FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 1998-09-17

Giving Thanks for Standards

Take a bite of turkey, plunge your fork into a mound of mashed potatoes...and give thanks to the world of standards.

If you're wondering what happened to Thanksgiving and pumpkin pie, bear in mind October also brings World Standards Day. October 14 is the day set aside to celebrate standards - publications that help make our cluttered world of gizmos and gadgets safer, easier and more dependable. This year's World Standards Day theme is "standards in daily life".

And daily life is full of standards. There are standards for the oven that cooked your turkey and the pot that helped boil the potatoes. There are standards for the bicycle helmet fitted snugly on your child's head and the telephone sitting on your desk at work. Standards are the reason that you can count on the plug of any appliance you buy to fit into your wall socket at home. They're also the reason you can buy a roll of film almost anywhere in the world - and load it right into your camera without worrying whether it will fit.

In Canada, the Standards Council of Canada oversees the country's National Standards System, which includes almost 15,000 people who help write standards and hundreds of organizations specializing in testing, certification and other standardization activities.

The Standards Council also coordinates Canada's contribution to the organizations that develop international standards. In an age when store shelves are full of imported products, international standards contribute to peace of mind for Canadian consumers while making it easier for Canadian exporters to ship their products to other countries.

So the next time you flick on a light switch, turn on the radio, or teach a child that "clockwise always opens", consider the role that standards play in your own life.

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