Design Standard
Definition
A document produced by a recognised body (ISO, ASTM, UL, EN, national authority) specifying minimum technical requirements for a product category. Meeting a standard is persuasive evidence of non-defectiveness but not a conclusive defence.
- Issuing bodies
- ISO, ASTM, UL, EN, national regulators
- Legal weight
- Persuasive but not conclusive evidence of non-defectiveness
- Use in litigation
- Compared against the actual product design
- Field
- Design defect analysis
Common questions
Does compliance with a design standard end a product liability claim?+
No. Meeting a recognised standard supports an argument that the design was reasonable, but a plaintiff can still show the standard itself was outdated, that a safer alternative design existed and was feasible, or that the standard did not address the specific hazard that caused the injury.
Why might an old but still-in-force standard not protect a manufacturer?+
Standards bodies revise requirements as new hazards and materials are understood, so a product built to a standard that has since been superseded, or that never covered the failure mode at issue, can still be found defectively designed even though it complied with the rule in force at the time.
Related terms
- Commercial Feasibility
- Whether the cost of the safer design, spread across expected production volumes, would have made the product unaffordable or unmarketable.
- Custom vs Mandatory Standard
- Voluntary industry standards represent custom in the industry; regulatory standards (mandatory by law) set the legal floor. A product can violate custom...
- Risk-Utility Calculus
- The balancing of expected harm (probability of injury multiplied by severity) against the burden of prevention (cost of the SAD plus any...
- Safer Alternative Design (SAD)
- A specific, concrete modification to a product that would have reduced the hazard in question while preserving the product's essential utility, and...
- Technical Feasibility
- The capacity to implement a design change with materials, processes, and knowledge available at the date the product was manufactured and sold.