Facility Management Standards – Looking to the future

ISO Technical Committee 267 Facility Management (ISO/TC 267) conducted its second plenary meeting for 2020 virtually due to the COVID-19 global pandemic on 18 November to progress the ISO 41000 international facility management (FM) standards.

Since 2012, and until this year, the ISO/TC 267 members could anticipate face-to-face plenary meetings twice a year. Meetings have been hosted in previous years in Australia, Columbia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, Scotland, and the USA.

Now, with 48 countries participating, our most recent virtual meeting included over 65 representatives online. Membership is via countries’ National Standards Bodies (NSB), and the British Standards Institution (BSI) provides our Secretariat. ISO/TC 267 currently organizes itself across seven (7) active groups. These include Advisory Groups (AG), Working Groups (WG) and special-purpose Task Groups (TG) progressing a range of ISO/TC 267 approved initiatives.

The significance of this international collaborative effort is not lost on me, as this was my last such meeting as the Chairman, a position it has been my privilege to hold since the inception of ISO/TC 267.

 

Plenary meetings are important forums for member nations to share experiences from across the FM world and confirm their commitment to our goals. This meeting did not disappoint, with multiple presentations from our international FM leaders resulting in new resolutions covering a range of initiatives for 2021 and beyond, including:

 

 

Appointment and confirmation of officers, liaisons, leaders and working groups.
Consideration of comments, new work item proposal and progress:
- ISO 41015: Influencing organizational behaviors for improved facility outcomes      - ISO/TR 41016: Technology in facility management – Scope, key concepts and benefits      - ISO 41017 Guidance on emergency management of epidemic prevention in the workplace      - ISO 41018: Development of facility management policy      - ISO/TR 41019: The role of FM in Sustainability and Resilience      - ISO 41020: Performance measurement and management for improved facility outcomes      - Revision and update of ISO 41011: FM Vocabulary
Appreciation of completed initiatives and retiring members.
Agreement on future meetings.

 

Importantly, the ISO 41000 series of FM standards provides a common language and framework for FM worldwide. This work is crucial as adopting the ISO 41000 series will better prepare organizations for the uncertainties of our challenging times.

 

In closing, I wish to thank the ISO/TC 267 members for their camaraderie and considerable efforts over the past nine (9) years; it has been an exceptional experience for me to have gained so many new friends and colleagues. I thank Bernd Borchert, our Committee Manager, for his considerable support to me over the years. I would wish the new incoming chairman, Duncan Waddell, very best wishes. I know that he will continue to lead the committee onwards and upwards on behalf of the FM community at large.

I look forward to the further development of our work to raise the profile of our sector worldwide, and to the FM community, I extend my very best wishes in their endeavors to position FM as the strategic professional discipline that it is or should be!

Please follow us on TC267 on LinkedIn using #ISO41000.  

Should you wish to contribute to the work of the committee or would like any support in finding out how your country can form its own committee to then be able to contribute to the work of ISO/TC267, please contact your National Standards Body (NSB) or our Committee Manager, Bernd Borchert at [email protected].

 

Stan Mitchell

Chairman, ISO/TC 267 Facility Management