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The British Standards Institution (BSI) is the national standards body of the United Kingdom. BSI produces
technical standard A technical standard is an established norm or requirement for a repeatable technical task which is applied to a common and repeated use of rules, conditions, guidelines or characteristics for products or related processes and production methods, ...
s on a wide range of products and services and also supplies certification and standards-related services to businesses.


History

BSI was founded as the Engineering Standards Committee in London in 1901.Robert C McWilliam. BSI: The first hundred years. 2001. Thanet Press. London It subsequently extended its standardization work and became the British Engineering Standards Association in 1918, adopting the name British Standards Institution in 1931 after receiving a Royal Charter in 1929. In 1998 a revision of the Charter enabled the organization to diversify and acquire other businesses, and the trading name was changed to BSI Group. The Group now operates in 195 countries. The core business remains standards and standards related services, although the majority of the Group's revenue comes from
management systems A management system is a set of policies, processes and procedures used by an organization to ensure that it can fulfill the tasks required to achieve its objectives. These objectives cover many aspects of the organization's operations (including ...
assessment and certification work. In 2021, BSI appointed its first female chief executive officer, Susan Taylor Martin.


Activities

BSI produces
British Standards British Standards (BS) are the standards produced by the BSI Group which is incorporated under a royal charter and which is formally designated as the national standards body (NSB) for the UK. The BSI Group produces British Standards under the ...
, and, as the UK's National Standards Body, is also responsible for the UK publication, in English, of international and European standards. BSI is obliged to adopt and publish all European Standards as identical British Standards (prefixed BS EN) and to withdraw pre-existing British Standards that are in conflict. However, it has the option to adopt and publish international standards (prefixed BS ISO or BS IEC). In response to commercial demands, BSI also produces commissioned standards products such as Publicly Available Specifications, (PASs), Private Standards and Business Information Publications. These products are commissioned by individual organizations and trade associations to meet their needs for standardized specifications, guidelines, codes of practice etc. Because they are not subject to the same consultation and consensus requirements as formal standards, the lead time is shorter. BSI also publishes standards-related books, CD-ROMs, subscription and web-based products as well as providing training on standards-related issues.


Management systems assessment and certification

With 80,000 clients, BSI is one of the world's largest certification bodies. It audits and provides certification to companies worldwide who implement management systems standards. BSI also runs training courses that cover the implementation and auditing requirements of national and international management systems standards. It is independently accredited and assesses a wide range of standards and other specifications including:


Testing Services and Healthcare

Within Testing Services, BSI's best known product in the UK is the
Kitemark The Kitemark is a UK product and service quality trade mark which is owned and operated by the British Standards Institution ( BSI Group). The Kitemark is most frequently used to identify products where safety is paramount, such as crash helmet ...
, a registered certification mark first used in 1903. The Kitemark – which is recognized by 82% of UK adults – signifies products or services which have been assessed and tested as meeting the requirements of the related specification or standard within a Kitemark scheme. BSI also conducts testing of products for a range of certifications, including for CE marking. CE marking must be applied to a wide range of products intended for sale in the European Economic Area. Frequently manufacturers or importers need a third-party certification of their product from an accredited or 'Notified' body. BSI holds Notified Body status for 15 EU Directives, including construction products, marine equipment, pressurised equipment and personal protective equipment. BSI also conducts testing for manufacturers developing new products and has facilities to test across a wide range of sectors, including construction, fire safety, electrical and electronic and engineering products. Within Healthcare, BSI provides regulatory and quality management reviews and product certification for medical device manufacturers in Europe, the United States, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Canada and China. It is the market leader in the US, the world's biggest healthcare market.


