The World of International Standards

A glimpse at the near future of vertical-transportation standards

This list gives a glimpse of the future of elevator standards, which must surely be with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). While the U.S. is wedded to ASME A17, ISO is the future — if not for logical reasons, then for commercial reasons. Eventually, the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) standards will be absorbed by ISO. A17 has many good features, and that is why ISO 8100-3 is important, as this includes the A17/EN 81 differences. It is hoped that the best will emerge in 2023.

The ISO 8100-8105 series of standards is continually changing and will replace most CEN standards after 2020. In the table (up to date as of this writing), some existing European Norms (EN) and ISO standards map across. Others are not yet decided. Thus, the last column is subject to change. Numbers not shown are kept free. “[?]” means “likely to be based on.” This PDF can be downloaded as a handy booklet here: bit.ly/2MmMHXZ.

Table 1

Table 1a

Table 2

Table 3

Table 4

Table 5

Table 6