CONSUMER PROTECTION.

Abstract

The American Wood Preservers Bureau (AWPB) is an industry quality control system that works to protect the consumer and its role and procedures have gained phenomenal acceptance in the treated lumber and plywood market. The first consumer-oriented treated wood product developed to fulfill the consumer's requirements was the AWPI quality-marked pile. The primary function of the AWPB is the certification of qualified treated wood inspection agencies. At the present time, the Bureau has twelve such agencies. AWPB work in the field involves the continual monitoring of quality-marked material at treating plants, wholesale yards, retail locations and job sites. The field force works with the agency inspectors and makes periodic reports on agency efficiency. It also investigates treated wood failures, and to date, no failures in quality-marked treated wood in use have been found. These and other aspects of AWPB are discussed in the paper.