Introduction
Standards - published specifications - are an invaluable world-wide resource and the process that leads to standardisation is big business. Globally there are well over half a million published Standards. These are the products of over 1,000 recognised Standards development organisations worldwide. These figures don't take into account the innumerable internal Standards, which underpin any successful business.
This massive collection of accumulated knowledge and expertise does not come cheaply. It is an expensive exercise to develop a publicly available Standard. Criteria for such a Standard are that it represents a consensus from a committee of technical experts specifically chosen to bring a broad range of viewpoints to the committee deliberations; and these experts contribute their knowledge and time to develop the Standard free of charge. However there is an economic cost to their contribution and worldwide this amounts to a very significant figure.
In Australia alone there are around 9,000 technical committee members. It is estimated that their contribution is worth over $30,000,000 per year, when considered as an opportunity cost.
The size of the global commitment to the standardisation process is not readily available, but a reasonable estimate is possible. For example in Germany there are around 50,000 technical committee members and in the UK there are 31,000. In the US there are over 400 industry-based Standards development organisations, each with many technical committees, some of which have a significantly larger membership than equivalent committees in the rest of the world.
Based on available figures, a conservative estimate of the number of people currently involved in the standardising process worldwide is over half a million. Using the Australian opportunity cost as a reasonable median value, it is realistic to suggest that approximately $1.5 billion is being invested globally each year in the creation and management of Standards.
A brief history of Standards
Standards have been around a long time. Relics from ancient civilisations such as Babylon and early Egypt provide ample evidence that standardisation was being used as far back as seven thousand years ago. The earliest Standards were the physical Standards for weights and measures. They provided a single reference point against which all other weights and measures in that society could be standardised. As trade and commerce developed, written documents evolved which set down mutually agreed Standards for products and services such as agriculture, ships, buildings, weapons and so on.
A uniform set of criteria evolves
Initially such Standards were unique documents and part of a single contract between the supplier and purchaser. Later the concept of common Standards evolved, where the same Standard could be used across a range of transactions. This portability, offering a uniform set of criteria, is the basis of modern standardisation. It uses common knowledge, requirements and needs to avoid reinventing the wheel.
After the Industrial Revolution
After the rapid industrialisation of the early nineteenth century, the general absence of national standardisation caused huge inefficiencies. Lack of conformity was a major cost and evidence of this is still apparent today in the number of different railway gauges that exist. After the Industrial Revolution, occupational injury also became a major issue and workers approached any nineteenth century machinery with a legitimate degree of fear. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), one of the first voluntary standardising bodies, was established in 1880 when, according to their records, over 50,000 fatalities a year were being caused by explosions in pressures systems on land and at sea.
Standards in contemporary society
It wasn't until the latter years of the 19th Century that the value of standardisation in specifications, materials, testing and conformance was recognised as a national priority. By the turn of the century standardisation was flourishing and has continued to where it has now become intrinsic to modern society. It has extended far beyond its original industrial focus to include consumer safety, occupational health and a myriad of other topics, all of which serve to improve the quality and comfort of our everyday life.
Standards are the tools we use to organise our technical world and the measures we employ to establish norms for management procedures. They underpin consumer expectations that products purchased will be safe, reliable and fit-for-purpose. Indeed, Standards have become such integral components of our economic, social and legal systems, that they are often taken for granted and their crucial role in a modern society is often not recognised.
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