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How to Participate

Participation in AHRI standards activities is open to any stakeholder or affected or interested party, though AHRI membership, either employment by or representation of an AHRI member company, is required for some standards activities.

The following opportunities for participation are available:

  • Submission of ideas or proposals for new deliverables
  • Membership in the Standards Technical Committee (STC) or subsidiary Standards Work Group (SWG), or both, that develops the deliverable
  • Review and comment on the draft deliverable via the public review announced by AHRI, or via the reviews announced by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) or Standards Council of Canada (SCC)
  • Participation in a Consensus Body (CB) to review and give final approval of the ANSI standard or SCC standard
  • Participation in the oversight of the AHRI standards activity through membership in the Standards Committee (StdC)

Submission of Proposals for New Standards Activities

Any individual or organization, whether a member of AHRI or not, can submit an idea or proposal for a new standards activity. The proposal will be forwarded to the applicable STC, based on the topic of the potential work, for consideration. All submissions will be acknowledged. The proposal should include a detailed description of the market or industry issue or problem to be addressed, the scope of work, and how the proposed standard will address that problem. The STC may follow up with the submitter for clarification or to ask for additional information.

Ideas and proposals for new AHRI standards activities should be submitted to [email protected].

Participation in the Standards Technical Committee or Standards Work Group

Membership in a STC or a SWG requires that the individual be employed by or is a representative of an AHRI member company or is employed by or representing a company that is not eligible for AHRI membership.

Requests to join an STC or SWG should include the requester’s name, contact information, resume, and the name of the STC or standard on which the individual wishes to participate. These requests should be submitted to [email protected].

A list of current AHRI standards activities is available here.

A calendar of upcoming committee meetings is found here.

Participate in Reviews

A draft deliverable will be opened for public review upon the completion of an STC’s development work. Public review is optional for AHRI-only deliverables. All stakeholders, those individuals or organizations interested in or affected by the standard, are invited and encouraged to participate in the review.

Public reviews will be announced here and also announced via ANSI Standards Action and SCC Notices of Intent, as applicable.

Reviewers should submit their comments using this form, which requires both identification of the problem and a recommended solution.

Membership in a Consensus Body

AHRI CBs are composed of experts, both AHRI members and non-members, who provide the final review and approval to publish an approved AHRI standard as an American National Standard (for ANSI) or a National Standard of Canada (for SCC). Each Consensus Body has eight to 12 members. Employment by an AHRI member company is not required for membership in the Consensus Body.

A balance of interests is required among the Consensus Body membership; no single interest, such as manufacturers, can constitute a majority of members of the Consensus Body. As such, AHRI invites and welcomes participation by a broad range of stakeholder interests, especially those outside of AHRI’s membership, which is primarily composed of manufacturers of HVACR equipment.

AHRI’s interest categories are as follows:

  • Component Manufacturer: Those who are or are employed by or represent a company that is predominantly involved in the design and manufacture of components and subassemblies that go into the manufacture of HVACR equipment, or an individual representing those interests.
  • Product Manufacturer: Those who are or are employed by or represent a company that is predominantly involved in the design and manufacture of finished HVACR products and equipment, which may or may not include components and subassemblies coming from other manufacturers, or an individual representing those interests.
  • Regulatory Agency: Those who represent or are employed by any local, state, provincial, or federal government regulatory agency, or an individual representing those interests.
  • Testing Laboratory: Those who are predominantly involved in the testing or certification, or both, of products, or an individual representing those interests.
  • Consumer/User: Those who use or are interested in the use of or represent the views and concerns of those who use products described by the deliverable, including designers, installers, and technicians for systems or products described in the deliverable.
  • General Interest: Those who have interest in the subject of the deliverable but are not included in any of the other interest categories.

To apply for an open position on a CB, or to be added to the waiting list of candidates when there are no current openings, requests should include the requester’s name, contact information, resume, product types or AHRI industry sectors in which the individual is interested, and interest category. These requests should be submitted to [email protected].

Membership in the Standards Committee

The AHRI StdC is a standing committee of the AHRI Board of Directors, with ownership of the AHRI Policy & Procedures document and oversight of the standards activity. Members are appointed by the Chair of the AHRI Board of Directors on an annual basis. Members of the StdC shall be employed by or be representatives of AHRI member companies. To be considered for membership, an individual should submit the candidate’s name, contact information, and resume to [email protected].