American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and UL Standards & Engagement have published a draft whitepaper, "Principles for Measuring the Impact of Voluntary Consensus Standards on Human Health and Safety." The groups are seeking public comments by June 15.
"The whitepaper seeks to illustrate the value of work done by the standardization community and provide insights on how to measure and articulate impact," the groups explain. "It was developed with the assistance of staff of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, additional working group members from other U.S. federal government agencies, standards-developing organizations and other
interested parties."
The document discusses the goals of different stakeholders and approaches to measuring the impact of standards. It also examines frameworks for conducting an impact assessment, including the different types of standards, and the importance of the voluntary
standards adoption process. Finally, it reviews how to collect and select data for measuring outcomes, and the relationship between the effectiveness of a standard and conformance to the standard in achieving impact.
In addition to downloading the 45-page report,
please access these materials to submit your comments:
Please submit comments to ANSI's Jim McCabe by June 15. The working group expects to finalize the document for publication
by the end of July 2023.