Designed to help all industry stakeholders communicate more effectively and consistently, the Snow & Ice Management Association (SIMA), the North American trade group for professionals involved with the snow and ice industry, has released its new Standard Glossary of Terms (Glossary).

The Glossary was reviewed by more than 30 professionals both in the snow management industry as well as experts in related industries such as insurers and facilities managers.

"Our hope is that our new Glossary will provide any professional involved with the snow and ice management industry with standardized terms that will pave the way for an easier and smoother contracting process," said Martin B. Tirado, CAE, Chief Executive Officer, SIMA.

The 19-page Glossary includes seven sections with 114 clearly defined terms. The seven sections and a few of the terms included in each section are as follows:
 • Industry Terms: snow contractor, site, etc.
 • Contractual, Documentation and Legal Terms: service report, trigger depth, etc.
 • Operations and Service Terms: cycle time, snow engineering plan, etc.
 • Estimating and Fee Structure Terms including Fee Structures and Modifiers: efficiency factors, production capacity, per-occurrence service, etc.
 • Weather Terms: glaze, snow density, etc.
 • Equipment and Technical Terms including containment plow, back-dragging, sidewalk spreader, calibration, etc.
 • Chemical and Material Terms including Types of Deicers: abrasive, blended product, spalling, sodium chloride, etc.
 • Snow & Ice Management Certification and Training Terms: advanced snow manager, certified snow professional, etc.

Following the more in-depth explanations of terms, the Glossary includes an easy to use index that lists each term. The index chart also refers the user back to the section where the term is defined in more detail.

Compiled using a variety of resources over the course of more than a year, the Glossary includes references and content sources for the materials.

"Our goal in producing this Glossary was to set industry standards for the terms commonly used in the snow and ice management profession," said Tirado.

To this end, the Glossary doesn't promote a particular fee structure or model. Further, SIMA makes no direct claim of copyright or ownership of any terms unless explicitly outlined in the Glossary.