The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) has recently hosted four Public Consultation sessions on the draft Load-bearing and Non-load bearing Concrete Hollow Block Standards. These sessions were held for manufacturers residing in Regions Two, Three, Four and Five.
Conducting these sessions countrywide, according to GNBS Public Relations Officer, Lloyd David, is very crucial and integral to the standards development process as stakeholders who will have to adhere to the requirements are given an opportunity to provide their comments on the draft contents of the standards.
The contributions of stakeholders, he noted, are recorded and will be considered by the Technical Committee that is developing the standards.
Two other sessions will be held before the closure of the public comments period on November 01, 2017. One will be held in Region 10 on October 04 and the other will be held in Region Six on October 24, 2017. Manufacturers residing in these Regions are urged to attend these sessions.
Upon the finalization of these standards, the GNBS intends to make them mandatory to commence the monitoring of concrete blocks countrywide.
Monitoring of concrete hollow blocks is vital because of concerns being raised by contractors and homeowners regarding the poor quality of blocks offered for sale by some manufacturers.