Global Natural Stone Standards Gets Funding Boost

OBERLIN, Ohio – The effort to create a global set of standards for natural stone got a helping hand from the Natural Stone Foundation earlier this month.

The industry philanthropic group issued a grant to the Natural Stone Institute (NSI) to help offset ongoing costs for the ISO Technical Committee 327’s for its work on natural-stone standards, with initial publication set for next year.

ISO Technical Committee 327 on Natural Stones is working to create a uniform set of standards for natural stone for members of ISO in over 150 countries. The committee currently has 13 global participating members (Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States), with another 10 national standards bodies observing.

The Natural Stone Institute is working alongside ANSI, the official secretariat of this initiative. NSI Technical Director Chuck Muehlbauer currently serves as chair of the committee, while Test Laboratory Manager Scott Scallorn chairs the US TAG committee and a working group on test methods, offering additional input to the committee.

TC 327 is nearing completion of its first set of standards involving stone testing and terminology. These standards will bring clarity to what governing documents and standards should be used when natural stone is utilized in a project involving multiple countries (for example: quarried in one country, fabricated in a second, and installed in a third).

“As the philanthropic arm of the Natural Stone Institute, the Natural Stone Foundation provides funding supporting globally unified standards for the natural stone industry,” said Kevin Camarata, foundation president. “The ISO initiative is a multi-year effort that will ultimately benefit all participants by creating a globally uniform set of standards, nomenclature, and terms of business.

“It will alleviate misunderstandings about requirements and responsibilities and will provide a single global standard that will be used as a governing guide for all things natural stone.”

To learn more about NSI’s ISO initiative, visit www.naturalstoneinstitute.org/ISO.

This initiative is one of several industry initiatives funded by the Foundation. The Foundation also provided funding for NSI’s Silica & Slab Safety Certificate, which provides important training resources for employees in the industry. This resource has been widely utilized since launching in late 2023. A Spanish version of the certificate is set to debut in early 2025.

To learn more about the Natural Stone Foundation’s grant program, visit www.naturalstoneinstitute.org/foundationgrants.