Year
2007
File Attachment
189.pdf85.12 KB
Abstract
If there were no standards, we would soon notice. Standards make an enormous contribution to most aspects of our lives – although very often, that contribution is invisible. It is when there is an absence of standards that their importance is brought home. For example, as purchasers or users of products, we soon notice when they turn out to be of poor quality, do not fit, are incompatible with equipment we already have, are unreliable or dangerous. When products meet our expectations, we tend to take this for granted. We are usually unaware of the role played by standards in raising levels of quality, safety, reliability, efficiency and interchangeability – as well as in providing such benefits at an economical cost. For example, the format of the credits cards, phone cards, and “smart” cards that have become commonplace is derived from an ISO international standard. Adhering to the standard, which defines such features as an optimal thickness (0,76 mm), means that the cards can be used worldwide. International standards thus contribute to making life simpler, and to increasing the reliability and effectiveness of the goods and services we use. ISO standards also have important economic and social repercussions. ISO standards make a positive difference, not just to engineers and manufacturers for whom they solve basic problems in production and distribution, but to society as a whole. The international standards, which ISO develops, are very useful. They are useful to industrial and business organizations of all types, to governments and other regulatory bodies, to trade officials, to conformity assessment professionals, to suppliers and customers of products and services in both public and private sectors, and, ultimately, to people in general in their roles as consumers and end users. The purpose of this paper is to show the benefit provided by international standards in the field of the transport of radioactive material and its safety.