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Let’s get started: Brief introduction to standards
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What are standards?
Standards are best practice documents which provide guidelines, recommendations, specifications, or requirements on how to do something in the best way possible. Take a look at the video below and explore how BSI standards play a crucial role in ensuring the quality and safety of products and services!
Different kinds of standards
Standards all have the same basic purpose of setting out agreed principles or criteria so that their users can make reliable assumptions about a particular product, service or practice. However, they can vary based on their flexibility, development speed, and the specific needs they address. Broadly, standards can be categorized into agile standards, international standards and national standards.
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Agile standards: BSI Flex & PAS
The aim of an agile standard is to balance the flexibility to respond to changing thinking and best practice with the speed to keep pace with evolving markets and the certainty of serving as an up-to-date reference point of current consensus.
The standards we’re developing here in the sustainable space community - Space sustainability - Launch – Guide and Space sustainability – Overarching Principles and Framework - Guide, are examples of BSI Flex standards, a type of agile standard. BSI’s Flex standards are a new, flexible way to develop consensus-based good practice that is dynamically able to keep pace with fast-changing markets.
More specifically, a BSI Flex is a sponsored fast-track standard that is developed through a consensus-building process facilitated by BSI Standards Limited, according to the requirements laid down in BSI Flex 0 v2.0:2022-08 - Principles of BSI Flex standardization and BSI Rules for the structure and drafting of UK standards.
Another agile standard is the PAS (Publicly Available Standard), which you can learn about it in our Standards 101 guide.
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British Standards
Other standards published by BSI are “British Standards”, which indicates they have been developed using the processes set out in BS 0, a standard for standards. British Standards are produced by a process involving a committee, consultation, and consensus. These committees help shape the standards that impact industries across the UK.
One such committee is the ACE/68 Space Systems and Operations, the UK committee for space standards that provides UK input into the following international and European committees:
- ISO/TC 20/ SC 14 Space systems
- ISO/TC 20/ SC 6 Standard atmosphere
- ISO/TC 20 SC 13 Space data and information
- CEN/CENCELEC JTC 5 Space
For more details about the committee, visit our committee page.
Alternatively, you may apply to be a committee member now.
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The benefits of standards
By providing frameworks of best practice, they enhance product and service quality, ensuring safety and reliability. Standards also facilitate interoperability, so everything works seamlessly together - crucial in our globally connected world.
They drive efficiency by streamlining processes, reducing waste, and minimizing errors. Standards also foster innovation, providing a foundation for new technologies to be developed, and can open access to new markets for businesses.
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The above provides a brief overview of what standards are, the different types of standards and their purposes. For a deeper dive into how they are developed, and how they impact various industries, check out our "Standards 101" guide. It offers a comprehensive look at the standards-making process and how these essential tools shape our world.