Keeping up standards

TWI Bulletin, March - April 2004

Worldwide contributions to worldwide industry

Please note some of the information found below has now been superseded by the contents found on this page.

TWI has representatives on many national and international standards committees for welding, joining, materials, engineering and NDT. As TWI's director of research and technology, Christoph Wiesner reports their expert contribution to the work of these committees, and assistance to Industrial Members on standards issues, is an important TWI activity.

Quality and reliability are of prime concern to industry. The recognised way of ensuring satisfaction for both producers and consumers is by working to relevant standards or specifications.

Standard specifications may be national or international. The current trend is towards production of international standard specifications, so goods can be manufactured for a worldwide market.

Worldwide international standards are produced by the International Standards Organisation (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Institute of Welding (IIW). Most standards within the European Union (EU) are harmonised by CEN (Comité Européen de Normalisation) and CENELEC (Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique), who produce ENs (European Standards). These must be implemented as national standards - by the British Standards Institution in the UK, eg BS EN ISO 9002 (Model for quality assurance in production, installation and servicing). Exceptions are aerospace standards which are covered by AECMA and iron and steel standards by ECISS.

Alternatively, the specification followed could be produced by a particular organisation or trade association, to meet the needs of a specialist manufacturing group or industry, or as part of a product specification defined by a purchaser or manufacturer. For instance: Codes of Practice produced by the British Compressed Gas Association (BCGA): Guidance Notes and Codes of Practice produced by the Health and Safety Executive.

TWI's Information Services Department holds thousands of specifications from many countries, indexes of national specifications, and listings of other specifications and Codes of Practice. It offers help with identifying standards or specifications on a particular subject, and provides general information from any current specification held in stock.

TWI staff will provide technical advice, clarification and guidance for many of these specifications.

TWI personnel spend much time and effort assisting in the production of British, European and International Standards and are happy to receive comments to help with this process or questions from Member companies on the topics under consideration in their committees. The following list will act as a guide for information on specifications among TWI staff in your interest areas.

Members are invited to contact TWI to voice their concerns and opinions regarding standards and specifications. Suggestions for TWI involvement in committees not currently listed are also welcome.

TWI standards activities - British and International Committees