The Bureau of Construction Codes, State of Michigan, requested standards conformance documentation several years ago for no-hub cast iron soil pipe used in a project inspected by this office following a request from a designer related to state-inspected school projects. Several suppliers of product manufactured in China who import these materials provided test reports that were used in obtaining product listings to support the acceptance of these products.
The original lab reports used in these listings for the importers contained serious discrepancies. Over an extended time period, the test reports were revised in order to address errors cited in evaluations to gain the commission’s approval. It became evident that the role of this agency was being misapplied as a reviewer of the reports in order to identify errors for corrections.