ISO Standards and Their Role in Managing World’s Resources
Posted:
Thursday, December 29th, 2011
Category:
ISO Training
Last October, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) announced the arrival of the seven billionth human being on the planet. Now the world’s population officially stands at seven billion, a hefty number that would take the world’s national governments and international organizations all acting in concert to properly take care of. That undertaking will go hand in hand with the already widespread availability of coursework such as ISO 14001 training, ISO 22000 training, and ISO 9001 training to help propagate and implement the ISO standards.
Said the announcement: “This unique moment in human history represents both an achievement and a challenge, and will have an impact on every single person on the planet. A world of seven billion has implications for sustainability, urbanization, access to health services and youth empowerment – however, it also offers a rare call-to-action opportunity to renew global commitment for a healthy and sustainable world.”
The ISO and ISO standards have a lot to contribute to this undertaking, considering that today the standards define how people work, conduct their personal and commercial businesses, and interact with one another every day around the world. Says ISO secretary-general Rob Steele: “Every day, thousands of ISO standards help people at work, in the home and at play, by promoting quality and efficiency, making lives safer and more comfortable, fostering economic prosperity and looking after our planet.”
The challenge of sustainability will be a big issue that the world must confront soon, and so standards for food safety, water quality, and energy management will be pivotal to the proper use of the world’s limited resources.
For the ISO one important way to do that is to standardize the way architects, interior designers, and engineers size the interior spaces of a building. This, according to the ISO, has been done through the completion of its latest standard—the ISO 9836:2011, Performance standards in building-Definition and calculation of area and space indicators.
Coming on the scene as a natural upshot of a standard like the ISO 14001 (environmental management)—with ISO 14001 training already available online to individuals, organizations, and companies— ISO 9836 is being seen as the common template for the building industry, the real estate sector, and the financiers when evaluating the performance of a building.
In essence, the new standard plays on area and volume indicators as the basic data for calculating against capital costs and for running costs and maintenance. Limiting the amount of space and the cost of individual materials minimizes running costs.
ISO 9836 is for establishing specifications for the geometric performance of a building and its spaces technical documentation, work floor area that will not be available because of furniture and the like, and evaluation, comparison or control of the properties of a building.
“Many countries have local rules for measuring surfaces and volumes, but such rules differ from one country to another,” said Gerald Davis, ISO project leader of this standard. “ISO 9836:2011 will provide a set of rules which can be applied in any country.”
Today, ISO standards are inextricably linked to how industry and society work together. Successful businesses almost always are ISO-standards compliant and certified. ISO certification training, such as ISO 14001 training (environmental management), ISO 22000 training (food safety), and ISO 9001 training (quality management), is the business of ISOCampus.com, a premier online ISO training provider. ISO certification training is not just for companies but also for organizations and individuals.
