Legal
Standard practice
Engineers are familiar with British Standards and their use
in specifications, but what do they tell you and why do they
matter? Hywel Davies explains
M
ore than 100 years ago Sir John Wolfe- Certification is accredited by UKAS for energy assessor

Barry, designer of Tower Bridge, persuaded accreditation, the only energy assessor body to achieve
the Council of the Institution of Civil this. These standards represent what is considered good
Engineers to form a committee to consider practice in the operation of the process in question. Many
standardising iron and steel sections. On 26 April 1901 standards are now used as the basis for product third
the Engineering Standards Committee, forerunner of party or process certification.
the British Standards Institution, met for the first time. What do all the numbers and letters mean? It seems a
Amongst the earliest standards was one for tramway rails, trivial question, but these can get very confusing. A BS is
which reduced the number of gauges from 75 to five. a British Standard, produced by BSI alone. A BS EN is a
The work on the tramway standard has a current European Standard, developed by a European standards
equivalent in the work of the Association of Ductwork committee. BSI and all CEN
Contractors. They are campaigning for the industry to members are obliged to adopt
commit to using the preferred standard ductwork sizes any standard approved by
The motive is
and shapes – and to stop using anything else. Again, the CEN. Since this uses qualified
motive is simple – the proliferation of shapes and sizes majority voting, even if a
simple – the
costs money and doesn’t add value. Standardisation saves member state votes against a
proliferation of shapes
money and adds value. standard, unless several others
Another early standard reduced the number of also vote against, the standard
and sizes costs money
structural steel sections from 175 to 113. Standardisation will be adopted by CEN and
and doesn’t add value.
had begun and in 1903 the British Standard Mark, now must be adopted by every
the Kitemark
®
, was created, to show that products met a member. Sometimes ISO
Standardisation saves
standard. After the Second World War the International adopts a European Standard,
money and
Organisation for Standardisation, known as ISO, was as for example with ISO 9001,
formed, comprising the BSI and many other National and it becomes a BS EN ISO
adds value
Standards Bodies, with a remit to produce international standard.
standards. Finally the European Standards body, CEN, But there is a catch. BSI can also adopt an International
or Comite European de Normalisation, was formed in Standard, and it becomes a BS ISO. At this point, beware:
1961. a BS EN is not the same as a BS ISO. Confusing maybe,
Standards are written by committees and represent a but in the arcane system of numbering standards, ISO
consensus view of good practice in the manufacture of and CEN can give totally different documents the same
the product in question. The committees should reflect number.
the views of all those with an interest in the standard – In another area of potential confusion, CEN creates
including manufacturers, designers, contractors and end ENs, known within CEN as EN1234. But they are only
users. Standards should be performance based and allow available from CEN members, not direct from CEN. This
new products to develop, if they meet the performance means that you cannot obtain a copy of plain EN 62305,
requirements. for example, but you have to buy BS EN 62305 or DIN EN
There are now many thousands of product standards. 62305. These must be identical to the EN. Again, this may
LEGAL NOTE:
A more recent development is process standards such as seem obvious – but confusion about this has led to serious Standards are not legally
BS EN ISO 9001, the quality standard; BS ISO 14000, misunderstanding and allegations of anti-competitive
binding, but they are often
the environmental standard; and BS EN ISO 17024:2003 behaviour for specifying BS EN 62305 instead of EN62305,
cited as a means of meeting
Building Regulations. Not
Conformity Assessment – general requirements, which the lightning protection standard. l
following a standard will
is for bodies operating certification of persons. This is
require more of a defence if
the personnel certification standard against which CIBSE
Hywel Davies is technical director of CIBSE.
the work gives rise to a claim.
28 CIBSE Journal October 2009 www.cibsejournal.com
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