CHANTILLY, Va. — The Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA) technical staff will join other industry members on the newly formed Homeland Security Standards Panel (HSSP).

According to SMACNA, the HSSP was established by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as an industry-wide coordinating body for the development and enhancement of emergency preparedness standards. The overall mission of the group is to catalog, promote, and accelerate the timely development of consensus standards in order to meet Homeland Security needs and communicate the existence of such standards to governmental agencies and the private sector.

As a member of the panel, SMACNA says it will have the opportunity to identify its key standards that may be applied in areas that including chemical and hazardous materials, energy, public health, and food service.