The Certified Steel Stud Association is a new organization with an undeniable commitment to code compliance. Its founding members are the three largest wholly-American-owned stud manufacturers in the United States. The sole purpose of CSSA is to enroll distributor-friendly manufacturer members into a certification program created and managed by ICC-ES; a subsidiary of the International Code Council, which develops the International Building Code (IBC). This program is the only one of its kind because it removes interpretative nuances of ASTM standards by placing program standards in the hands of ICC-ES. In contrast, many other programs are controlled or influenced by a board of manufacturers.
CSSA’s simple approach to code compliance will benefit the metal framing industry because it goes to the source of the building code for answers on code compliance. CSSA’s work with ICC-ES bypasses unnecessary sidebars in the approval chain. ICC-ES President Shahin Moinian says, “ICC-ES is pleased to be the certification agency of choice by CSSA. It is our belief that this cooperation is beneficial to the industry.”