scope:

Introduction

The O437 Series is a series of Standards devoted specifically to the wood-based mat-formed structural use panels commonly known as OSB and waferboard.

CSA Standard O437.0 establishes property requirements for three grades of OSB and waferboard currently commercially available, namely: R-1, O-1, and O-2. The grade designations are intended solely for identification purposes and do not imply ranking. Grade property requirements are expressed as minimum or maximum averages (five samples) with limits placed on minimum or maximum values (single samples) and parallels the procedure for specifying requirements in the US (see ANSI Standard A208.1, Wood Particleboard).

The O-1 and O-2 grades pertain to panels manufactured with layers of oriented standards or wafers.

The O437 Series of Standards on OSB and Waferboard are written in conformance the published Guidelines of the Canadian Standards Association. Among other functions, Guideline L, The Publication of CSA Standards, sets forth CSA policy covering format, editorial style, and language of CSA Standards.

For the benefit of users of this series of Standards, the following conventions, summarized from Guideline L, are applicable when interpreting the requirements of these Standards:

(a) All numbered sections of the text are referred to as Clauses. Within a Clause, identified and listed requirements are referred to as Items.

(b) Mandatory requirements are those which it is essential to satisfy, and they are stated using the verbal auxiliary "shall".

(c) The verbal auxiliary "may" is permitted in optional statements.

(d) Notes which appear below clauses are intended to be explanatory or informational and must not include mandatory language. They are presented in italic typeface.

(e) Notes which appear below Tables and Figures are considered part of the requirements of the Table or Figure. These Notes, therefore, are written in mandatory language, but also appear in italic typeface.

(f) Appendices to a Standard are considered informational and not part of the requirements of the Standard. However, Appendices may be written in mandatory language so that users of the Standard may invoke the content of an Appendix as requirements supplementary to the basic Standard.