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British Standards



 
 
British Standards are produced by BSI British Standards, a division of BSI Group
BSI Group

BSI Group, also known in its home market as the British Standards Institution is a multinational business services provider whose principal activity is the production of standards and the supply of standards-related services....
 that is incorporated under a Royal Charter
Royal Charter

A royal charter is a charter granted by a Monarch to create institutions or other forms of incorporated bodies . In the United Kingdom legal tradition a royal charter is in the form of letters patent....
 and is formally designated as the National Standards Body
Standards organization

A standards organization, standards body, standards development organization or SDO is any entity whose primary activities are developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpreting, or otherwise maintaining standards that address the interests of a wide base of users outside the standards develo...
 (NSB) for the UK. Products and services which BSI certifies as having met the requirements of specific standards within designated schemes are awarded the Kitemark
Kitemark

The Kitemark is a UK product and service quality certification mark which is owned by the British Standards Institution and operated by its Product Services division....
.

standards produced are titled British Standard XXXX[-P]:YYYY where XXXX is the number of the standard, P is the number of the part of the standard (where the standard is split into multiple parts) and YYYY is the year in which the standard came into effect.






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Kitemark
British Standards are produced by BSI British Standards, a division of BSI Group
BSI Group

BSI Group, also known in its home market as the British Standards Institution is a multinational business services provider whose principal activity is the production of standards and the supply of standards-related services....
 that is incorporated under a Royal Charter
Royal Charter

A royal charter is a charter granted by a Monarch to create institutions or other forms of incorporated bodies . In the United Kingdom legal tradition a royal charter is in the form of letters patent....
 and is formally designated as the National Standards Body
Standards organization

A standards organization, standards body, standards development organization or SDO is any entity whose primary activities are developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpreting, or otherwise maintaining standards that address the interests of a wide base of users outside the standards develo...
 (NSB) for the UK. Products and services which BSI certifies as having met the requirements of specific standards within designated schemes are awarded the Kitemark
Kitemark

The Kitemark is a UK product and service quality certification mark which is owned by the British Standards Institution and operated by its Product Services division....
.

The standards

The standards produced are titled British Standard XXXX[-P]:YYYY where XXXX is the number of the standard, P is the number of the part of the standard (where the standard is split into multiple parts) and YYYY is the year in which the standard came into effect. British Standards currently has over 27,000 active standards. Products are commonly specified as meeting a particular British Standard, and in general this can be done without any certification or independent testing. The standard simply provides a shorthand way of claiming that certain specifications are met, while encouraging manufacturers to adhere to a common method for such a specification.

The Kitemark
Kitemark

The Kitemark is a UK product and service quality certification mark which is owned by the British Standards Institution and operated by its Product Services division....
 can be used to indicate certification by BSI, but only where a Kitemark
Kitemark

The Kitemark is a UK product and service quality certification mark which is owned by the British Standards Institution and operated by its Product Services division....
 scheme has been set up around a particular standard. It is mainly applicable to safety and quality management standards. There is a common misunderstanding that Kitemarks are necessary to prove compliance with any BS standard, but in general it is neither desirable nor possible that every standard be 'policed' in this way.

Following the move on harmonisation
Harmonisation

Harmonisation or harmonization may refer to:* In international law, the harmonisation of law is the process by which different state s adopt the same laws....
 of the standard in Europe, some British Standards are gradually superseded or replaced by the relevant European Standards
List of EN standards

This is an incomplete list of European standards maintained by CEN and CENELEC :...
 (EN).

History

BSI Group began in 1901 as the Engineering Standards Committee, led by James Mansergh
James Mansergh

James Mansergh was an England civil engineer.Mansergh was born in Lancaster, England. He started his career in railway work and then designed many sewage schemes and fresh water schemes....
, to standardise the number and type of steel
Steel

Steel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.14% by weight , depending on grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten....
 sections, in order to make British
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 manufacturers more efficient and competitive.

Over time the standards developed to cover many aspects of tangible engineering, and then engineering methodologies including quality systems, safety and security.

