"A standard defines an agreed upon way to produce products, perform certain processes or supply materials in a regular, repeatable manner. Standards can provide guidance to a huge range of activities that your organization might undertake; they can even be used by your customers or other stakeholders."
Read more on the many Types of standards:
Voluntary Standards
"These are standards whose use is theoretically voluntary, but in practice is widely adopted for the sake of ease of manufacture, interchangeability, and safety. Virtually all industrial standards are voluntary standards." The link to the CSA standards is below.
Mandatory Standards
"Mandatory standards are, in effect, laws. Failure to follow them could result in legal penalties and liability. They are generally adopted out of concern for safety, and promulgated by the Federal government or one of its agencies or departments. Codes are groups of standards on the same topic, generally created for government agencies, and are thus mandatory standards." Find the links below.