About BSI

BSI (British Standards Institution) is the business standards company that equips businesses with the necessary solutions to turn standards of best practice into habits of excellence. Comprising over 2,500 staff - of which 53% are outside of the UK - BSI is led by Chief Executive Howard Kerr from its headquarters in London. BSI helps its clients drive performance, manage risk and grow sustainably.

Formed in 1901, BSI was the world’s first National Standards Body and over a century later is globally recognized as champions of best practice. BSI is responsible for originating many of the world’s most commonly used management systems standards and publishes over 2,500 standards annually. These standards address the most pressing issues of today from clear billing to energy management and disability access to nano-technology; spanning sectors including aerospace, construction, energy, engineering, finance, healthcare, IT and retail.

BSI’s standards are underpinned by a collaborative and rigorous approach honed over decades; working with industry experts, government bodies, trade associations, businesses of all sizes and consumers to develop the standards for excellence.

BSI works with over 65,000 clients in 147 countries worldwide to help them adopt and cultivate the habits of best practice. Clients are trained and provided with practical guidance for implementation alongside a suite of compliance tools. Moreover, to ensure they receive the very best service, BSI is also independently assessed and accredited globally by ANAB (ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board) and by over 26 other accreditation bodies throughout the world including UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service). BSI is also renowned for its marks of excellence including the consumer recognised Kitemark®, which today ranks amongst the UK’s most trusted brands.

BSI’s influence is global, playing a key role within the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). As one of the founding members, it ensures that international standards developed address today and tomorrow’s business and societal needs, while delivering real benefits to an organization and its stakeholders.

BSI Offering

BSI’s offering is built upon enabling excellence, and key to this is its delivery by expert people. The services provided are aligned to the steps customers need to take as they instil these habits of excellence within their own organization.

1. Shape the standards – as the UK National Standards Body, BSI develops standards that respond to the pressing industry and societal issues of the day.
2. Publish the standards – enabling dynamic sharing and integration of digital standards content.
3. Train how to get the most from standards – provide organizations with a comprehensive understanding of how to implement and operate standards.
4. Check and test – once clients have embedded the use of a standard, BSI audits the organization or tests its product to check it meets the standard and continues to perform.
5. Provide the tools to keep the standards – proprietary compliance tools and software makes it easier for clients to drive continuous improvement and deliver long term improvements.

Fast Facts

• Established in 1901, BSI was the world’s first national standards body.
• The original BSI committee met for the first time on the day Queen Victoria died – 22 January 1901. One of the first standards it went on to publish was designed to reduce the number of sizes of tramway rails.
• BSI’s Kitemark® has provided reassurance for over 100 years, and a GfK NOP survey of 1,000 UK adults in December 2010 showed that 72% recognize the BSI Kitemark® and associate it with safe and reliable products and services. The first Kitemark® was awarded to General Electric for Vitreous Enamelled Steel Reflectors for Lighting Fittings.
• Together our clients account for 78% of the FTSE 100, 53% of the Nikkei, and 44% of both the Fortune 500 and Hang Seng listed companies.
• BSI is one of the world’s largest independent certification bodies for management systems, with over 70,000 registered sites across the globe.
• In 2011, BSI provided practical training for approximately 66,000 people worldwide on how to implement and operate standards.
• The former UK Department of Trade and Industry (now known as the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) quantified standards as contributing £2.5bn annually to the UK economy.
• Of the world’s top 25 global medical device manufacturers, 23 choose BSI as their Notified Body for CE marking certification against the EU directives.
• BSI has been independently voted a UK Business Superbrand every year from 2003 to 2012 and its Kitemark® from 2008 to 2012.
• Entropy Software is used at over 15,000 locations and by more than 100,000 users to improve their management systems practices.
• The quality management systems standard, ISO 9001 – which started life at BSI in 1979 as BS 5750 – is now recognized as the world’s most successful standard having been adopted by more than one million organizations in 178 countries.
• BSI developed a sustainable events standard (BS 8901) for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games; the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) was the first of its type to achieve certification.

Our Accreditation

Nobody else understands assurance better than us and we built a business upon this. BSI Group is in strict compliance with ISO/IEC 17021:2011 and we are frequently audited to be accredited by local and international accreditation bodies, such as:

For Management Systems Certification

• The American National Accreditation Board (ANAB)
• The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS)

For Lead Auditor Training Courses

• The International Register of Certified Auditors (IRCA)

We assure you that the certification we conduct and issue are credible according to international guidelines. Our focus is to give you complete confidence that we have been independently evaluated for our competence and performance capabilities thus being able to provide you with the quality service you deserve.