ICC-ES Staff Engineer Jason Smart, P.E., gave a presentation to members of the International Staple, Nail and Tool Association (ISANTA) during its annual meeting in January in New Orleans on the history and current working relationship between ICC-ES and ISANTA. The presentation, which lasted well over an hour, was co-developed by Smart and ICC-ES Senior Staff Engineer Elyse Levy, S.E. Levy oversees all fastener-related evaluations. Smart oversees all evaluations related to engineered wood construction.

ICC-ES and its predecessor companies have a long history of working together with ISANTA to inform code officials, architects and engineers about power-driven nails and staples. The first predecessor to ISANTA's current evaluation was issued 40 years ago by the International Conference of Building Officials (ICBO). This report served the building construction industry for approximately two decades, providing valuable design information regarding power-driven nails and staples. Around the time that the National Evaluation Service (NES) was formed in the early nineties, ISANTA was issued a report that replaced the ICBO report. After the consolidation of ICC-ES, the NES report was converted to ESR-1539, which was first issued in September 2004 and reissued in 2011.

During the presentation, Smart also discussed some of the anticipated industry changes that will be necessary to the pertinent Acceptance Criteria—AC116: ICC-ES Acceptance Criteria for Nails and Spikes and AC201: ICC-ES Acceptance Criteria for Staples—along with ESR-1539, in order to keep them up to date with the latest codes and relevant with today's construction practices.

For ISANTA members who were unable to attend the presentation, or those who did and may have additional questions, contact either Elyse Levy at (800) 423-6587 x4315, elevy@icc-es.org or Jason Smart at (800) 423-6587 x5692, jsmart@icc-es.org.