Codes and Standards

What are Codes and Standards?

Codes and standards establish minimum acceptable levels of safety, quality, and reliability. Understanding the codes and standards at both the industry and government level will allow you to better understand the expectations of your chosen field. Beyond engineering, codes and standards can also help you to understand business, economics, labor, and politics. Online databases and official websites are ideal for tracking down the most up-to-date codes and standards, though some are available in print.

How does this apply to the real world? Having a code or standard in place ensures that no matter where you are products, systems, services, and/or practices remain consistent. What if in Milwaukee green lights meant stop instead of go, but in Chicago yellow means go and red means slow down? There would be a lot of traffic accidents. Or what if fire hydrants in one city were different from that of another and a major fire broke out? There is a reason why you're able to go pretty much anywhere in the US without having to know the specifics of a location. That's the power of codes and standards. 

Below is a video explaining the NEC codes - Note that while it is not a direct translation of how other codes are presented, it can give you a better understanding of what a code is, how its used, and how to understand it's application. 

Definitions

• Standard - A technical publication or document created to ensure  reliability of the materials, products, methods, and/or services.  They establish the technical requirements, specifications, guidelines, characteristics, and/or procedures designed. 
  • Not required by law unless adopted as a code or regulation.
• Code - A type of standard that is supported and back up by law and/or government agencies. Unlike a standard, codes MUST be followed if they are adopted by a geographic region or if it is included in a contractual agreement. 
  • The International Building code is an example of a code that has been adopted country wide in the USA. 
• Regulation - A type of standard that has been mandated by law. These state legally obligated requirements that must be met under specific laws and implement general agency objectives.
  • OSHA regulations are an example of this. 
• Corporate/ Institutional standard - These types of standards are instructions, specifications or measurements that serve as minimally accepted requirements for expected normal practices in a specific organization.

Frequently Asked Standard Questions

Who uses standards?

• Small businesses, national and international businesses, governments, engineers, scientists, architects, designers, professors, students, etc.

Why are standards important?

• Standards offer a lot. They help mitigate risk, improve performance, improve sustainability, reduce costs, ensure safety, support regulatory compliance, advance innovations, etc.  

Do standards expire?

• Standards can expire, but the time frame can vary. This is dependent on the organization's review/ revision process. 

What happens if I don't use a standard?

• By choosing not to follow a standard you may: not be able to sell a product, gain a negative reputation in your field, face sanctions by government agencies, face civil or criminal lawsuits, lose revenue, be responsible for accidents or illness, lose a professional license or lose the ability to become licensed, etc. 

How are standards developed?

• Standards are usually a reactive response to a request from a consumer group, industry experts, and/or key stakeholders in a field. This can happen after an accident occurs, or general concern is raised about an process/ product/ or service. Groups of experts, stakeholders, and companies are gathered to create a panel to draft a standard. Every aspect of a standard needs to be taken into account including: Key definitions, scope of the standard, content, and more. Standards are then drafted in stages, with each stage going through a formal evaluation so that consensus and full input can be gathered. Once all that has occurred some codes/ standards get adopted into law while others are just adopted by an field/ industry as a way of standardizing their business. 

If you have suggestions for how to make this page better, please contact Elizabeth Jerow, Library Director (jerow@msoe.edu).