Examples of British Standards

  • BS 0 A standard for standards specifies Development, Structure and Drafting of British Standards themselves.
  • BS 31 steel conduit and fittings for electrical wiring
  • BS 88 cartridge fuses for voltages up to and including 1000 V a.c. and 1500 V d.c.
  • BS 196 for protected-type non-reversible plugs, socket-outlets cable-couplers and appliance-couplers with earthing contacts for single phase a.c. circuits up to 250 volts
  • BS 336 for fire hose couplings and ancillary equipment
  • BS 381 for colours used in identification, coding and other special purposes
  • BS 476 for fire resistance of building materials / elements
  • BS 499-1 Welding terms and symbols. Glossary for welding, brazing and thermal cutting
  • BS 546
    BS 546

    BS 546 is an old British Standard for domestic AC power plugs and sockets. These are also known as type D and type M in US documentation. When viewed in photographs with no indication of scale the different ratings look similar, but where a photograph shows more than one type the difference in size is obvious....
     for mains power plugs and sockets (older standard)
  • BS 857
    BS 857

    BS 857:1967 is a currently in-use British Standards specification for flat or curved Windshield for use in land vehicles, including road vehicles and railway vehicles....
     for safety glass
    Windshield

    The windshield or windscreen of an aircraft, automobile, bus, motorcycle, or tram is the front window. Modern windshields are generally made of Laminated glass, a type of treated glass, which consists of two curved sheets of glass with a plastic layer laminated between them for safety, and are Polyurethaned into the window frame....
     for land transport
  • BS 1088
    BS 1088

    In materials, the BS 1088 specification is a marine plywood specification that applies to plywood produced with untreated tropical hardwood veneers that have a set level of resistance to fungus attack....
     for marine plywood
  • BS 1192
    BS 1192

    BS 1192 is the British Standard that establishes the methodology for managing the production, distribution and quality of construction information, including that generated by CAD systems, using a disciplined process for collaboration and a specified naming policy....
     for Construction Drawing Practice. Part 5 (BS1192-5:1998) concerns Guide for structuring and exchange of CAD data.
  • BS 1361 for cartridge fuses for a.c. circuits in domestic and similar premises
  • BS 1363
    BS 1363

    British Standard BS 1363 specifies the most common type of domestic AC power plugs and sockets that are used in the United Kingdom, Cyprus, Republic of Ireland, Malta, Malaysia, Singapore and many former British overseas territory....
     for mains
    Mains electricity

    Mains is the general-purpose alternating current electric power supply. The term is not often used in the United States and Canada. In the US, mains power is referred to by a variety of formal and informal names, including household power, household electricity, domestic power, wall power, line power, AC p...
     power plugs and sockets
    Domestic AC power plugs and sockets

    AC power plugs and sockets are devices for removably connecting electrically-operated devices to the mains electricity.An electric plug is a gender of connectors and fasteners electrical connector with contact prongs to connect mechanically and electrically to slots in the matching female socket....
  • BS 1377-9:1990 The standard penetration test (SPT) is an in-situ dynamic penetration test designed to provide information on the geotechnical engineering properties of soil.
  • BS 1852
    BS 1852

    The British standard BS 1852 and its replacement, BS EN 60062, comprises a colour code for fixed resistors; letter and digit code for resistance and capacitance values; letter code for resistance and capacitance tolerances and a data code for capacitors and resistors....
     resistor
    Resistor

    |- align = "center"||width = "25"|| |- align = "center"||| Potentiometer|- align = "center"| || |- align = "top"| Resistor|| Variable resistor...
     and capacitor
    Capacitor

    A capacitor or condenser is a Passive component electronic component consisting of a pair of electrical conductor separated by a dielectric....
     value coding
  • BS 2660 Colours for Building and Decorative Paints
  • BS 3506 for unplasticized PVC pipe for industrial uses
  • BS 3621 for thief resistant lock assembly. Key egress
    Egress

    Egress may refer to:* Egress , the right of a person to leave a property in property law* Egress , the passage of signal intended to remain within a coaxial cable into the outside world...
    .
  • BS 3943 for plastics waste traps
    Trap (plumbing)

