In October, we celebrated Standards Australia’s 99th birthday. This milestone is no small feat and is a testament to the combined work and dedication of our members, contributors, stakeholders and staff. The effective collaboration of many people is essential to the development of trusted standards solutions and we greatly value this investment that delivers such great benefit for Australia.

The effective collaboration of many people is essential to the development of trusted standards solutions and we greatly value this investment that delivers such great benefit for Australia.

To help us continually improve the experience of our stakeholders we are pleased to present the Voice of Customer program.

The Voice of Customer program uses targeted surveys to collate customer
feedback and responses, including with our members, contributors, stakeholders and staff. The program will help us continuously make improvements based on your feedback, and I look forward to your engagement with this SA outreach initiative and implementing change as needed.

In addition to opening conversations and collating feedback; we’ve also continued to work towards providing access to standards at a lower cost via our Small Business Sets (SBS).  

Small Business Sets are designed to suit user requirements of Small Businesses with 1-19 employees. They offer online and offline access to a bundle of standards that can be accessed across smartphones, tablets, phones, and other computing devices.

Our National Construction Code focused SBS, called NCC Primary References Set, bundles together 122 standards that are referenced in the NCC. This set allows easier access at an affordable cost and is proving to be a popular and helpful industry tool.

Finally, we are all hopeful that as the health restrictions in Australia are lifted, we can enjoy the coming summer months with family and friends and reunite with colleagues.

— Adrian O'Connell, Chief Executive

As the Australian member of ISO and IEC, together with other national standards bodies, we recognise and thank the individuals and members who contribute their expertise to standards development. We also celebrate how standards impact and shape daily life.  

The theme for this year’s World Standards Day is 'Shared vision for a better world’ and focuses on how standards can help achieve the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by all UN member states in 2015. These goals focus on social imbalances, the development of sustainable economies, and addressing climate change and its consequences.  

World Standards day reminds us of our mission and the value of the work involved in standards development.  We thank you for being part of a contributor and supporter of our work.

You can read more here.

We’re pleased to present our Voice of Customer program. This program gives our stakeholders the opportunity to provide feedback about their experience with Standards Australia through targeted surveys.

The program focuses on capturing and acting on stakeholder feedback and is an important driver of our partners’ needs, understandings and expectations. Ultimately, the program will help us continuously make improvements based on the needs of our stakeholders.

In May 2021, we launched a series of initial surveys to gather insights and gain valuable external understanding of our strengths and areas of improvement. Ongoing surveys will help us identify changes that we can implement that will positively impact key stakeholders’ experiences with us.

We will communicate the results from the surveys, alongside plans to address areas of improvement, via quarterly updates in E-News.

The next round of surveys will be distributed in December 2021, via email.

We understand that many of us suffer from survey fatigue, however we would strongly encourage you to get involved with the surveys if contacted. Your experience and feedback matters.

You can learn more about the Voice of Customer program here.

This year, via the Standards Store, we launched the subscription product Small Business Sets (SBS). SBS is designed to provide small businesses easier access to standards through significant discounts to a curated selection of commonly used and referenced standards.

Our largest set is is the NCC Primary Reference Set. It contains 122 standards and technical specifications listed in Schedule 4 of the National Construction Code.

The Australian Steel Association and Standards Australia have a long history of working together to ensure members’ voices are heard and represented. With Standards playing a crucial role in the steel industry, there are now more avenues than ever for ASA members can become involved and help shape the future of standards development.

Next month, we'll be hosting a combined webinar: Working Together to Build Better Outcomes In this webinar, that pulls back the curtain to remove the mystery and outline new processes put in place to provide faster solutions for the steel sector. Hosted on Tuesday 9th November, attendees will hear insights on:

Why standards matter in the steel industry

• Get involved – understanding the different options and publication pathways available for ASA members to participate
• Better processes, speedier outcomes – making it easier for experts to participate in standards developmentConnecting for the future – a snapshot of Standards’ Bootcamp and NEXTgen program designed for younger members interested in standardisation

Find out more here.

