The BGA is actively involved in supporting the review and development of both British Standards and ISO standards. This is facilitated by a team of volunteers who give their time to ensure that the UK needs and opinions are properly represented and considered by the international gearing community.
BSI report that ‘Independent research on the economic contribution of standards to the UK economy and businesses finds that standards boost UK productivity and improve performance, kick-start innovation, and support UK domestic and international trade.’ So, it’s a good thing to be involved with and UK businesses need to be aware of relevant standards, their current status and the potential impact from revisions which are being implemented.
What are standards?
ISO state ‘A standard is a document, established by a consensus of subject matter experts and approved by a recognized body that provides guidance on the design, use or performance of materials, products, processes, services, systems or persons.’
Furthermore, they state ‘The formal definition from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and its sister organization, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is: a document, established by consensus and approved by a recognized body, that provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context.’ https://www.iso.org/sites/ConsumersStandards/1_standards.html
Some things you should know about standards
Unless invoked in a law, statute or a contract, compliance with a standard is not mandatory.
If a standard is invoked in a specification or contract, it becomes mandatory to invoke the whole standard, unless exceptions are formally agreed.
Get involved
Getting involved with standard development will bring many benefits to individuals and organisations:
It will keep you up to date on the latest ideas and analysis methods
Make sure that standards support your business needs
Ensure the UK is represented at the ‘top table’ of standards work
Provides a great way develop your understanding of gear technology and the important issues we are facing
Great experience for less experienced staff who simply want to learn
If you want further information about standards or BGA’s role developing them, please contact BGA staff who will be happy to answer your questions.
The BGA standards library
The BGA maintains a library of 25 ISO and BS gear related standards that are free to access by BGA members. This keeps you up to date with the latest versions of these standards.
The link below will take you to the BGA standards library.
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