Celebrating World Standards Day – Why Standards Matter for Every Business

Every year on 14^th October, the global community marks World Standards Day. It’s a moment to pause and appreciate the work of thousands of experts and organisations who collaborate to create international standards that shape the way we live, work, and do business.

Standards often go unnoticed - until something goes wrong. Yet, they are everywhere. From the food we eat, the technology we rely on, to the safety of our workplaces, standards create a framework of trust, consistency, and reliability.

The Power of Standards

At their core, standards are about shared best practice. They bring together knowledge from across industries and geographies, distilling it into agreed ways of working that everyone can follow.

For businesses, this means:

• Quality you can rely on – ISO 9001 provides a structured way to ensure processes are efficient and consistent, delivering the right outcomes time after time.
• Protecting the environment – ISO 14001 gives organisations the tools to measure and reduce their environmental footprint.
• Safer workplaces – ISO 45001 focuses on occupational health and safety, helping to prevent accidents, protect people, and demonstrate a commitment to wellbeing.
• Stronger information security – ISO 27001 ensures businesses can manage data responsibly in a world where cyber risks are rising.

The power of these standards is that they don’t just provide theory – they translate into practical actions businesses can implement to improve efficiency, reduce risks, and grow with confidence.

World Standards Day 2025 – This Year’s Theme

The theme for World Standards Day 2025 is “Shared vision for a better world: Spotlight on SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals.”

This theme highlights the importance of collaboration and partnerships in achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Specifically, SDG 17 focuses on strengthening global partnerships to support sustainable development.

Standards play a critical role here as:

• They provide a common language of trust between businesses, governments, and communities.
• They enable partnerships by ensuring compatibility, transparency, and shared expectations across borders and industries.
• They align innovation and sustainability, creating a foundation where collaboration leads to meaningful progress.

In other words, standards help organisations work together – across industries, countries, and cultures – to create a safer, fairer, and more sustainable world.

Why Standards Matter More Than Ever

The world is changing faster than ever before. Global supply chains, digital transformation, climate change, and shifting regulations all mean that businesses face increasing pressure to demonstrate responsibility, resilience, and reliability.

Standards provide a common language of trust.

They allow organisations of every size - from SMEs to multinationals - to work together with confidence. For customers, suppliers, regulators, and investors, certification to an international standard is more than a badge; it’s evidence of integrity.

Our Ethos at Brookfields

At Brookfields, we work with businesses of all sizes to make standards accessible, understandable, and most importantly - effective.

We don’t see ISO as just a certificate on the wall. For us, it’s about building systems that work and bring value to the business. By embedding standards into the way an organisation operates, we see real transformation:

• Leadership teams gain clarity and focus
• Employees feel engaged and supported
• Risks are reduced, and opportunities are identified
• Growth becomes more sustainable and scalable

With a 100% success rate in guiding clients to certification, we know that the right support makes all the difference.

World Standards Day is more than just a date on the calendar. It’s an invitation to ask important questions:

• Are our current systems helping us achieve our goals – or holding us back?
• Do we have the right processes in place to protect people, the planet, and profits?
• Could achieving ISO certification give us a competitive edge in our market?

If you’ve been considering certification, or if your systems need refreshing, now is the perfect moment to act.