"A standard is a document that provides requirements, specifications, guidelines or characteristics that can be used consistently to ensure that materials, products, processes and services are fit for their purpose." - ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
Standards are created by professional societies, manufacturing associations, governments, companies, international organizations, and non-profits, and can be government mandated and or voluntary. Standards are updated regularly, so always check to make sure you are using the most up-to-date standard.
Standards are usually identified by an abbreviation of the issuing organization, a number, the year it was approved and a title.
There are a large numbers of standards developing organizations(SDOs) and most of these organizations charge for their standards so most standards are not freely available. There is no overall index to available standards. A number of online vendors sell standards from SDOs so their online catalogs can sometimes be used to determine what standard are available.
The International Code Council (ICC) provides free online public viewing of their recent standards and codes. The public access mode only allows viewing of the documents. It does not allow for downloading, bookmarking, coping or printing. Users can browse by category or select from a state map. Once a category is selected, users can click on the book cover icon of the available choices to see the text of the document. Link to the free version of the latest International Building Code.
The Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR) is a currently updated version of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). It is not an official legal edition of the CFR. The e-CFR is an editorial compilation of CFR material and Federal Register amendments produced by the National Archives and Records Administration's Office of the Federal Register (OFR) and the Government Publishing Office. The OFR updates the material in the e-CFR on a daily basis. The current update status appears at the top of all e-CFR