Personnel Requirements For 3rd Party Agencies
ASTME541 is a standard that has been used for almost four decades. In simplified terms, it is the personnel requirements for 3rd parties that inspect manufactured structures. The standard was withdrawn in 2019.
Withdrawn Rationale
This specification was initiated to meet the needs of regulatory programs for the certification of manufactured building.
Formerly under the jurisdiction of Committee E36 on Accreditation & Certification, this specification was withdrawn in January 2019 in accordance with section 10.6.3 of the Regulations Governing ASTM Technical Committees, which requires that standards shall be updated by the end of the eighth year since the last approval date.
Standards that are withdrawn can still be referenced, in fact HUD currently references ASTME541 in HUD regulations and in many states including California HCD, the quality assurance inspectors must meet the requirements.
ASTME541 HUD Regulations As Of August 12th, 2021
§3282.358 Personnel.
(a) Each primary inspection agency shall have qualified personnel capable of carrying out all of the functions for which the primary inspection agency is seeking to be approved or disapproved. Where a State intends to act as the exclusive IPIA in the State, it shall show that it has adequate personnel to so act in all plants in the State.
(b) Each submission shall indicate the total number of personnel employed by the submitting party, the number of personnel available for this program, and the locations of the activities of the personnel to be used in the program.
(c) Each submission shall include the names and qualifications of the administrator and the supervisor who will be directly responsible for the program, and résumés of their experience.
(d) Each submission shall contain the information set out in paragraphs (d)(1) through (d)(9) of this section. Depending upon the functions (DAPIA or IPIA) to be undertaken by a particular primary inspection agency, some of the categories of personnel listed may not be required. In such cases, the submission should indicate which of the categories of information are not required and explain why they are not needed. The submission should identify which personnel will carry out each of the functions the party plans to perform. The qualifications of the personnel to perform one or more of the functions will be judged in accordance with the requirements of ASTM Standard E-541 except that the requirement for registration as a professional engineer or architect may be waived for personnel whose qualifications by experience or education equal those of a registered engineer or architect. The categories of personnel to be included in the submission are as follows:
California HCD
QUALITY ASSURANCE INSPECTOR
APPLICATION APPROVAL CHECKLIST FOR INSPECTIONS OF: COMMERCIAL MODULAR – SPECIAL PURPOSE COMMERCIAL MODULAR – and MULTI-UNIT MANUFACTURED HOUSING UNITS
NOTE: R= Requirement for Renewal Applications
O= Requirement for Original Approval Applications I. Review HCD – MH 469 application for completeness: Purpose of Application [Original or Renewal] R & O Name, address, phone number of applicant R & O Quality Assurance Agency Employment Status R & O $295 [Original] OR $267 [Renewal] Fee attached R & O II. ATTACHMENT #1 – Review Attached Applicant Verification Forms *
Applicant Verification Fees [$13]. R & O Statement of Citizenship, Birth Certificate and/or other documents.
*[Required only if citizenship was not previously verified by department]
R & O III. ATTACHMENT #2 – Review attached Absence of Conflict of Interest Statement
form HCD- MH 471: Name, Signature, Date, County, State entered at bottom of page R & O IV. ATTACHMENT #3 – QUALIFICATIONS – A QAI shall satisfy all the provisions of ASTM
Standard E 541, Part B, §14 and T25, CCR, Chapter 3, §4856 as noted below:
Janet Thome Advocated For The Reinstatement Of ASTME541
Janet Thome, the founder and President of Tiny House Aliance USA is leading the exploratory initiative to develop Global Standards For Tiny Houses and has advocated for the reinstatement of ASTME541 in response to the growing concern that ”big box” certification companies were swallowing up smaller 3rd party agencies, and closing the window for new 3rd party agencies to form new companies. They were also adding more and more requirements, which add more costs that ultimately end up adding to the costs to the 3rd parties, the manufacturers and to housing.
This is a great win for small manufacturers and for affordable housing.
The Task Group Meets Today To Start The Revision
Janet Thome Tiny House Alliance USA: Task Group Leader
Bob Gorleski: Vice President Of Manufactured Structures PFS TECO
Randy Saunders: Vice President Of RADCO
James Turner: Engineer And Program Manager IBTS
Robin Butler: NOAH
Ed Nodland: Jet Stream Innovation
Mike Schmidt: Ensemble Ventures
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