Increasingly complex, the global facility management (FM) market will be worth USD 1 trillion by 2025 – and that’s just that which is outsourced2). Concerned with the management, operation and maintenance of an organization’s facilities, FM is a discipline that needs to balance the rapidly changing needs and demands of the various stakeholders that it serves with effective, safe and sustainable business needs. It affects the health and well-being of all those who come in contact with an organization and covers a wide range of areas including occupancy costs (the second-highest overhead in almost every organization), use of space, maintenance, security, cleanliness, the environment and more.
ISO 41001, Facility management – Management systems – Requirements with guidance for use, has just been published to help FM teams achieve optimum efficiency. Drawing on international best practice, the new management system standard constitutes a benchmark for developing and driving an effective strategic, tactical and operational FM regime. It will also assist organizations seeking to outsource FM, as those providers who are able to demonstrate compliance with the standard will provide them with an assurance regarding their approach and processes.
Stanley Mitchell, Chair of ISO/TC 267, Facility management, the ISO technical committee that developed the standard, said ISO 41001 will assist organizations in a number of ways by establishing a common approach and a 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 that directly affects everyone, as it is all about the spaces that we occupy and how those spaces meet the needs of the people who use them on a daily basis.
“ISO 41001 is the first standard of its kind for facility management and has the potential to make a real difference to organizations by improving workforce health and safety, reducing their impact on the environment and making considerable cost savings and efficiencies.”
The secretariat of ISO/TC 267 is held by BSI, ISO’s member for the UK. ISO 41001 is available from your national ISO member or through the ISO Store.
1) Forbes magazine: “The Employee Experience Is The Future Of Work: 10 HR Trends For 2017”
2) CBRE, “Top trends in facilities management: How society, demographics and technology are changing the world of FM” [PDF]