ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainable asset management
GHD is one of the world’s leading engineering, architecture and environmental consulting companies. A trusted provider to the rail industry in the UK and across the globe, GHD supports a wide range of organisations on asset management improvement and sustainability. GHD’s Head of Carbon and Sustainability in the UK, Howard Lungley, writes about developments in sustainable asset management.
Asset management is maturing M
any organisations responsible for managing physical assets do so using
‘legacy-based systems’. That is, their systems of managing the performance, maintenance and effi ciency of the assets have evolved over time. More often than not, the legacy-based system is not the most effi cient way to keep assets serving the organisation’s objectives, which themselves often change and develop over time. There is a business case for the wholesale redesign of these legacy-based systems.
The UK now has its own Publicly Available Specifi cation, BSi PAS-55:2008, for the optimised management of physical assets,1 which is currently being developed into a full international standard (ISO 55001 is due for publication early 2014). PAS-55 provides a template for a redesigned asset management system. Benefi ts may include fewer asset failures, lower operational costs, improved management visibility and the ability to demonstrate competence.
The rail industry is gradually taking up this specifi cation, led by organisations such as London Underground (PAS-55 certifi ed in 2011) and Merseyrail (which through the adoption of good practice asset management has considerably improved performance).
Stakeholders expect sustainability
This maturing of asset management runs in parallel with the rise of the sustainability agenda, which now reaches into boardrooms. Governments,
investors, customers and
employees now expect organisations to form part of a joined-up society where their outputs directly contribute to sustainable development (SD).
Once criticised for being vague and woolly, sustainability is now increasingly understood by defi ning it in terms of specifi c economic, social and environmental outcomes.
Consequently, organisations are linking strategic objectives to sustainability issues. For example, it is now normal for energy companies to have at least a green tariff or perhaps even a business division focused on the development of renewable sources of electricity.
The rail industry has its 10 SD Principles, developed by the Sustainable Rail Programme.2 It is now time for rail organisations to express their corporate objectives in these terms. Doing so will help them focus on improving effi ciency, delivering stronger performance, and fulfi lling stakeholder expectations.
Asset management delivers sustainability
Perhaps the most direct way rail organisations can contribute to sustainable development is by improving their asset management. The two subjects are inextricably linked. For example, poor asset management increases the risk of asset failure. At worst, it can lead to catastrophic incidents that result in loss of life, widespread environmental damage and reputational and remedial costs. At best, it results in ineffi ciency: lower service delivery, excessive energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and higher costs. These are sustainability issues and, naturally, they are refl ected in the rail industry’s SD Principles.2
PAS-55 states that an organisation should optimally and sustainably manage its assets. In our experience, the asset management system can only incorporate sustainability if there are sustainability objectives to work to. Therefore, rail organisations must fi rst identify to which of the SD Principles they can – and are expected to – contribute, and defi ne useful objectives towards these.
This approach links asset management directly to the organisation’s contribution to sustainable development. The asset management policies, plans and procedures can be designed to deliver the objectives. They are also readily audited, reviewed and amended via the continuous improvement loop of a management system certifi ed to PAS-55, to make sure they continue to deliver sustainable asset management.
References:
1
www.theiam.org 2
tinyurl.com/RSSB-SRP
FOR MORE INFORMATION
E:
howard.lungley@
ghd.com W:
www.ghd.com
rail technology magazine Jun/Jul 12 | 37
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