Perhaps you supply water to high-risk groups such as children, older people, or immunocompromised individuals.Always bear in mind that a compromised plumbing system can detrimentally affect the quality and safety of the water it delivers, risking illness or even a fatality among at-risk groups. Many outbreaks of waterborne disease can originate from a distribution or…
Critical control points (CCPs) are at the heart of many contemporary product risk management frameworks including for drinking water, the WHO’s Water Safety Plans and for food and beverages, the FAO’s Codex Alimentarius (HACCP). In some countries, the concept of CCPs is not yet established with ‘multiple barriers’ being used instead. However, ‘multiple barriers’ refers…
WHEN MANAGING RISK IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY If delivering safe drinking water to consumers is ultimately your responsibility, you’ve got to know what you don’t know – and you need to know it now. And when that live, real-time knowledge comes at an annual cost per household of less than 50 cents* – you need to…
Material non-conformances are a significant issue for utilities, often bringing with them substantial board and even political ramifications (where the utility is a public enterprise and non-conformances are reported to the responsible minister). Being involved in many statutory audits between us, we have seen first-hand the to-ing and fro-ing in terms of what constitutes a…
After a year’s hard work, we now have a way of comparing Critical Control Point performance across and between individual CCPs and plants, with our new CCP Health CheckTM score within our Information EngineTM product, CCP WatchTM. And we’ve been able to make some great recommendations for optimising performance and protecting public health. A big…
COVID-19 is already having an enormous impact on Australian society, with dramatically increased health risk, and in making it most definitely not ‘business as usual’ for organisations and individuals. Some people are becoming ill, others are being required to work from home – visits to offices and production facilities, by suppliers and service providers, are…
As published by the Certified Enterprise Risk Manager® (CERM) Academy, Issue #258 ISO 31000 defines ‘risk’ as the effect of uncertainty on objectives. The Framework for Management of Drinking Water Quality (Australian Drinking Water Guidelines) includes a requirement to identify hazards, understand risk and the uncertainty associated with it. Understanding uncertainty is important in making…
As published by the Certified Enterprise Risk Manager® (CERM) Academy, Issue #256 ISO 19011 sets the standard for auditing of management systems. When conducting an audit, ISO 19011 sets out 6 principles for an effective and reliable audit with sound outcomes: Integrity: the requirement to act in a professional manner Fair presentation: the obligation that…
The Value of Operator Competency project is a Water Research Australia member-funded initiative to communicate the value and benefits of an appropriately trained and competent frontline operator workforce. The ability of a frontline operator to capably and competently manage water quality safety risks is extremely important to public health and safety, and environmental outcomes. A…
