ASHRAE guide helps engineers avoid legal problems
Literature identifies common pitfalls that can lead to exposure
ATLANTA - A document published by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) explains how to avoid disputes and litigation by identifying common pitfalls that can lead to exposure.
The ASHRAE Member's Survival Guide - Avoiding Pitfalls in Engineering Practice also suggests sound business and professional practices to help avoid these pitfalls.
"Engineers all have the potential for disputes and legal exposure if they fail to take appropriate steps to protect themselves in business and exercise reasonable care in the performance of their duties," said Frederick Kohloss, P.E., author of the guide and a member of ASHRAE's task group on general legal education. "Since disputes and litigation are costly, time-consuming, burdensome and extremely stressful, every effort should be made to avoid them."
The guide addresses professional responsibility and investigates the factors that influence design planning and execution. It also includes information about preparing plans and specifications, and reviewing requests for information, shop drawings and other contractor submittals.
The document is the second in a series titled The ASHRAE Member's Survival Guide, which is overseen by the task group.
Rockwell achieves SCP Certification for sixth consecutive year
Company meets internationally recognized standards for exceptional customer support
CLEVELAND - For the sixth consecutive year, Rockwell Automation has demonstrated its customer support by achieving certification under the Support Center Practices (SCP) Certification program.
SCP Certification quantifies the effectiveness of customer- support organizations, based on a stringent set of performance standards and best practices in the industry. Rockwell's Customer Support Center in Cleveland is one of only two centers in the SCP program to earn certification for six consecutive years. The center has improved its score with each audit.
"The ability to meet SCP's world-class support standards year after year is a testament to the dedication and commitment of our customer support group," said Pat Babington, vice president, Customer Support Maintenance, Rockwell Automation. "As the benchmark is raised every year, we must continually improve our organization to meet the SCP standards."
SCP Certification is an internationally recognized standard created by the Service & Support Professionals Association and a consortium of high-tech companies to create a recognized quality certification for support centers. It also provides a method of benchmarking for support center practices. SCP Certification requires comprehensive on-site audits to confirm that companies meet the requirements of the 100+ business elements defined in the program. It measures factors such as corporate commitment and strategic direction, customer satisfaction, performance metrics, and research and development.