    In plumbing, a trap is a U-, S-, or J-shaped pipe located below or within a plumbing fixture. A U-shaped trap is also known as a U-bend....
  • BS 4573 Specification for 2-pin reversible plugs and shaver socket-outlets
  • BS 4293 for residual current-operated circuit-breakers
  • BS 4343 for industrial electrical power connectors
  • BS 4800 for paint colours used in building construction
  • BS 4900 for vitreous enamel colours used in building construction
  • BS 4901 for plastic colours used in building construction
  • BS 4902 for sheet / tile floor covering colours used in building construction
  • BS 4960 for weighing instruments for domestic cookery
  • BS 4962 for plastics pipes and fittings for use as subsoil field drains
  • BS 5252 for colour-coordination in building construction
  • BS 5400
    BS 5400

    BS 5400 is a British Standards for design and construction of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge use in highway and railway.The standard specifies the requirements and the code of practice on design of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge that use Structural steel sections as well as the materials and Workmanship in Bridge...
     Steel, concrete and composite bridges.
    • BS 5400-1
      BS 5400

      BS 5400 is a British Standards for design and construction of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge use in highway and railway.The standard specifies the requirements and the code of practice on design of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge that use Structural steel sections as well as the materials and Workmanship in Bridge...
       General statement
    • BS 5400-2
      BS 5400

      BS 5400 is a British Standards for design and construction of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge use in highway and railway.The standard specifies the requirements and the code of practice on design of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge that use Structural steel sections as well as the materials and Workmanship in Bridge...
       Specification for loads
    • BS 5400-3
      BS 5400

      BS 5400 is a British Standards for design and construction of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge use in highway and railway.The standard specifies the requirements and the code of practice on design of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge that use Structural steel sections as well as the materials and Workmanship in Bridge...
       Code of practice for design of steel bridges
    • BS 5400-4
      BS 5400

      BS 5400 is a British Standards for design and construction of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge use in highway and railway.The standard specifies the requirements and the code of practice on design of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge that use Structural steel sections as well as the materials and Workmanship in Bridge...
       Code of practice for design of concrete bridges.
    • BS 5400-5
      BS 5400

      BS 5400 is a British Standards for design and construction of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge use in highway and railway.The standard specifies the requirements and the code of practice on design of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge that use Structural steel sections as well as the materials and Workmanship in Bridge...
       Code of practice for design of composite bridges
    • BS 5400-6
      BS 5400

      BS 5400 is a British Standards for design and construction of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge use in highway and railway.The standard specifies the requirements and the code of practice on design of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge that use Structural steel sections as well as the materials and Workmanship in Bridge...
       Specification for materials and workmanship, steel.
    • BS 5400-7
      BS 5400

      BS 5400 is a British Standards for design and construction of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge use in highway and railway.The standard specifies the requirements and the code of practice on design of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge that use Structural steel sections as well as the materials and Workmanship in Bridge...
       Specification for materials and workmanship, concrete, reinforcement and prestressing tendons.
    • BS 5400-8
      BS 5400

      BS 5400 is a British Standards for design and construction of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge use in highway and railway.The standard specifies the requirements and the code of practice on design of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge that use Structural steel sections as well as the materials and Workmanship in Bridge...
       Recommendations for materials and workmanship, concrete, reinforcement and prestressing tendons.
    • BS 5400-9.1
      BS 5400

      BS 5400 is a British Standards for design and construction of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge use in highway and railway.The standard specifies the requirements and the code of practice on design of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge that use Structural steel sections as well as the materials and Workmanship in Bridge...
       Bridge bearings. Code of practice for design of bridge bearings.
    • BS 5400-9.2
      BS 5400

      BS 5400 is a British Standards for design and construction of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge use in highway and railway.The standard specifies the requirements and the code of practice on design of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge that use Structural steel sections as well as the materials and Workmanship in Bridge...
       Bridge bearings. Specification for materials, manufacture and installation of bridge bearings.
    • BS 5400-10
      BS 5400

      BS 5400 is a British Standards for design and construction of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge use in highway and railway.The standard specifies the requirements and the code of practice on design of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge that use Structural steel sections as well as the materials and Workmanship in Bridge...
       Code of practice for fatigue.
    • BS 5400-10C
      BS 5400

