ISO 24518, “Activities relating to drinking water and wastewater services – Crisis management of water utilities,” has just been released. This is a companion document to the other ISO standards for water utilities, ISO 24510, ISO 24511, and ISO 24512. It addresses both preparations and actions needed for adequate responses to both natural disasters and other catastrophies that could disrupt both drinking water and wastewater services.
ISO 24518 first of all describes the fundamentals of crisis management. Often called the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) process, it is a management system that is used in any number of scenarios. In fact, the terms and definitions section (clause 2) is organized into 4 parts: one for “plan,” one for “do,” one for “check,” and one for “act.” This approach allows any organization to continuously confirm that it is able to respond successfully to any potential crisis.
Of course, if you’re in the water utilities industry, you’ll be glad to know that this PDCA system is tailored to the challenges you face in managing your organization. So you’ll find references to such things as AWS (Alternative Water Supply) and AWWS (Alternative Wastewater Services) throughout the standard.
Beyond that, you’ll find sections on the context of the organization (that is, the organization and it’s relationship to all interested parties), leadership, planning, support, operation, performance evaluation and improvement. These concepts are all core to both management systems and risk management. However, this standard is not a requirements document. It is not intended for certification but for use by management to improve both the preparation for and the response to any given crisis.
Lastly, let’s take a look at the three relevant referenced documents and also a fourth title under development right now:
- ISO 24510, Activities relating to drinking water and wastewater services – Guidelines for the assessment and for the improvement of the service to users
- ISO 24511, Activities relating to drinking water and wastewater services – Guidelines for the management of wastewater utilities and for the assessment of wastewater services
- ISO 24512, Activities relating to drinking water and wastewater services – Guidelines for the management of drinking water utilities and for the assessment of drinking water services
- Not yet numbered, “Activities relating to drinking water and wastewater services — Crisis management of water utilities — Good practice for technical aspects”
Management of infrastructure services like power and water during crisis situations is essential to protect human health and welfare. These ISO standards are the foundation of processes that can make a real positive impact for your customer base in times of emergency.
You’ll need to purchase your ISO standards from an authorized distributor, since they are covered by the laws of copyright. Use the Document Center Inc. webstore at www.document-center.com to get copies in either paper format or for pdf download. Here’s the direct link for the ISO 24518 order page.
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