MANAGING BEST PRACTICES: Conforming with consensus standards
When OSHA was enacted in 1970 one way Congress accelerated the development of safety and health requirements was to incorporate by reference into law mandatory compliance with national voluntary consensus standards developed by organizations such as the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), ASTM (formerly the American Society for Testing and Materials), the Compressed Gas Association (CGA), and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).
Consensus standards are important because they establish quality and performance objectives for products or a process. According to ANSI, “standards are more essential today than any time in our nation’s history,” and “voluntary consensus standards are at the foundation of the U.S. economy.”
Few people are aware just how many of these standards there are and how influential they have become. Today hundreds of national and global organizations have developed more than 180,000 voluntary consensus standards. Old standards are being revised and new standards are being developed all the time.
The National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 accelerated the conformance with voluntary consensus standards by U.S. government agencies. The law directs all federal agencies use, whenever feasible, consensus standards developed by standard-setting organizations rather than developing government-unique standards. In FY 2005, federal agencies used numerous consensus standards from 407 different standard-setting organizations.