History of the BSI Group
1901 - 1914 Making a start
On 26 April 1901 the first meeting of the Engineering Standards Committee took place. As a result, the variety of sizes of structural steel sections was reduced from 175 to 113 and the number of gauges of tramway rails was reduced from 75 to 5.
This brought estimated savings in steel production costs of £1 million a year. Steel merchant's costs were reduced due to fewer varieties. This made steel cheaper for the users so everyone benefited.
By 1902 supporting finance could not keep up with demand for more standards. This led to the first government grant and by 1903 foundations were laid for the world's first national standards organization. This was a voluntary body, formed and maintained by industry, approved and supported by Government for the preparation of technical standards.
The need to indicate to buyers that goods were 'up to standard' led to the British Standard Mark - to become known later as the Kitemark. It was first registered as a trade mark for tramway rails in 1903.
The first 5 years saw the development of standards for: railway lines and engines, Portland cement, steam engines, telegraph and telephone material, electric cable and accessories.
By 1914, 64 British standards had been published.
1914 - 1918 Standards at war
By the end of the war there were 300 committees compared with 60 in 1914 and 31,000 copies of standards were sold in 1918 compared with less than 3,000 in1914.
British Standards were being used by the Admiralty, the War Office, the Board of Trade, Lloyd's Register, the Home Office, the Road Board, the London County Council and many colonial Governments.
A major contribution to the war was in laying down standards for materials used in fighter planes. In 1917 a committee for the standardization of aircraft and aircraft-engine components was established. Later that year the government set up the Air Ministry and the committee was given responsibility for standardization of all aircraft materials.
The Committee changed its name to British Engineering Standards Association (BESA) in 1918.
1920 - 1939 Forging ahead
During the 1920's the standards message spread to Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. Interest was also developing in the USA and Germany.
The Mark Committee was formed in 1921 to grant licences to firms who wanted to show that their products conformed to the British Standard. The mark was registered in1922 for all classes of product and the first licence was issued to the General Electric Company in 1926.
Against a background of economic slump the Association's work was strongly praised in 1929. By now there were 500 committees and once again demand for standards was exceeding finance so the government grant was increased for the years 1930 - 1935.
On 22 April 1929, the Association was granted a Royal Charter , which defined its main objectives:
- 'to set up standards of quality and dimensions, and prepare and promote the general adoption of British Standard Specification and alter or amend these as required'
- 'To register marks of all descriptions and to approve their fixing'.
Up to 1930 the work had been mainly engineering. Following a proposal from the Association of British Chemical Manufacturers, chemical standards work was added to the existing activities of BESA. To allow this to happen a supplemental Charter was granted in 1931 changing the name to British Standards Institution.
1939 - 1945 Back at war
The Second World War gave a boost to industry standards and saw the start of consumer standards.
Immediately war broke out ordinary standards work was stopped and efforts were concentrated on producing 'war emergency standards'. The first emergency work on behalf of the Ministry of Home Security resulted in 68 standards covering materials used to build shelters and protect against incendiary bombs, blackout material, stirrup pumps, rot-proofing for jute sandbags and special light fittings for shelter signs.
In 1940 a BSI committee was set up to help the Board of Trade lay down standards for utility goods, especially clothing, household textiles and furniture. This was BSI's first move in consumer protection. The Government officially recognised BSI as the sole organization for issuing national standards in 1942.
During 1943 BSI produced its 'Packaging Code' to tackle the problems of supplies for the fighting services arriving in an unstable condition because of unsuitable packaging. This covered a wide variety of goods that needed to be carried from medicines to the transport of animals by air.
Between 1939 and 1945 over 400 war emergency standards were produced. The standard for tins and cans saved 40,000 tons of steel in its first year.
1945 - 1951 Standards in post-war Britain
The war left industrial resources very low. There was a shortage of raw materials, machinery and manpower. Large cities had been devastated by bombs and needed rebuilding. Standards helped reduce waste and make efficient use of the available raw materials.
The Government's most important post-war aim was to boost exports. To do this goods needed to be internationally acceptable and standards were revised and prepared with this in mind. Other nations shared this aim and in 1946 the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) was set up.
International standards have had much success since 1946. Agreed sizes and shapes of items such as audio-cassettes, freight containers and credit cards have helped to encourage international exchange and co-operation.
