The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published its third facility management (FM) standard in under half a year.

ISO — an independent, non-governmental organization and developer of international voluntary consensus standards — published two standards in April 2017: ISO 41011:2017, Facility management – Vocabulary and ISO 41012:2017, Facility management – Guidance on strategic sourcing and the development of agreements. Now, ISO has published ISO/TR 41013:2017 Facility management – Scope, key concepts and benefits.

The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) has served as administrator on behalf of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) since 2012, playing a vital role in supporting the development of international FM standards. The benefit of global unification within the FM industry is a top priority for IFMA, which, thanks to its global footprint and the landmark IFMA-RICS collaboration launched in 2016, is uniquely positioned to support such a goal.

“A unified FM industry is a goal worth investing a lot of time and energy,” said Jay Drew, who was the co-convenor of Working Group 1. “Not only do ISO standards make individual FM professionals and their organizations more effective and efficient, but they can improve the outcomes for end users in terms of safety, security and productivity. Some of the leaders who helped make this happen include Jim Whittaker, who leads the effort for the U.S. ANSI TAG; Stan Mitchell, the ISO Technical Committee chair; and Paul Stadlöder and Olav Egil Sæbøe, who also served as working group convenors.”

The ISO Technical Committee 267 for Facility Management is continuing its work on the ISO 41000 series for FM and is currently developing a management systems standard with guidance notes. For practical guidance on the ISO management system process, read the six-part article series in IFMA’s FMJ magazine, beginning with “Setting the Stage for ISO 41001.”