Research + Tech

ASTM International to hold symposium in Washington, D.C.

ASTM International will hold its 10th Symposium on Roofing Research and Standards Development Dec. 3 in Washington, D.C. Sponsored by ASTM Committee D08 on Roofing and Waterproofing, the symposium will be held in conjunction with the committee’s December standards development meetings.

The symposium provides a forum for contributing to the fundamental understanding of acceptable roof system performance with an emphasis on current research and development work. It will center on the influence of laboratory and field investigations in the development of standards for roofing and waterproofing materials and systems.

The symposium will address topics describing research and standards development for low- and steep-slope roof systems, including advances in waterproofing; air and moisture movement in roof systems; metal roof systems; roof system durability and service life prediction; roofing in an era of sustainability and resiliency; and synthetic single-ply roof systems, among other topics.

Additional information about the symposium is available at member.astm.org/meeting.

Study shows how data access helps risk management

A study from Dodge Construction Network, published in partnership with Egnyte, shows data resiliency is key to handling challenges architects, engineers and contractors face, such as the labor shortage, supply chain issues and a higher risk of cyberattacks.

According to Dodge Construction Network, the report, Data Resilience in Design and Construction: How Digital Discipline Builds Stronger Firms, defines data resilience as the ability to access all project and business documents and data to support work at any time, from any place and on any device. The study shows only 39% of architects, engineers and contractors currently have this level of access at least 90% of the time.

The top challenges include being unable to access all documents on mobile devices; software that limits the ability to work digitally with other project team members; and lack of timely access to documents. Most respondents say lack of document access leads to performance issues, such as unplanned rework and schedule delays.

The data suggests cloud-based functionality can help combat these challenges; 85% of those who report no issues with document access currently use the cloud.

In addition, the report shows the degree to which the design and construction industries underestimate their exposure to cyberattacks. Fifty-nine percent of respondents say they have experienced a cybersecurity threat during the past two years. Seventy percent of general contractors have experienced a threat, and 30% have had a ransomware attack since 2021.

Seventy-two percent of architects, engineers and contractors rate themselves as having a moderate or high degree of preparation for an attack that would result in losing access to documents. However, 77% say they cannot go more than five days without access to documents before it significantly affects their project schedules; the average duration of a successful ransomware attack is considerably longer than five days, potentially leaving many firms more vulnerable than they realize.

The study examines the most common and effective strategies to alleviate and manage risks, including cloud-based collaboration solutions, increasing automation to reduce the time needed for tasks and upskilling workers.

The full study is available at pages.egnyte.com/dodge-data-report.