Primer on Engineering Standards

Chapter 4Limited Consensus Standards

4.1 Types of Standards

Limited consensus standards (LCS) are those produced following a process less open, and sometimes less rigorous, than the American National Standards (ANS) process discussed in Chapter 2. They are most often developed to benefit a particular company or other organization such as a trade group (e.g., American Boiler Manufacturers' Association or Heat Exchange Institute). Similar to other standards, benefits accrue in a variety of ways, as described in Chapter 1.

Governmental agency LCS are often developed and used because of needs that are not sufficiently broad in the economy to warrant the interest of voluntary consensus standards (VCS) developing organizations, or because even from agency to agency in the same area needs differ. It is, however, US Government policy, documented in OMB Circular A119 and the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act, that VCS be used rather than internal governmental standards whenever practicable (see Chapter 2). Governmental agency LCS for internal use often follow a process similar to the ANSI process excepting that, since the requirements are intended only for internal use, they are subjected only to a review by the agency “internal public,” not the public at large. Governmental agency jurisdictional LCS vary in the extent to which they incorporate elements of the ANSI process. They are sometimes written with little or no direct input from outside the agency, but if they ...