Australian Standards set out specifications, procedures and guidelines that aim to ensure products, services, and systems are safe, consistent, and reliable.
Only when incorporated into legislation are standards legally enforceable
On their own, standards are voluntary and there is no requirement for the public to comply with standards. However, State and
Commonwealth governments often refer to Australian Standards in their legislation, and when they are incorporated into legislation, they become legally enforceable.
It is very common for standards to be incorporated into law, with obvious examples including, the placement and availability of fire extinguishers and standards surrounding car seat fittings for infants. For Latham, key standards include AS 1428.1:2021 Design for Access and Mobility and AS 4586-2013 Slip Resistance Classification of New Pedestrian Surface Materials.
For participants in the construction industry, this is a potential minefield that needs to be carefully navigated, and requires an understanding of compliance, conformance and certification.
In the video below, we explore compliance and conformance to avoid certification risk.
Compliance
Claims of compliance to an Australian Standard are not enforced or monitored
In the case of products, standards compliance means that the product strictly adheres to the requirements stated in current published standards. It is worth noting that compliance to an Australian Standard is not enforced or monitored in Australia. A manufacturer may claim compliance based on self-testing and buyers should beware that the product may be sold with unsubstantiated claims of compliance.
Despite manufacturer claims, compliance is not a 'given'
Re-sellers of imported product often rely on assurances of compliance from the manufacturer, or they may perform their own rudimentary testing before claiming ‘compliance’ and commencing sale of the product. With little influence over manufacturing, manufacturer testing or quality control, or failure to pay attention to evolving and updated standards, compliance is not a ‘given’.
Importantly, compliance does not mean identical engineering, materials, design and manufacturing, and there are vast differences in quality, reliability and performance between compliant products.
Latham has been manufacturing products in Australia at its premises in Sydney for 70 years. End-to-end control and oversight of procurement, manufacturing and quality control results the industry’s most reliable and high-performing products. Latham publish test results to demonstrate compliance with prevailing standards and have in-house testing facilities for luminance contrast testing of stair nosings to further minimise compliance risk.
