American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
ANSI is a large US consensus standards-making organization located in New York. It has been variously known in the past as the American Standards Association and the United States of America Standards Institute. Some ASTM standards are also ANSI standards.

American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE)
ASSE is the professional association of safety practitioners and is the secretariat for several safety standards, such as A1264.2 on slip resistance in the workplace and Z359 on fall protection. You can buy these standards from ASSE.

American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
ASTM is a large consensus standards-making organization located near Philadelphia that has been prominent in the US for over 100 years. Once a standard is fully accredited by ASTM, it may be adopted by ANSI as an ANSI standard.

Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (ATBCB)
ATBCB is known among its denizens as the Access Board. It is an independent federal agency established by the Architectural Barriers Act of 1973, and its mission is to promulgate regulations for accessibility of facilities by the handicapped. Its regulations are enforced by the US Department of Justice.

Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP)
BCSP was chartered as an Illinois corporation in 1968 by the ASSE in cooperation with other safety-related professional associations (such as fire protection engineers, industrial hygienists, health physicists and systems safety) to set up standards of professional qualifications and to administer exams the measure competence.

National Fire Protection Association
NFPA is a membership organization that writes standards for fire safety and has recently embarked on a project to write a national model building code. The NFPA 101 Life Safety Code is widely adopted by local jurisdictions where it is enforced as law by fire marshals. Its "Means of Egress" section constitutes the best code for stairs, railings and walkway safety.

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
NIOSH is a federal safety and health research agency that was established under the OSHAct of 1970. It came out of the old Public Health Service and is a division of the Centers for Disease Control. It promulgates no standards nor does it have enforcement authority but is supposed to provide research bases for prospective OSHA regs.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
OSHA is a division of the US Department of Labor which was chartered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. It promulgates safety standards under the OSHAct and has field enforcement authority, including the power to assess fines for violations.

Underwriters Laboratories (UL)
UL is a corporation set up in 1894 by the insurance industry to promulgate safety standards and list products that pass its standards. It lists products compliant with the UL 410 test (on the James machine) as "Slip Resistant."