The achievements of an international team developing standards for earth-moving machinery were recognized yesterday through the presentation of the Lawrence D. Eicher Leadership Award at the 31st ISO General Assembly in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Every year, the award provides recognition for superior performance by one of ISO's standards development groups. The 2008 edition has gone to ISO technical committee ISO/TC127, Earth-moving machinery.
Presenting the award, ISO President Håkan Murby said: "The work of ISO/TC 127 has provided a core of state-of-the-art knowledge, based on international expertise, on which national standards and regulations have been able to draw. Its standards have helped to cut design and manufacturing costs by harmonizing requirements worldwide and ultimately benefiting the customers for and users of earth-moving machinery."
The global relevance of standards developed by ISO/TC 127 is demonstrated by the fact that they have been adopted as national standards or are referred to in regulations in the Americas, Asia, Australasia, Central Asia, Europe and the Far East.
The committee has developed 132 standards and has more than 50 items in its current work programme. Its work includes a strong focus on ergonomic and safety aspects, building on the participation of health and safety experts and testing laboratories to provide a set of International Standards that provide the technical support for health and safety regulations and for risk management programmes.
With the increasing use of electronics and information technology in earth-moving machinery, adapting the committee's portfolio to new technologies is an ongoing objective. Another is facilitating the participation of developing countries to strengthen the already wide basis of geographic participation, including the main manufacturing countries of earth-moving machinery.
ISO/TC 127 has a culture of continual improvement focussed on refining its processes, such as project management, and adapting best practice by other ISO committees for its own work.
The Chair of ISO/TC127, Mr. DanRoley, and Secretary, Mrs. Sara Desautels, were presented with the Lawrence D.Eicher Leadership Award on behalf of the technical committee.
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The Lawrence D. Eicher Leadership Award is named after the late Secretary-General of ISO from 1986 to 2002.