Milestones

* BSI is the world's first national standards body. * BSI created one of the world's first quality marks in 1903, when the letters 'B' and 'S' (for British Standard) were combined with V (for verification) to produce the
Kitemark The Kitemark is a UK product and service quality trade mark which is owned and operated by the British Standards Institution ( BSI Group). The Kitemark is most frequently used to identify products where safety is paramount, such as crash helmet ...
logo. * BSI was instrumental in the formation of ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, in 1947 and of its European equivalent, CEN, in 1961. * BSI pioneered the development of management systems standards: the first of which was BS 5750, the original quality management systems standard which formed the template for the ISO 9000 series of quality standards, first published in 1994. * BSI published the world's first environmental management standard, BS 7750, in 1992. This led to the publication of the first international environmental management standard, ISO 14001, in 1996. BSI also published the world's first sustainability standard, BS 8900, in 2006. * BSI's management systems operation in the UK has been carbon neutral since 2006. BSI reduced staff's business travel by 200,000 miles per annum, and invested in carbon offsetting in the UK and Bulgaria. * BSI has been nominated a Business Superbrand in the UK every year since 2004. BSI is currently ranked no. 42 out of 500 organizations.


Acquisitions

Starting in 1998, BSI Group has adopted a policy of international growth through acquisition as follows: * 1998: CEEM, USA and International Standards Certification Pte Ltd, Singapore * 2002: KPMG's certification business in North America * 2003: BSI Pacific Ltd, Hong Kong * 2004: KPMG's certification business in the Netherlands * 2006: Nis Zert, Germany; Entropy International Ltd, Canada & UK; Benchmark Certification Pty Ltd, Australia; ASI-QS, UK * 2009: Supply Chain Security Division of First Advantage Corp. USA; Certification International S.r.l, Italy; EUROCAT, Germany * 2010: GLCS, the leading certifier of gas related consumer equipment in the UK and one of the top three in Europe, the certification business of BS Services Italia S.r.l. (BSS); Systems Management Indonesia (SMI). * 2013: 9 May 2013 – NCS International and its daughter company NCSI Americas, Inc. * 2015: 24 January – EORM, a US consultancy specialising in environmental, health, safety (EHS) and sustainability services * 2015: 30 January – the management systems certification business of PwC in South Africa * 2015: 3 June – Hill County Environmental Inc, a US environmental and engineering services consultancy * 2016: 4 April – Espion Ltd and Espion UK, experts at managing and securing corporate information * 2016: 15 August – Atrium Environmental Health and Safety Services LLC, experts in occupational safety, industrial safety and environmental compliance * 2016: 22 September – Creative Environment Solutions (CES) Corp., an Environmental and Safety consulting firm * 2016: 4 October – Info-Assure Ltd, a leading provider of cyber security and information assurance * 2016: 15 December – Quantum Management Group Inc, a US environmental, health and safety (EHS) consultancy * 2017: 5 December – Neville Clarke, the Business Process Improvement Expert * 2018: 8 November – AirCert GmbH, a specialist aerospace certification company located in Munich, Germany * 2019: 3 April – AppSec Consulting, a US cybersecurity and information resilience company * 2021: 1 February – Q-Audit, a JAS-ANZ accredited healthcare auditing body based in Sydney, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand.


BSI Identify

In 2021, BSI Group, supported by the Construction Products Association, led the development of a system known as ''BSI Identify'', which has been established in response to Dame Judith Hackitt's recommendation that BSI Identify uses new
Digital Object Identifier A digital object identifier (DOI) is a persistent identifier or handle used to uniquely identify various objects, standardized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). DOIs are an implementation of the Handle System; the ...
(DOI) technology "to deliver a unique, constant, and interoperable identifier", known as a BSI UPIN, "which can be assigned to products to help UK manufacturers to directly manage information about their products in the
supply chain In commerce, a supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products to customers through a distribution system. It refers to the network of organizations, people, activ ...
". The aim of the BSI Identify programme is that "wherever you are with product, you can take a snapshot of the
QR code A QR code (an initialism for quick response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) invented in 1994 by the Japanese company Denso Wave. A barcode is a machine-readable optical label that can contain information about t ...
with your mobile device and it will immediately take you to the product technical data sheet. You can see exactly what product it is, you can answer any questions about it, you can see installation advice etc."Turk, A. in interview with Cameron, H.
Why product traceability matters
Barbour ABI, published November 2021, accessed 13 December 2021


See also


Notes and references


External links

*
BSI Group United Kingdom
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bsi Group BSI Group Certification marks Companies based in the London Borough of Hounslow Electrical safety standards organizations Trade associations based in the United Kingdom International Electrotechnical Commission ISO member bodies Organizations established in 1901 Standards organisations in the United Kingdom 1901 establishments in the United Kingdom