One of the goals of Subcommittee E54.05 on Building and Infrastructure Protection is to provide guidance for the design of doors, windows and other opening protectives that are part of the exterior security envelopes of buildings. As one path to achieve that goal, the subcommittee is currently developing a proposed new standard, WK14650, Test Methods for Forced Entry and Ballistics Resistant (FEBR) Exterior Doors, Windows and Other Opening Protectives. Subcommittee E54.05 is part of ASTM International Committee E54 on Homeland Security Applications.
 
“The design capabilities of doors, windows and other opening protectives must be confirmed through simulated service testing in order to provide reasonable assurance of their satisfactory performance in an actual physical attack or other emergency,” says James Stapleton, Habersham Metal Products Co., and E54.05.02 task group chair. “Therefore it is necessary to develop test methods that simulate the required attack resistance and incorporate tried and true test methods that are already being used in industry.”
 
In addition to its stated guidance for exterior protectives, WK14650 will be useful for many building interior security applications as well. According to Stapleton, the industry test methods that are incorporated into this proposed standard have been used for many years in the design of opening protectives for both exterior and interior security applications.
  
Among the most likely users of WK14650 are project architects, security consultants, various government agencies that have their own building design staffs and building code bodies such as the International Code Council and the National Fire Protection Association.
 
The task group is currently seeking all the input that it can obtain from the professional building design community, as well as members of the user community who are involved in homeland security issues.

For further technical information, contact James Stapleton, Habersham Metal Products Co., Cornelia, Ga. (phone: 706/778-2212; jas@habershammetal.com). Committee E54 meets Jan. 28-30, 2008, at the January Committee Week in Tampa, Fla. For membership or meeting information, contact Timothy Brooke, manager, Technical Committee Operations, ASTM International (phone: 610/832-9729; tbrooke@astm.org).

Release #7706