BHMA ANNOUNCES THE 2005 OPENINGS INDUSTRY SUMMIT
Leaders to Address New Challenges Facing the Openings Industry

NEW YORK, NY — The Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association (BHMA) announces that the third annual Openings Industry Summit will be held on Tuesday, April 19, 2005 at the Westin Resort Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. The purview of the Summit is the openings industry, including doors, windows and their associated hardware as well as the standards and codes that affect their use.

“Anyone who deals with building openings must be proactive in the use of standards. Products and their applicable standards are vital to the security and safety of openings,” said Peter Rush, Executive Director of BHMA. “The Summit provides a forum for the discussion of specific technologies, legislation and code changes; general trends affecting the industry; and specific changes that are due to everyday realities, such as heightened security requirements.”

This year’s speaker will be Wally Bailey, C.B.O., Secretary/Treasurer of the International Code Council Board of Directors. Topics addressed by Mr. Bailey will include the ICC codes process and the new ICC Foundation, hurricane codes and storm shelters, means of egress, and homeland security. Additional topics to be canvassed at the Summit include cooperative code efforts, ISO standards and their relation to ANSI standards, new technology in access control, and trends in green building initiatives.

As producers of locksets, latches, hinges and other hardware that is critical to emergency egress through openings as well as the physical security of such openings, BHMA member companies are vital to the openings industry. In addition to its member companies, BHMA has extended invitations to executives at affiliated associations, as well as key players in the insurance and security industries.

The Summit provides participants with an opportunity to express concerns about present codes and describe their proactive involvement in code development. For example, BHMA has a codes taskforce in place, the Door Hardware Institute (DHI) teaches about codes in its seminars, and the Canadian Steel Door Manufacturer’s Association (CSDMA) is involved in Canadian code development.

For more information about the 2005 Openings Industry Summit, please visit BHMA’s web site at www.buildershardware.com.

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About BHMA

The Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association (BHMA) is an industry leader in building safety and security. BHMA is the only organization accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to develop and maintain performance standards for locks, closers, exit devices and other builders hardware. The widely known ANSI/BHMA A156 series of standards describes and establishes the features and criteria for specific types of hardware products. In addition, BHMA sponsors third-party certification of hardware products, which is a requirement for a product to bear the "BHMA Certified" mark - insuring that the product meets the ANSI/BHMA standard. For more information on BHMA, please write to BHMA, 355 Lexington Avenue, Suite 1700, New York, NY, 10017 or visit the Web site at www.buildershardware.com.