Work on textile standards began during the war and continued growing. In 1947 BSI Manchester was established to act as a centre for all work on textiles and textile machinery.
The Cunliffe Report in 1951 set the direction for the Institution for the following two decades. Government's contribution was to equal that of industrial subscriptions, subscriptions were increased, membership was to be increased, there was to be more user representation on committees, wider certificate marking was to be encouraged and there was to be positive action to promote the understanding of standardization in the country.
In 1953 BSI moved to 2 Park Street, London.
The 1950's saw extension of BSI work in areas of safety, the environment, pictorial marks on packaging and the use of safety colours in industry.
1951 saw the debut of BSI News (currently called Business Standards).
In 1957 BSI introduced the international 'A' series of paper sizes despite opposition from industry.
BSI's important role in consumer standards and consumer protection started with the setting up of the Women's Advisory Committee in 1951 to promote direct consumer participation. BSI was also granted its Coat of Arms in this year.
1951 - 1975 The years of expansion
After the war began a slow move towards the affluent society, until by the late 1950s and 1960s the market place was flooded with consumer goods, many of dubious quality. In 1953 we saw the Kitemarking of domestic furniture, pressure cookers and motorcycle helmets to help consumers know whether goods were well produced.
Between 1950 and 1960, more standards were produced than in the entire previous 50 years.
Demand for housing increased in the early 1950's. Harold MacMillan's campaign to build 300,000 houses a year resulted in more standards to improve techniques and speed building.
Standards were published for subjects such as checking air pollution, nuclear energy, safety colours for use in industry, schools and office furniture and the carrying of live animals by air.
1959 saw the opening of the Test House at Hemel Hempstead. Initially this was to test equipment for export to Canada.
In 1960 there began to be renewed interest in quality assurance schemes. Also BSI was to be sponsored by the then Ministry of Technology (now the DTI).
1966 saw the start of Technical Help to Exporters to help the drive for overseas market penetration.
Consumer effort continues
In 1955 an Advisory Council on standards for Consumer Goods was set up. Much of BSI's effort in the consumer field had been concentrated on safety. During the following years standards were produced for the flammability of fabrics, and in 1964 Government regulations prohibited the sale of children's nightwear made of fabric not made to the British Standard. Government regulations also introduced Compulsory Kitemarking of car seat belts and motorcycle helmets. These and many other Kitemarked consumer products were tested at the Hemel Hempstead test centre, opened in 1959.
1977 - 1997 Consolidation
A major development during these years was the introduction of a standard for the quality of a company's management system. BS 5750 was introduced to help companies build quality and safety into the way they work so that they could always meet their customers' needs. The Registered Firm mark was introduced in 1979 to show that a company had been audited and registered to BS 5750.
August 1987 saw the publication of the dual numbered BSI/ISO standards in the BS 5750 / ISO 9000 series. From 1994, BS 5750 becomes known as BS EN ISO 9000. From now on a major part of BSI's work is in registering companies to the world's most popular management systems series: ISO 9000.
In 1991, BSI Inc. was established in Reston, Virginia, USA.
In 1992, BSI published the world's first environmental management standard, BS 7750. In due course this too is adopted by the international standards community and is published as ISO 14001 in 1996.
Since 1998 - BSI goes global
The BSI Group acquired CEEM, a leading American management system training and publication services provider in 1998, and in 1999: Rocky Mountain Geochemical, one of America's leading precious metals testing companies, Mertcontrol, among Hungary's leading inspection, testing and certification companies and International Standards Certification Pte Ltd, a Singapore based certification organization.
In January 2002, KPMG's ISO registration business in North America was acquired, increasing BSI's total worldwide workforce to some 4,900 and making BSI Group the largest standards body in the world and the largest registration body in North America.
In 2003, BSI acquired 100 per cent of BSI Pacific Ltd, in order to consolidate the Group's penetration of the immense Greater China certification market. BSI also acquired a 49 per cent shareholding in British Standards Publishing Limited (BSPL) realising a new sales, distribution and licensing agreement to expand the Group's ability to deliver standards to a wide range of industrial and commercial markets within the UK and worldwide.
Today, more than 100 years on, BSI has over 5,500 employees worldwide and operates in over 100 countries. There are over 20,000 current British standards and 2,000 new or revised British, European or international standards are produced by BSI each year.