68 Business and training: INTERNATIONAL
IAPMO opens testing and certification facility
IAPMO officials recently visited Indonesia in support of the nationwide effort to implement SNI 8153:2015.
By
Mike Flenniken
A group of senior IAPMO officials, led by CEO Russ Chaney, travelled to Indonesia in May to celebrate the grand opening of PT IAPMO Group Indonesia’ s state-of-the-art laboratory and certification office. They also participated in events aimed at advancing the country’ s newly adopted national plumbing standard, SNI 8153:2015 – Plumbing Systems for Buildings.
The May 18 ceremony was held during the third annual Water for Indonesia Now( WIN) Celebrates Indonesian Plumbing Systems Standardisation at the Ritz-Carlton Jakarta in Indonesia.
The facility will offer testing and certification services for plumbing product manufacturers in support of SNI 8153:2015, parts of which were based on IAPMO’ s Uniform Plumbing Code( UPC ®). Indonesia released SNI 8153:2015 on 18 March 2015 as part of the nation’ s World Plumbing Day celebration. SNI 8153:2015 will be included in the water conservation guidelines of GREENSHIP rating systems, which is a Green Building Council Indonesia programme.
“ We’ re certainly delighted that the IAPMO Group has completed a three-year effort in collaboration with both the US and Indonesian governments to assist Indonesia in creating enhanced public health and safety provisions via the creation of a world-class plumbing code,” Chaney said.“ We were very pleased to have received excellent co-operation and support from the BSN, which is Indonesia’ s national standards body. We look forward to beginning the testing and certification of plumbing products, which will facilitate compliance with the new requirements contained in the new BSN national plumbing standard.”
Prof. Dr Ir. Bambang Prasetya, MSc, chair of BSN, said he was thrilled that the partnership between BSN and IAPMO continues to progress so productively; first with the release of the standard, and now the testing laboratory and certification facility, which he said would continue to build synergy with all stakeholders.
“ The establishment of this facility supports the implementation of SNI 8153:2015, because without it manufacturers would not be able to test and evaluate to the standard,” he said.“ Furthermore, the seminar held during the event advanced public awareness between our industry as the user, government as the regulator, and the laboratory as the operator. I hope the training programme can be implemented soon and look forward to our partnership with IAPMO continuing to enhance the plumbing industry in Indonesia.”
Prof. Dr Ir. Arief Sabarudin, CES, head of the Centre of Research and Development( R & D) of Human Settlements as well as the Agency for R & D of the Ministry of Public Works and Human Settlements of the Republic of Indonesia, said,“ We are hoping that today’ s activities can support the implementation process of SNI 8153:2015 – Plumbing Systems for Buildings. It should also provide the maximum benefits for fulfilling people’ s needs towards good plumbing systems that support health and safety, including peace of mind during the construction of buildings. In addition, this standard should become mandatory in conjunction with the Indonesian Law Number 20, Year 2014( Undang- Undang Indonesia No. 20, Tahun 2014) regarding standardisation and conformity assessment( specifically clause 24).”
Brian McFeeters, deputy chief of mission from the US Embassy, also attended the grand opening.“ The US Embassy is proud to be part of this launch, as US companies have a lot to offer to support this new environmentally friendly plumbing standard. I would also like to congratulate BSN, IAPMO, and the Ministry of Public Works and Human Settlements on their valuable efforts in supporting water conservation and health in building systems, as well as today’ s opening of the testing lab and certification office in Bekasi. We look forward to providing ongoing support to the government of Indonesia’ s efforts to gain the adoption of this standard, to ensure that all plumbing products and their installation benefit Indonesia and its quest for safe and healthy water.”
November 2016 Volume 22 I Number 9 www. plumbingafrica. co. za