Industry Standards: ASTM F-24 Committee

The ASTM F-24 committee develops minimum standards of safety for design, manufacturing, operation, maintenance, and inspection of amusement rides and devices.  According the the F-24 committee, thirty-five states reference at least part of the industry standards in their regulatory laws for amusement rides. 

Membership is open to anyone at a cost of $75 per year. The ASTM F-24 committee currently has over 400 members, including ride manufacturers, amusement parks, carnivals, industry attorneys, safety consultants, ride inspectors, regulatory officials, and one consumer advocate (Saferparks).

• The F-24 executive committee creates subcommittees, appoints members to leadership positions, and determines the scope/direction of standards development.
• Subcommittee chairs appoint small task groups to draft new standards or upgrade existing standards. Task group assignments are subject to approval by the executive committee.
• Once the task group members have agreed on draft language, the standards are put out for ballot to subcommittee members. If a balloted standard passes subcommittee vote, it's put out for vote by the full committee.
• All members may comment on balloted standards, but only voting members may cast a yes/no vote. A single company or organization may have many employees on the F-24 committee as non-voting members, but voting memberships are restricted to prohibit a single company or organization from controlling the vote.
• ASTM standards are developed through a consensus process, which makes for slow going. A new standard can take 5-10 years to complete. "No" votes must be accompanied by a reason in order to be considered valid. If the task group finds even a single negative vote persuasive, the ballot fails. Negatives found non-persuasive by the task group must be voted on by the full membership. The consensus process may be tedious at times, but it tends to produce standards that have been thoroughly reviewed by the members of the committee.
• The committee meets on the east coast in the fall and the west coast in early spring, but attendance is optional.  Members can review, comment, and vote on the proposed standards through email.