| As the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) commences this new initiative to share weekly insights in this column “Standards In Focus” on the various aspects of Standardisation, Consumerism, and activities and services offered to its stakeholders, it is best to begin by establishing in the minds of readers an understanding of what are standards bodies and the activities in which they are engaged.Wikipedia defines Standards organization, standards body, standards developing organization (SDO), or standards setting organization (SSO) as “any organization whose primary activities are developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpreting, or otherwise producing technical standards that are intended to address the needs of some relatively wide base of affected adopters”.Put simply, standards bodies produce standards to satisfy the needs of stakeholders.In almost every country of the world standards bodies can be found. They are usually categorised as private or public, national or international. All CARICOM member states have their established national standards bodies, for example, the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards (TTBS), the Jamaica Bureau of Standards (JBS) and the St. Lucia Bureau of Standards. Meanwhile, the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the International Organisation for Legal Metrology (OIML) are all international standards bodies which exist.Like the GNBS, which is the National Standards Body in Guyana, standards bodies are established to develop, promote or where necessary implement standards to regulate the quality of goods and services. Most National Standards Bodies are geared to develop technical standards to improve production and trade, ensure safety and protect consumers against health hazards and fraud in all aspects of life.The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (not to be confused with the Bureau of Statistics) was established under the Standards Act No. 11 of 1984 and its vision is to improve the quality of goods and services in Guyana by partnering with Government, Consumers and Industry, through the process of standardisation.In an effort to fulfil its mandate, the Bureau provides a number of essential services which are geared to foster the development of key sectors of our economy, such as agriculture, forestry, manufacturing, health, tourism and the construction sector. These services include Standards development,Cheap Authentic Jerseys, Technical Assistance to companies, Training Services, Auditing Services, Product Certification,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, Laboratory Certification, Testing Services, Legal Metrology Services, and the monitoring of some imported and locally manufactured products.More specifically,Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping, the GNBS develops national standards based on the needs of stakeholders, promotes and implements standards to improve the products, services, processes and practices of industry,China Jerseys, and provides testing, verification and calibration services in areas such as mass, length,Wholesale Soccer Jerseys, volume, temperature and pressure to maintain the accuracy and traceability to international measurement standards.To ensure the delivery of quality and reliable services to its stakeholders, the staff complement of the GNBS comprises mainly of Technical Officers, Inspectors and Laboratory Technician who are trained to provide the various services falling under their purview. Further, over the years, the GNBS has managed to decentralize the provision of some services from its Head office in Sophia by establishing sub –offices in some Administrative Regions of Guyana.This has allowed its stakeholders residing in outlying areas to readily access the services they need from the organisation.As the discipline of standardisation continues to expand to meet the needs of the individuals, companies, industries and sectors of the national and the global economy, the scope of work for standards bodies would have to be widened to meet those needs.For the GNBS,Authentic Jerseys Wholesale, it will continue to engage in the process of continual improvement and collaborate with other standards institutions worldwide to train its staff and build capacity to offer the kinds of services needed in Guyana within the ambit of Standardisation.For further information, please contact the GNBS on telephone numbers: 219-0062, 219-0065 or 219-0069 or visit its website www.gnbsgy.org |
