IEC Award honors excellence in technical committee service
Thomas Associates’ Joe Harding Receives Thomas A. Edison Award
Thomas Associates is proud to announce that its Senior Staff Engineer, Joe Harding, is the 2024 recipient of the Thomas A. Edison Award from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) for his work as the Power Tool Institute's Technical Director. The award recognizes the exceptional achievements of conformity assessment officers and officers from both Technical Committees (TC) and Subcommittees (SC), as well as their contributions to the effective management of IEC activities and international standardization efforts. Harding received the award due to his exceptional contributions and dedicated service as secretary of IEC TC 116. 
Since taking on the secretary’s role in May 2011, Harding’s exceptional commitment, organizational skills, and technical expertise in electrical engineering have greatly enhanced the work of TC 116, resulting in the successful publication of over 40 new IEC standards. His dedication to improving product safety standards and fostering international collaboration have earned the respect of experts from around the world.
Harding provides technical and code consultation for many associations represented by Thomas Associates including the Power Tool Institute. He has served as the Secretary of IEC TC 116, Safety of motor-operated electric tools, since 2011 and his electrical engineering and overall technical background along with the understanding of the products in the power tool industry has helped enormously during the drafting process of the IEC standards to issue high-quality product safety standards in a timely manner. Under his tenure of office, more than 40 new IEC Standards have been successfully published by TC 116.
He will be presented with the award at the upcoming IEC TC 116 Working Group meetings in Lisbon, Portugal.
Founded in 1906, the IEC is the world’s leading organization for the preparation and publication of international standards for all electrical, electronic, and related technologies, known collectively as “electrotechnology.”
For more information on Thomas Associates, visit https://www.thomasamc.com/.
