NEW STANDARD FOR FACILITY MANAGEMENT – ISO41001 + Academy logo
FM has the responsibility for ensuring that the workplace meets the ever-changing needs and trends in how and where people work. The effectiveness of FM is therefore an essential aspect of organisational success, which is why a new ISO standard for FM has been published.
Increasingly complex, the global FM market will be worth USD1 trillion by 2025 – and that is just the outsourced sector of FM! Charged with the management, operation and maintenance of an organisation’s facilities, it is a discipline that needs to balance the rapidly changing needs and demands of the various stakeholders that it serves with efficient, effective, safe, sustainable and environmentally friendly business objectives. It affects the health and wellbeing of all who physically come in contact with an organisation’s built-environment. FM covers a wide range of disciplines including occupancy costs (the second highest overhead in almost every organisation), space utilization, maintenance, security, cleanliness, the environmental stewardship and much more.
South Africa lead the way with SANS1752 and now ISO has followed suit with an almost identical standard – ISO41001 Facility management – Management systems – Requirements with guidance for use
It will assist FM teams and organisations to manage themselves as well as their facilities more effectively, drawing on international best practice and providing a common platform for all types of organisations. While it is early day for implementation of the standard, the objective is to create a system that will allow organisations (in-house and providers) the opportunity to be certified as compliant against the standard.
Stan Mitchell, chair of ISO/TC 267 FM, the global ISO technical committee (of which SA is also a part) and who developed the standard said, “the ISO 41001 management system standard will assist organizations of all sizes in many ways, and set a common structure and approach as well as set of processes that can be referred to around the world.”
“Every company, big or small, has some element of facility management. It is a complex discipline which directly affects everyone, as it is all about the spaces that we occupy and how they meet the needs of the people who use them on a daily basis.
Stand also stated that ISO 41001 is the first ISO standard of its kind for FM (SANS 1752 is a SA standard). He concluded the statement by saying, it has the potential to make a real difference to organisations, by improving workforce health and safety, reducing their impact on the environment and realizing considerable cost savings and efficiencies.
The 41000 suite of standards as well as SANS1752 can all be purchased from the SABS. |
