BSI Standards
About BSI, or the British Standards Institution
The British Standards Institution (BSI) was established in 1901 and incorporated by Royal Charter in 1929. The BSI is the UK’s national standards body, the world’s first standards body and a founding member of ISO Standards (International Organization for Standardization).
The BSI has a long history with its establishment in 1932. Today, it is a leading non-profit standards organisation providing standards, certification, training, and testing services to industries including construction, IT healthcare, manufacturing, professional services and utilities.
BSI plays a vital role in developing and maintaining standards worldwide with a mission to inspire innovation, best practices and excellence for a safer and sustainable world.
Intertek Inform: Your Gateway to BSI Standards
BSI Standards can help industries around the world improve processes, products and performance by embedding quality, safety and sustainability to meet the needs of customers, regulators and stakeholders. Businesses can use BSI British Standards to access new markets and opportunities while maintaining a global competitive edge.
As an authorised reseller, Intertek Inform has over 50,000 BSI standards and publications. The BSI Standards list spans multiple sectors, facilitating business improvement and excellence.
At Intertek Inform, we have a vast, easily accessible catalogue of published standards available to purchase online as a download or a printed (hardcopy) document.
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British Standards Institution (BSI) Standards for Compliance
The British Standards Institution (BSI) is the national Standards body for the United Kingdom. The BSI issues the British Standards and provides certification, testing, and training services to organizations throughout the UK.
Originally formed in 1901 as the Engineering Standards Committee, BSI prides itself as the first Standards body in the world. Over 70,000 organizations and businesses across the globe use BSI Standards and services to, for example, certify their products, upgrade quality control, improve IT management, and boost customer satisfaction. In our BSI collection, you can buy Standards in PDF or hardcopy form.
Understanding BSI British Standards
There are over 50,000 British Standards, ranging from BSI fire safety Standards to the best practices for manufacturing. Some of the sectors covered by British Standards are:
- Aerospace Standards: These include quality management, supply chain solutions, and public health protocols.
- Food, agri-food (food produced by farming) and drink Standards: These outline how to produce high-quality food and drink in an ethically responsible and environmentally sustainable way.
- Government Standards (local and national): BSI works collaboratively with the UK government to provide Standards for the UK economy, enhance infrastructure, and implement public policy.
- Cloud security Standards: These provide a best-practice approach to security controls, personally identifiable information, and greater efficiency.
- Manufacturing Standards: These Standards embrace quality control systems, supply chain management, sustainability, market access, and more.
- Occupational health and safety Standards: These strengthen regulatory and legal compliance to provide a safe and healthy workplace.
Importance of BSI Standards in Industry Compliance
What is the primary use of BSI Standards? Essentially, they provide guidelines to improve quality, safety, efficiency, and competitiveness. While Standards themselves are not legal documents, governments can include Standards in their legislation, at which point compliance with those Standards becomes mandatory.
To assist organizations and businesses with achieving and maintaining compliance, BSI takes three approaches:
- Providing a vast library of Standards and whitepapers in PDF and hardcopy form.
- Delivering training to individuals and organizations on individual Standards and issuing credentials.
- BSI can test, verify, and certify products and services to ensure compliance with government and industry requirements.
How BSI Safety Standards Improve Workplace Protection
BSI safety Standards in the workplace are based on BS EN ISO 45001. These cover the Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) requirements of any business or organization. These Standards implement a management system that supervises and improves emergency planning, incident investigation, identifying hazards, assessing risks, and compliance.
BSI Sustainability Standards for Environmental Regulations
BSI sustainability Standards consist of individual Standards in a number of disciplines. Some of these are:
- BS EN ISO 14001 is an environmental management system that improves environmental performance while reducing the environmental impact of your business.
- BS 42020 is a biodiversity code of practice for using the correct ecological information in planning and development by civil engineers, forest sectors, and landscape architects.
- BS EN 14626 is the Standard for measuring the concentration of carbon monoxide in ambient air.
Difference Between BSI and Other Standardisation Bodies
As the world’s first Standards body and a founding member of the International Organization for Standardisation (ISO), the BSI is a world leader in Standards, implementation, and compliance. It is a global organization, boasting over 84,000 clients in 193 countries.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here, you’ll find answers to common questions related to BSI Standards, such as what they are, what they do and the ownership and governance structure of the Standards.
So, what are BSI Standards? BSI standards cover sectors such as quality management, environmental management, health and safety, information security, and many more. BSI standards provide the knowledge and best practices that organisations need to succeed, improve their performance, reduce their risk, and be more sustainable
The international standards of BSI (including a more extensive set of adopted ISO standards and CEN standards than other standards bodies) create a technical understanding of how to do better in business globally.
As such, BSI is a trusted partner for businesses, governments, and consumers, helping them achieve excellence and innovation through the BSI standards.
There are no “owners” as such of BSI Standards. BSI is an independent, non-governmental organisation that operates as a Royal Charter Company, meaning it is a private company with legal status and privileges granted by the sovereign. BSI Standards has no share capital and is a non-profit distributing company - its profits are re-invested into the business.
The Board has ultimate authority of BSI, comprising a majority of non-executive directors. The Board is responsible for the success of the business and the provision of entrepreneurial leadership within a framework of prudent and effective controls.
The BSI creates technical standards for products and services for a broad range of industries worldwide. Standards benefit organisations in many ways, such as assisting in entering new markets, facilitating trade, growing sustainably, improving efficiencies and embedding excellence and trust in products and services.
For instance, one of the most common ISO standards for certification is ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems. As a result, certified businesses benefit from improved products and services, a reduction in mistakes, an increase in customers and an increase in competitive edge.
As the leading standards body in the United Kingdom, BSI participates in developing international and regional standards, representing the United Kingdom’s interests and ensuring alignment with global best practices.