C3.4 Verification and Assurance

 

Verification is the evaluation of whether or not a product, service, or system complies with a regulation, requirement, specification, or imposed condition. It is often an internal process.

 

Assurance is a statement or indication that inspires confidence; a guarantee or pledge

 

 

To fully understand the role of verification and assurance, it is useful to first look at what a standard is, why standards are important.

 

A brief history of the British Standards Institute (BSI)

In 1901 the Institutions of Civil Engineers, Mechanical Engineers, Naval Architects and the Iron and Steel Institute created a committee, to standardise iron and steel sections for bridges, railways and shipping. The committee succeeded in cutting the production of different tram rails from 75 down to five. (the principle of variety reduction) This saved the industry about £1 million a year!

By 1929, the committee became the British Engineering Standards Association and was granted a Royal Charter, which defined the Association’s objectives. A year later the Association became the British Standards Institution (BSI).

Today, more than 100 years after the British Engineering Standards Association first met, BSI has 5,500 employees world-wide and operates in over 100 countries. There are over 20,000 current British Standards.

 

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