by Brianna Crandall — October 29, 2014—Stan Mitchell, British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) representative, Chair of the British Standards Institution (BSI) FMW/1 Facilities Management Committee, and Chairman of ISO TC 267 Committee for Facilities Management, confirmed last week that he has received approval from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to start work on an international standard for facilities management.
This move represents a significant step forward in the recognition of FM as a “business critical” management discipline worldwide, noted Mitchell, reflecting the increasing impact that effective FM is having on businesses through sustainability, energy management and other strategic FM initiatives.
The Management System Standard is intended to operate in a similar manner as other internationally recognized ISO standards such as ISO 9001 for quality management, ISO 14001 for environmental management systems, and others.
Mitchell commented, Whilst there is a lot of hard work to be done to ensure that a standard such as this is worthy of international recognition, its potential in consolidating the discipline of facilities management as a structured and professional discipline is significant.”
The first meeting of the ISO TC 267 Committee to start work on this standard will take place alongside the European Facilities Management Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the first week of June 2015.
