Standards have different purposes. The purpose of the standard determines its type. Some standard types include:

Voluntary Standards

Most standards are voluntary. These standards increase safety, ease of manufacturing and interactions between products, and thus are widely used across industry. The government does not mandate that engineers and manufacturers follow these standards. ASTM F963-17 Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Toy Safety is an example of a voluntary standard. When followed, it increases safety for children who play with toys.

Below is an insert one of the engineering librarians found in a Kinder Egg mentioning the standard ASTM F963.

image of the standard inside the kinderegg

Mandatory Standards

Mandatory standards must be followed. The federal government, a government agency, or governmental departments enforce these standards. They are adopted out of concern for safety. Failure to follow such standards results in legal penalties and liability.

One type of mandatory standard is a building code or a fire code adopted by a city's code of ordinances.

For example, the International Fire Code, 2015 (excerpt pictured above) is a mandatory standard because the City of Ann Arbor adopted it in Chapter 111 of its city code. Builders in Ann Arbor need to use this code to inform their building practices.

Definition Standards

Standards that provide standard measurement, symbology or terminology are definition standards. These create a foundation on which many other standards can be created. The metric system is an example of a definition standard.