      BS 5400 is a British Standards for design and construction of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge use in highway and railway.The standard specifies the requirements and the code of practice on design of Steel Bridge, Concrete and composite Bridge that use Structural steel sections as well as the materials and Workmanship in Bridge...
       Charts for classification of details for fatigue
  • BS 5499 for graphical symbols and signs in building construction; including shape, colour and layout
  • BS 5544 for anti-bandit glazing (glazing resistant to manual attack)
  • BS 5750 for quality management, the source for ISO 9000
  • BS 5930
    BS 5930

    BS 5930:1999, "the code of practice for site investigations", is a UK code of practice published in October 1999 by the British Standards Institute....
     for site investigations
  • BS 5950
    BS 5950

    BS 5950 is the British Standards for the design, fabrication and erection of structural steelwork. It does not apply to bridges, which are covered by BS 5400....
     for structural steel
  • BS 6312 for telephone plugs and sockets
  • BS 6651 code of practice for protection of structures against lightning
  • BS 6701 installation, operation and maintenance of telecommunications equipment and telecommunications cabling
  • BS 6879 for British geocodes, a superset of ISO 3166-2:GB
    ISO 3166-2:GB

    ISO 3166-2:GB is an International Organization for Standardization standard which defines geocodes: it is the subset of ISO 3166-2 which applies to the United Kingdom....
  • BS 7430 code of practice for earthing
    Ground (electricity)

    In electrical engineering, ground or earth may be the reference point in an electrical circuit from which other voltages are measured, or a common return path for electric current, or a direct physical connection to the Earth....
  • BS 7671
    BS 7671

    British Standard BS 7671 "Requirements for electrical installations" is the national standard in the United Kingdom for low voltage electrical installations....
     Requirements for Electrical Installations, The IEE
    Institution of Electrical Engineers

    The Institution of Electrical Engineers or IEE was a British professional organisation for electronics, electrical, manufacturing and Information technology professionals....
     Wiring Regulations, produced by the IET
    Institution of Engineering and Technology

    The Institution of Engineering and Technology is a United Kingdom professional body for those working in engineering and technology in the United Kingdom and worldwide....
    .
  • BS 7799
    BS 7799

    BS 7799 was a standard originally published by the British Standards Institute in 1995. It was written by the United Kingdom Government's Department of Trade and Industry , and after several revisions, was eventually adopted by ISO as ISO/IEC 17799, "Information Technology - Code of practice for information security management." in 2000....
     for information security, the source for ISO/IEC 27001
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001, part of the growing ISO/IEC_27000-series of standards, is an information security management system standard published in October 2005 by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission ....
    , 27002
    ISO/IEC 27002

    ISO/IEC 27002 part of a growing family of ISO/IEC ISMS standards, the 'ISO/IEC_27000-series' is an information security standard published by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission as ISO/IEC 17799:2005 and subsequently renumbered ISO/IEC 27002:2005 in July 2007, bringing...
     (former 17799), and 27005
    ISO/IEC 27005

    ISO/IEC 27005 part of a growing family of ISO/IEC ISMS standards, the 'ISO/IEC 27000-series' is an information security standard being currently developed by the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission ....
  • BS 7901 for recovery vehicles and vehicle recovery equipment
  • BS 7925-1
    BS 7925-1

    BS 7925-1 is a Glossary of Software Testing Terms, along with its partner BS 7925-2 Software component testing.The standard was developed by the Testing Standards Working Party and published in August 1998....
     Vocabulary of terms in software testing
  • BS 7925-2
    BS 7925-2

    BS 7925-2 is the Software Component Testing Standard, along with its partner BS 7925-1 which is a Glossary of Software Testing Terms.The standard was developed by the Testing Standards Working Party and published in August 1998....
     Software component testing
  • BS 8110
    BS 8110

    BS 8110 is a British Standard for the design and construction of reinforced concrete and prestressed concrete structures. It is based on limit state design principles....
     for structural concrete
  • BS 8485 for the characterization and remediation from ground gas in affected developments
  • BS 8494
    BS 8494

    BS 8494 is a 2007 British Standard for portable apparatus designed to detect and measure carbon dioxide in ambient air or extraction systems....
     for detecting and measuring carbon dioxide in ambient air or extraction systems
  • BS 15000 for IT Service Management
    IT Service Management

