A new entity, the Industrial Truck Standards Developing Foundation (ITSDF), is positioned from September 1 to work towards US conformance with International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) forklift standards.

ITSDF, of Washington, was established in December by the Industrial Truck Association (ITA), of Washington. It will begin with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Standard B 56 for industrial forklifts.

ITSDF and New York-based ASME signed a management transfer agreement on May 16, said William Berger, ASME managing director, technical codes and standards. "ASME felt an agreement with ITSDF made sense for all involved, particularly the industrial truck industry," Berger said.

"ITSDF hopes to have all current members of the ASME B 56 committees and subcommittees agree to continue to serve on those committees when they become ITSDF committees" said William Montwieler, ITSDF president and executive director of ITA. ITA has devoted significant resources to the project and hopes most of the work will be done electronically. ITA wants to help the foundation assume the work in an orderly fashion.

The international effort is strong. The world community is moving towards acceptance of ISO 3691 relating to safety issues on powered industrial trucks, said Chris Merther, ITA manager of technical programs.
"Individual nations may still have to adapt parts of the standard to fit their particular governmental or market needs, but we have succeeded in reducing the number of sticking points on the US side from 20 to three," Merther said.