Too Many Unresolved Issues Between Ad Hoc Committee of Helical Pile Manufacturers
and ICC-ES Staff to Reconcile by ICC-ES Deadline
For those of us tracking the progress of the revisions for AC358 (ICC-ES Acceptance
Criteria for Helical Foundations), the hand writing was on the wall well in advance
of the public meeting held Tuesday, October 11th in Birmingham, AL. The hand writing
per say is represented by the aggregate of some 24 unresolved items between the Ad
Hoc Committee of Helical Pile Manufacturers and the ICC-ES staff engineers. The
ICC-ES staff first responded to the Ad Hoc Committee’s requested changes to AC358
on August 30, and since that time members of the committee submitted responses and
change requests until September 21. The ICC-ES staff engineers posted their final
response on October 7 – four days prior to the public meeting date. (see response
here)
The Ad Hoc Committee of Helical Pile Manufacturers was formed in April this year,
and the committee contracted the services of CTL/Thompson, Fort Collins, CO, to assist
with the development of desired revisions to AC358, which was originally approved
by ICC-ES in June of 2007 and became effective in July of the same year. One of
HPW’s Technical Advisors and CTL/Thompson’s IAS Laboratory Technical Manager, Moncef
Souissi, represented the Ad Hoc Committee as its chair person at the ICC public meeting
in Birmingham on Tuesday, October 11. When the ICC chair person asked for comments
on AC358 revisions from those in attendance, Mr. Souissi took the podium and immediately
asked the ICC committee to suspend the current requests for changes and to grant
an extension of time for additional discussion and development. Mr. Souissi cited
but a few of the approximate 24 open items as examples of some of the more complex
issues that will require more time in order to gain consensus from the Ad Hoc Committee
and ICC-ES engineers.
Mr. Souissi’s suggestion was supported by the senior structural engineer for ICC-ES,
Brian Gerber, and he recommended to the committee that the revisions for AC358 be
deferred to allow adequate time for review, discussion and to achieve consensus from
both parties.
What all this means in terms of time, effort and immediate impact for our industry
is significant – and not at all in a positive way with respect to time and moving
the industry forward. The ICC-ES certification process itself is measured in three
to six month increments with staff reviews and public comments realistically taking
1-2 months, and their public meetings are scheduled once a quarter. The next scheduled
ICC public meeting is scheduled for February 7-9 in Los Angeles. All this translates
into a very demanding timetable for the Ad Hoc Committee members who must hash out
their differences with ICC-ES engineers and reach consensus in time to meet all of
the deadlines leading up to February meeting. So, if everything progresses perfectly
and all deadlines are met, the earliest a revised AC358 could be accepted is four
months from now.
So, while engineers and building officials are stuck with AC358 in its current form
without conformance with IBC 2009 or 2012, helical pile contractors and manufacturers
will miss out on an unknown number of opportunities to bid deep foundation projects
for new construction or remedial applications where conformance with current IBC
code is required. In economic times like we have now, every possible competitive
advantage becomes extremely important, and unfortunately this very important advantage
remains elusive and unavailable to our industry manufacturers and installation contractors.
We encourage the Ad Hoc Committee and the ICC-ES staff engineers to rise to the
occasion for the good of the entire industry and bring this process to a successful
conclusion in February. Far too much for far too many is at risk with for our industry’s
growth and prosperity hanging in the balance.