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On the latest episode of Standards Australia’s podcast, host Shannen Brown covers regulatory technology (RegTech), an industry which uses information technology to enhance regulatory processes. Shannen speaks with Deborah Young, CEO of the RegTech Association, to understand the imperative role regulatory technology plays in today’s modern era of increased regulation and compliance.

Standard Australia’s Senior International Partnerships manager, Jesse Riddell, also joined to share the challenges that RegTech companies face across borders and how Standards Australia can support Australian companies.

You can watch the podcast episode here.

To keep our catalogue contemporary and relevant, we are seeking feedback on a number of Aged Standards (documents over ten years old), belonging to inactive Technical Committees. Let us know if these standards are still used by your industry or community by Friday 17 December 2021.

Learn more on our Aged Standards Review page.

This month, we partnered with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to deliver a four-day series of digital summits and masterclasses.‘Incubating Capacity for Critical and Emerging Technology Standards' focused on critical and emerging technologies in the ASEAN region.

From October 25th, participants learned about Artificial Intelligence, Smart Cities, Advanced Manufacturing and Standards and Statecraft from a range of expert speakers.

We’ll be sharing further detail of the event in November via our news site.

Following the recent release of the joint ISO/IEC ‘Guidance document on effective virtual and hybrid meetings’, Standards Australia will be holding information sessions for Australian Chairs and Convenors of international technical committees and Chairs of Australian National Mirror Committees. Presenters will provide an overview of the guidance to support Australian Chairs and Convenors in this transition.

Two sessions will be held on:

Tuesday 16 November, 10-11am AEST

Thursday 18 November, 2-3pm AEST

Please register in advance to secure your spot.

Professor Lynne Bilston is a biomedical engineer who studies how the body responds to mechanical forces. She has a long-standing interest in understanding the mechanisms of injury and developing and testing ways of preventing these injuries. She has led numerous studies of injury in road crashes, and her work has led to changes in legislation and mandatory safety standards.

She led the development of national child restraint good practice guidelines and currently chairs the Australian Standards Committee for child restraints in motor vehicles.

‍Standards Australia (SA): When and why did you become involved in standards development?‍

‍Lynne Bilston (LB): I joined CS-085, the Standards Committee for Child Restraints in Motor Vehicles in 2003 and became chair of the committee in 2013. I am a researcher working in child injury in car crashes, and I saw improving the mandatory child restraint standard as an important part of improving safety for Australian children travelling in cars.

‍SA: How do standards impact and interact with your industry?

‍‍LB: Researchers in child injury like me develop and test new ways to improve safety for children in cars. However translating the research into real world safety gains is most effective through a combination of engineering and design approaches, such as those delivered by the mandatory child restraint standard, AS/NZS 1754, together with educational and other approaches. The standards provide a very important pillar of the safe system for child passengers in Australia, ensuring a minimum level of safety for all children.

‍SA: Why is access to standards important?‍

‍LB: Standards are absolutely essential for ensuring that equipment, such as child restraints, that are meant to protect people actually do their job effectively. Sadly, there are numerous examples of dangerous equipment being supplied when performance standards are not available and/or not enforced.  Easier access to these standards would be beneficial for the wider community, as well.

‍SA: What is the future of standardisation in your area of work?

‍‍LB: The standards in our committee’s portfolio remain the most rigorous in the world, offering extremely high levels of protection for Australian child passengers. We are actively continuing to develop our core standards (AS/NZS 1754 and 3629) to maintain this position, and enhance the safety of children, but are looking at whether we can better harmonise with international standards where this does not reduce protection for children.

Standards Australia represents Australia on the two major international standards development bodies, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Our activities are reported on our International Updates page.

Click here to view our highlights from October (PDF).

Upcoming Info Sessions:

• Guidance on Effective Virtual and Hybrid Meetings
• Small hydropower plants (SHP plants): New Field of Technical Activity
• Australia represented on Advisory Committee for Electricity Transmission and Distribution
• Webinar on International Standards and International Trade

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The public comment process provides an opportunity for stakeholders and members of the public to make valuable contributions. With the launch of our new public comment platform, draft standards currently open for comment are now available via Sectors page.

The public comment process provides an opportunity for stakeholders and members of the public to make valuable contributions. With the launch of our new public comment platform, draft standards currently open for comment are now available via Connect.