Skip to Main Content

Standards: U.S. Standards (General)

Resources for finding industrial and technical standards in the United States and elsewhere

U.S. Standards (General)

American National Standards Institute (ANSI) (http://www.ansi.org/)
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private non-profit membership organization that coordinates the U.S. voluntary standards system. Among the features of this site are: the ANSI Public Document Library, containing various publications and forms that ANSI uses in electronic form and NSSN a site with searchable indexes to national and international standards and ordering information.
 
ANSI Incorporated by Reference Portal (https://ibr.ansi.org/)
"Incorporated by Reference" refers to standards which are referred to in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and become part of the regulation. Since the CFR is a matter of public record, ANSI has created a database my read the full text of such standards. Note that the text cannot be printed or downloaded from this site - only read online. The site includes a page listing other organizations that provide free readable access to their IBR standards (https://ibr.ansi.org/Standards/Default.aspx#sdo)
 
 
American Petroleum Institute (http://www.api.org/)
The American Petroleum Institute, among its many activities, develops standards for the petroleum industry. Among the features of this site is Infoport, a searchable database of API publications (including standards) with online ordering capability.
 
American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) (http://www.ashrae.org/)
Through its membership, ASHRAE writes standards that set uniform methods of testing and rating equipment and establish accepted practices for the HVAC&R industry worldwide, such as the design of energy efficient buildings.
\
ASSIST Quick Search (http://quicksearch.dla.mil/qsSearch.aspx)
The ASSIST site allows you to search and download free of charge military specifications document (MIL), by document numbers or keywords.
 
ASTM International (http://www.astm.org/) / ASTM Compass (https://compass.astm.org/)
ASTM International is one of the largest voluntary standards development organizations in the world-a trusted source for technical standards for materials, products, systems, and services.  The ASTM standards collection includes a host of detailed standard testing methods.  The online collection may be searched by keyword, or browsed by standard number, and includes both the most up-to-date standards as well as previous versions.  ASTM Compass has the full text of all current and recent pat ASTM standards (as well as other ASTM materials.) Access is limited to UCSB Internet addresses, or UCSB users of the proxy server or VPN.
 
The Defense Standardization Program (DSP) (http://www.dsp.dla.mil/)
Featuring information about Military Specifications and Standards reform, including Acquisition Practices Directorate and the Office of the Deputy Under-Secretary of Defense for Industrial Affairs & Installations, Defense Standards Improvement Council, and the Standardization Library.
 
EverySpec.com (http://www.everyspec.com/)
EverySpec.com is a commercial, advertiser-supported site which provides free access to over 20,000 Military, DoD, Federal, NASA, DOE, and Government specifications, standards, handbooks, and publications. Publications are available as PDF files.
 
FreeSTD (http://www.freestd.us/)
FreeSTD is a resource for standards from a variety of organizations, including American, British and other worldwide standards. Most are available for free donload as PDF or .doc files.
 
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) (http://www.nist.gov/index.html)
An agency under the U. S. Department of Commerce, NIST's explicit mission is to promote U.S. economic growth by working with industry to develop and apply technology,measurements, and standards. See espeically their Standards.gov website.
 
SAE International (http://www.sae.org/standardsdev/)
SAE develops standards for both ground vehicles and aircraft. The site includes a searchable database of SAE standards with online ordering.
 
Society of Standards Professionals (http://www.ses-standards.org/)
While not a standards-issuing organization themselfes, the Society of Standards Professionals has lots of useful information on their website, including a comprehensive list of standards issuing organizations (http://www.ses-standards.org/?page=44)
 
Underwriters Laboratories (UL) (http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/)
UL is the leading third-party certification organization in the United States and the largest in North America. As a not-for-profit product safety testing and certification organization, UL has been evaluating products in the interest of public safety since 1894. UL's activities involve evaluating more than 16,500 different types of products for safety hazards, developing standards to test products, and registering the quality systems of organizations worldwide to various quality standards. This site gives information on how to order UL standards.
 
U.S. General Services Administration Index of Federal Specifications, Standards and Commercial Item Descriptions