    IT Service Management is a discipline for managing information technology systems, philosophically centered on the customer's perspective of IT's contribution to the business. ITSM stands in deliberate contrast to technology-centered approaches to IT management and business interaction....
    , (ITIL
    Itil

    Itil may mean:*Atil or Itil, the ancient capital of Khazaria*Itil , also Idel, Atil, Atal, the ancient and modern Turkic name of the river Volga....
    ), now ISO/IEC 20000
  • BS 3G 101 for general requirements for mechanical and electromechanical aircraft indicators


Publicly Available Specifications

BSI also publishes a series of Publicly Available Specification (PAS)
Publicly Available Specification

The PAS is a consultative document where the development process and written format is based on the British Standard model. Any organisation, association or group who wish to document standardised best practice on a specific subject, both for the benefit of their industry and to help promote their expertise, can commission a PAS, subject to the B...
 documents.

Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) are a flexible and rapid standards development model that is open to all organizations. A PAS is a sponsored piece of work allowing organizations flexibility in the rapid creation of a standard while also allowing for a greater degree of control over the document's development. A typical development time frame for a PAS is around 6-9 months. Once published by BSI a PAS has all the functionality of a British Standard for the purposes of creating schemes such as management systems and product benchmarks as well as codes of practice. A PAS is a living document and after two years the document will be reviewed and a decision made with the client as to whether or not this should be taken forward to become a formal British standard.

Examples


  • PAS 78: Guide to good practice in commissioning accessible websites
    Pas 78

    PAS 78: Guide to good practice in commissioning accessible websites is a Publicly Available Specification published on March 8 2006 by the British Standards Institution in collaboration with the Disability Rights Commission ....
  • PAS 55- 1: Asset management - Specification for the optimized management of physical infrastructure assests
    PAS 55

    PAS 55 - Asset management is a Publicly Available Specification published by the British Standards Institution.This PAS gives guidance and best practice on Infrastructure Asset Management, typically this is relevant to infrastructure, gas, electric and water utilities, road works, public facilities like airports and rail stations and to tra...
  • PAS 72: Responsible Fishing - Specification of good practice for fishing vessels
  • PAS 911: Fire strategies - guidance and framework for their formulation
  • PAS 82: Shopfitting - Management system specification
  • PAS 77: IT Service continuity Management - Code of Practice


  • BSI PAS 100
    BSI PAS 100

    The United Kingdom Composting Association worked to establish an industry standard for composts, the BSI PAS 100 certified by the British Standards Institute....
     Composting specification
  • BSI PAS 101 Specification for recovered container glass
  • BSI PAS 102 Specification for processed glass for selected secondary end markets
  • BSI PAS 103 Specification for quality and guidance for good practice in collection and preparation for recycling
  • BSI PAS 104 Specification for quality and guidance for good practice for the supply of post consumer wood for consumption in the manufacture of panel board products
  • BSI PAS 105 Specification for paper waste


Availability


Copies of British Standards are sold at the BSI Online Shop or can be accessed via subscription to British Standards Online (BSOL). They can also be ordered via the publishing units of many other national standards bodies (ANSI
American National Standards Institute

The American National Standards Institute or ANSI is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States....
, DIN
Din

DIN or Din or din can have several meanings:-* A din is a loud noise.* Deen , an Arabic language term meaning "religion" or "way of life"....
, etc.) and from several specialized suppliers of technical specifications.

Many British Standards (BS) – as well as some of the European and International Standards that were adopted as British Standards (BS EN, BS ISO) – are also available in public and university libraries in the United Kingdom. However, BSI makes standards available to these libraries only under licence restrictions which forbid loan, inter-library loan, open-shelf access, and copying of more than 10% of a document by library users. The BSI Library in Chiswick
Chiswick

Chiswick is an affluent area of West London, located west of Charing Cross, which covers the eastern part of the London Borough of Hounslow....
 charges visiting members of the public a fee of £10 per hour (contact the Library in advance of the visit on +44 (0)20 8996 7004 or library@bsigroup.com). This service is free to BSI members, students and accredited journalists.

See also

  • Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements
    Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements

    The Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements or IRMM, located in Geel, Belgium, is one of the seven institutes of the Joint Research Centre , a Directorate-General of the European Commission ....
     (EU)


External links