During its annual Commencement Ceremony for the Academy for Facility Management awarded a number of Special Charters for outstanding public, academic and intellectual achievement to Craig Henry, David Khasebe, Clair Odgers, Hendrik Wannenburg, Helgard Pienaar and Banzi Bam.
Their achievement stems from serving as members of the SA Bureau of Standards Technical Committee (T/C 267), which was formed under the auspices of the International Standards Organisation (ISO) to create Facility Management (FM) Standards.
They were responsible for formulating South Africa’s views and making its voice heard in the ISO Technical Committee and Working Groups with regard to the 41000 suite of standards for Facility Management.
They were also responsible for crafting SA National Standard (SANS 1752:2017 – Strategic Facilities Management System Standard, which was published in March. Theirs is a singular achievement as this is the first management system standard for FM ever published.
They were also recognised for their commitment and dedication to a non-remunerated task of more than a year, which serves an entire industry. The standard has passed all the stringent ISO requirements including the industry peer review.
The Academy believes this contribution will have national impact on the local FM industry. It will also have an international impact as SANS 1752 has been offered to ISO as a template for the development of the international standard by the same title.
While it may be years before the value of these FM standards will be acknowledged by the industry, the Academy is already training FM managers of tomorrow according to the principles and guidelines of these standards.
These FM professionals were recognised for the development of the SANS Standard, as well as the general advancement of the body of knowledge in the field of Facility Management.
The awards were handed over by Prof Boonzaaier of the Academy’s Academic Board