace of mind, from the tennis rackets they use to the courts they play on. And viewers can comfortably watch tennis from the safety of their homes, as standards are in place to support all aspects of broadcast.

You can read more about how standards are supporting sport here.

In 2010, Standards Australia published AS/NZS 1906.4:2010, Retroreflective materials and devices for road traffic control purposes, Part 4: High-visibility materials for safety garments.

‍As industries have developed, and the needs for safety has changed, Standards Australia Technical Committee MS-049 is looking to revise the standard.

The revision will look to include pink and green vest colours currently used in industry and introduce the possibility of blended materials for better role delineation and to ensure best visibility.

You can read more about hi-vis vests here.

Many of us take the safety of our homes for granted and don’t worry about the possibility of roofs collapsing or floors giving in.

This is thanks to the precise and exacting standards that the building industry operates under, including timber construction standards published by Standards Australia.

In our article, we look into timber standards and requirements. Read more here.

In 2020, Standards Australia launched its Graduate Program. The program is an opportunity for talented graduates to kick-start their careers.

It spans 12 months and offers new professionals the chance to rotate across several Standard Australia departments. It allows graduates to learn about the company's processes, procedures, activities, and goals, while creating valuable connections.

You can read more about the program here.

We’re sponsoring World Engineering Day this Friday 4th March.

The World Engineering Day team are hosting many informative activities, including a hackathon before the day and a 24-hour live stream.

Enzo Alfonsetti is the Head of Type A Gas Appliance and Component Safety for Energy Safe Victoria.

In addition, he currently chairs the Standards Australia AG006 committee for gas installations, is a member of the ME-093 committee for Hydrogen Technologies and convenor of the End Use Applications working group under ME-093.

Enzo is also the current chair of the Gas Technical Regulators Committee (GTRC) and a member of our Standards Development and Accreditation Committee (SDAC).

‍When and why did you become involved with standards development?

‍I originally became involved in standards development in the 1980s when I worked in the manufacturing sector. I was involved in maintaining Australian Gas Association (AGA) standards. I was a representative of the manufacturing sector for both gas and electric cooking appliances.

‍How do standards impact and interact with your industry?

‍I now work for Energy Safe Victoria, which is an independent statutory authority for gas, electrical and pipeline safety. As a Technical Regulator, we rely heavily on standards through their reference in our legislation, which allows us to regulate the market and achieve national consistency with other jurisdictions.

‍Why is access to standards important?

‍Access to standards is important in ensuring practitioners are conducting their work in accordance with the relevant requirements that are legally binding through the referencing of these standards in legislation.

‍What is the future of standardisation in your area of work?

‍For Energy Safe Victoria’s gas division, the future of standardisation is the development or adoption of standards for the production, storage, handling and utilisation of hydrogen to facilitate Australia’s commitment under the Paris Agreement to meet its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Standards Australia represents Australia on the two major international standards development bodies, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Our activities are reported on our International Updates page.

Click here to view our highlights from Jan / Feb (PDF)

• New IEC Statutes and Rules of Procedure come into effect
• Natural gas fuelling stations for vehicles: New Field of Technical Activity
• New editions of household appliances’ safety standards published

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Access the latest standards development news in your industry sector via our Sectors page.

After two years of full virtual meetings, our international contributors will be pleased to know that increasingly ISO and IEC are scheduling meetings with the ability to participate face-to-face. IEC has a number of meetings scheduled in coming months in hybrid mode and ISO announced that ISO committee meetings will be able to be conducted in hybrid mode after the 1st May. It will be up to individual participants whether they attend the meetings in person or virtually.

As with all meeting attendance please liaise with your Project Manager to arrange endorsement and to complete a webform for your attendance. If you are attending a meeting face-to-face please indicate if you require a travel subsidy. We are currently reviewing subsidies to take into account current airfare and accommodation rates, as well as other cost increases incurred for travel since the pandemic started. New travel subsidy levels are expected to be finalised in March 2022.

SA also strongly encourages participants to become familiar with the ISO and IEC Guidance on Effective virtual and hybrid meetings which provides useful advice regarding meeting duration for each different mode of meeting. Factors such as time zone rotation should be considered as part of the meeting scheduling process and if this is not being taken into account please draw your Project Manager’s attention to these situations so we can raise these issues ISO and IEC.

It is exciting that we can start planning to meet with colleagues in person again. Please do reach out to your Project Manager or the International team (intsect@standards.org.au) if you have additional questions.

The public comment process provides an opportunity for stakeholders and members of the public to make valuable contributions. With the launch of our new public comment platform, draft standards currently open for comment are now available via Connect.