International Standards Day 14th October
The theme for International Standards Day 2021 is a ‘Shared Vision for a Better World’. The theme is timely as the world is trying to recover from the worst of the pandemic. An increased awareness and interest in sustainability has emerged during the pandemic. Consequently, the focus on combining ISO standards with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a way of furthering the awareness and necessity of the SDGs in everyday life. 2021 is the first of a multiyear World Standards Day journey that will demonstrate the ways in which ISO standards contribute to sustainability efforts.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals and ISOs
The use of ISO standards to support the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is an ambitious plan that will benefit government, industry, and consumers. The UN SDGs focus on all areas of human life and how it can be bettered. The ISO standards work to support the SDG’s focus on social, economic, and environmental development. The ISO has over 22,000 certifications and these will assist in reaching the SDG’s ambitious objectives. The commonality between the SDG’s and ISO certifications is that they focus on improving all aspects of human life. The social development aspect of the SDGs for example include reducing inequalities within and among countries, achieving gender equality, ensuring healthy lives and wellbeing etc. The ISO standards support these goals through standards such as ISO 26000 (Guidance on Social Responsibility) which supports gender equality and reducing inequalities in and among countries. The SDG of good health and wellbeing is supported by over 1300 ISO standards that support safe, quality medical practices.
ISO and Facilities Management Services Support Sustainability Efforts
In development currently is the ISO Standard, 41019 ‘The Role of FM in Sustainability and Resilience’. The development of the standard requires contributions from participants from different professional backgrounds as a part of a Technical Committee (TC). Each person is a volunteer and contributes their time and effort to the development of these new standards. Acacia’s Managing Director, David O’Brien, is the Irish member of Technical Committee 267 (TC 267), who are currently working towards the ISO standard of the role of sustainability in facilities management. However, sustainability in FM is not limited to ISO 41019. Facilities management services supports the demand organisations sustainability efforts using several ISO certifications. Related ISO standards that Acacia assists clients in acquiring include:
ISO 50001 – Energy Management Systems
ISO 9001 – Quality management Standards
ISO 14001 – Environmental Management Standards
ISO 27001 – Information Security Management Systems
ISO 45001 – Health & Safety Management Standards (Combining OHSAS 19001 & ILO-OSH Guidelines)
If you would like to learn more about how ISO Standards work to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals, click on this link Contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals with ISO standards
