The Industrial Truck Standards Development Foundation (ITSDF) says more than 10,000 copies of its B56 series of standards dealing with forklift safety have been downloaded from its website.

ITSDF's board of trustees member Stan Simpson was pleasantly surprised.

"This was precisely what we hoped for when ITSDF offered to take over management of the standards development process from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 2005," he said.

"We started with the premise that cost should not be a factor in distribution of any of the B56 standards, and this is the proof that this was correct."

A random sample of downloaded information showed 37 per cent of the standards went to manufacturers and dealers, 22 per cent to users, six per cent to schools, universities and trainers, and five per cent to government agencies, including the military, a statement said.

In an "unexpected development", Standards New Zealand received permission to adopt the B56.1 standard as its own, the statement said.

"ITSDF was delighted to give permission to New Zealand to take this action because it shows that the work being done in the United States has global appeal," Simpson said.