We are already starting to apply a flexible and dynamic approach, including in the built environment and transport sectors. For example, BSI used the Flex process in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We worked with experts from many sectors and disciplines to rapidly create a set of Safe Working Guidelines. The Guidelines created a framework for safe working during the pandemic, to protect people from work-related risks from COVID-19. We published the first Safe Working Guidelines BSI Flex standard in May 2020, and Versions 2 and 3 followed in July and August. The Guidelines were then used as the basis of a new international standard, PD ISO/PAS 45005:2020, Occupational health and safety management — General guidelines for safe working during the COVID-19 pandemic.
BSI Flex is also being used to support areas of rapid innovation. For example, we worked with the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) and industry to develop a CAV vocabulary as a BSI Flex standard and make it available through an interactive website showing each term and its definition with clear version history. Three versions, or iterations, of the vocabulary were created within less than a year. The iterative approach proved to be valuable, with new terms emerging and existing ones amended, or sometimes dropped based on stakeholder feedback. This has meant that the latest thinking on good practice is available as a resource for industry and it is helping to inform future standards development.