[USMA:27900] Going metric

[Chimpsarecute]

Going Metric by Bruce Barrow As readers of the July 1995 IEEE Standards Bearer know, the Standards Board has adopted a plan for converting IEEE standards to a metric basis. The plan comprises three stages--(I) as of January 1, 1996, IEEE standards being proposed for approval must include metric; (II) two years later, proposed standards must show metric data in preferred place; and (III) after January 1, 2000, they must be exclusively metric. Standards Coordinating Committee 14, as part of its review process, will work with the standards-developing committees to meet these goals. Most current IEEE standards already meet the requirements of Stage II, but in any case where a working group foresees a problem with the schedule mandated by the Board, SCC14 needs to be brought in early. The reason is that any significant work requires consideration by the working group responsible for the standard. Imagine, for example, the list of things you wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole. You wouldn't touch them with a 3-meter pole either, even if the said "metric pole" is a few centimeters shorter than the good old English one. That is such an easy and noncontroversial conversion that it just might pass the muster with the Standards Review Committee (RevCom) as an acceptable editorial change. But now imagine a standard that contains a safety provision calling for a physical barrier to keep persons at least 10 feet away from a high-voltage conductor. In Stage I, we can specify "10 ft (3.048 m)." In Stage II, we might call out "3.048 m (10 ft)," although that is certainly not a very neat way to write a standard. By Stage III, users of the standard would obviously like to see a neat, uncluttered "3 meters," but only the authors of the standard can decide that 3 m provides the same margin of safety that 10 ft did in the original. So, if you think you see a problem coming, send an early draft to William Brenner, the Chair of the SCC14 review subcommittee. The address is National Institute of Building Sciences, 1201 L Street N.W., Suite 400, Washington, DC 20005. You can also call me at (703) 883-1393. Bruce Barrow is Chair of SCC14, Standards Coordinating Committee on Quantities, Units, and Letter Symbols.   Did the above come to pass?   Or was there a last minute cancellation?  Did anyone write in with problems, and if so what were they?   Euric