Making life better for all

For more information about Standards visit the British Standards Institution (BSI) website at www.bsi-global.com Bullet-point

For more information about Accreditation visit the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) website at www.ukas.com Bullet-point

For more information about the Department for Trade & Industry's (DTI) work in promoting innovation visit www.dti.gov.uk/innovation Bullet-point

For more information about the work of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) visit www.cbi.org.uk Bullet-point

Day-to-day activities from choosing a washing machine cycle to using bar codes on a shopping trip all involve standards. Procedures such as energy labelling and complaints handling are all supported by standards developed in response to the needs of society.

Societal concerns addressed by standards include:

Bullet-point Creating safer work, home, and leisure environments.

Bullet-point Establishing values and benchmarks such as weights and measures for common use.

Bullet-point Providing protection at all levels, from personal to international.

Standardization also extends to broader social concerns, such as the environment or health and safety. However, the need to develop a standard must first be identified, and this is where society at large needs to participate.

Benefiting from standards

Among the central benefits of standards is that they enable compatibility between products and services, minimising confusion and making life less complicated. The success of standardization lies in recognising, understanding and addressing such interests appropriately.

Standards benefit society by:

Bullet-point Improving quality and compatibility.

Bullet-point Ensuring products and services that are reliable, safe and easy to use.

Bullet-point Providing opportunities for collaboration and shared knowledge, ideas and experience.

Bullet-point Providing freedom from discrimination and a means of redress.

NSSF: working with society

Academic institutions, non-governmental organisations, trade unions and consumers can all participate in the technical committees where standards are developed. These voices ensure standards are effective, practical and valuable to society.