As our global community faces an enormous challenge that impacts the way we work and live, this health emergency highlights the vitally important role that standards play in keeping individuals, families, and communities healthy, safe, and informed. To commemorate the enormous role that standardization plays in various health and safety capacities, the 2020 U.S. Celebration of World Standards Day on Thursday, October 22, 2020, will focus on the theme "Standards Protect Public Health and Safety."
Voluntary standards and conformity assessment guard us from known dangers and are responsive to an ever-expanding list of challenges we face. These standards ensure the protection of the water we drink, the homes in which we live, and the environment that we work in. Standards protect us against hazards, strengthen our resilience, and support our well-being.
This year, the U.S. Celebration of World Standards Day will honor that trust and confidence with a reception and gala dinner at the Fairmont Washington in Washington, D.C. The event will include the presentation of the 2020 Ronald H. Brown Standards Leadership Award, which is named after the late U.S. Secretary of Commerce and honors an individual who has effectively promoted standardization as a key tool in the elimination of global trade barriers.
Additionally, SES - The Society for Standards Professionals, which is co-sponsoring the annual paper competition with the U.S. Celebration of World Standards Day Planning Committee, will announce the winners at the event. The paper competition is open individuals in the U.S. standards community.
Launched in 1970, World Standards Day is celebrated by nations around the globe. A planning committee consisting of representatives from the standards and conformity assessment community organizes the U.S. activities annually. IAPMO is serving as the celebration's 2020 administrating organization. The event is co-chaired each year by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
For more information or to sponsor the event, please visit www.wsd-us.org.
About ANSI
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) coordinates the U.S. voluntary standards and conformity assessment system, serving the diverse interests of more than 270,000 companies and organizations and 30 million professionals worldwide. ANSI is the official U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and, via the U.S. National Committee, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).