Importance Of World Standards Day

NEWS COMMENTARY HIGHLIGHTS IMPORTANCE OF WORLD STANDARDS DAY

All over the world, nations apply standards in their production to ensure that items produced for sale are fit for purpose. Standards are developed to protect public health and safety as well as help in the protection of the environment. This shows that without applicable standards there could be disorder and chaos and goods produced for consumption would not be able to satisfy human needs satisfactorily. Products that are tailored in line with applicable standards ensure quality, safety, good health and protection of the environment.

The world has to come to where it is today because of applicable standards developed and utilitized by countries in the world. Countries and business organizations that apply standards to their activities are able to increase productivity and guarantee safety for their customers and public as a whole. It is because of the importance of standards that the world has found it necessary to celebrate World Standards Day on October 14 every year. The celebration of World Standards Day points to the importance of two things:

In the first place, it is an occasion of paying tribute to the collaborative efforts of thousands of experts worldwide who develop technical agreements that are published as standards. The day also serves as an occasion of drawing the attention of the world to the importance of standards in our daily business and national lives.

The theme for this year’s celebration of World Standards Day is ‘Protecting the Planet with Standards.’ If the earth is not protected as required, lives on it will be adversely affected. This is why it is important that every person in this world ought to help promote measures that will help protect the earth. Environmental standards help to preserve the nature of the earth and the environment. They also help to prevent damages on the planet and protect any destruction that could be caused by adverse human activity.

Indeed, broad adherence to environmental standards helps to reduce environmental impact of industrial production and processes, facilitate the reuse of limited resources and also improves energy efficiency. Tools such as standards form tried and tested solutions to technical challenges and they help to share expertise and technical know-how broadly within developed and developing countries all over the world. Seen in this way, Standards cover all aspects of energy savings as well as water and air quality.

The earth constitutes a finite vessel of life in the vastness of our solar system. This means that life on earth depends on energy that comes from the sun. However, over the last century, human and large-scale industrial activities of our modern civilization have added to the natural greenhouse gases of the earth. These human activities have negatively impacted our climate and consequently all forms of life. At the same time, rapid population growth and broad urbanization calls for the responsible use of limited resources. To reduce human impact on the planet, there is the need for a strong political will in all countries, application of concrete action and also the use of the right tools such as standards.

National and international standards take into account tried and tested solutions to the technical challenges that confront the planet. It is for this reason that all over the world countries ought to mobilize forces towards the use of standards in helping to protect the planet so that the earth on which we live shall be preserved to protect the interest of all lives. The earth is a precious asset to all nations so all countries must do what they can to preserve it for the common good.

By Kofi Amponsah Bediako, Director, Corporate Communications, Ghana Standards Authority.