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Lab, Sampling & Analytical Equipment
The laboratory analytical services market has changed little over the last twenty years. With stagnant prices and rising costs, constant improvement is required simply to stay competitive. Laboratories are looking for ways to provide their clients with expanded services in order to gain market share and create new revenue streams. By understanding the changing needs of their clients and offering affordable solutions, laboratories are learning that they can do more than “measure, record, and report.”
For utilities, threats are faced on many levels, including safety, security, asset failure, and financial, and they have needs for ranking, treating, and reporting on those threats. Implementing a properly constructed risk governance plan for the entire organization can greatly enhance decision making, maximize returns on investment, and improve stakeholder communication.
Domestic and global trends test an organization’s ability to manage risk. In the USA, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that as much as US$1.2 trillion will be required through 2019 to meet water and wastewater infrastructure needs. It is likely that access to state and federal funds and/or grants will be prioritized by, if not contingent upon, sound risk management planning (see Government Accounting Office report GAO-04-461, “Water Utility Asset Management”).
Australia has been pushing the standards for water suppliers from a regulatory perspective. In 2003, the State of Victoria passed the “Safe Drinking Water Act” which, among other things, required that “Water suppliers must prepare, implement and review risk management plans.” Nationally, the National Health and Medical Research Council in collaboration with the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council developed the “2004 Australian Drinking Water Guidelines,” which incorporates a preventative risk management approach and elements of ISO 9001 (Quality Management), ISO 14001 (Environmental Management), AS/NZS 4360 (Risk Management) and the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system.
The World Health Organization has also drafted “Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality” that are being considered and/or adopted in many regions of the world including the European Union and emerging third world countries in Africa and Asia. “The Guidelines are intended to support the development and implementation of risk management strategies that will ensure the safety of drinking-water supplies through the control of hazardous constituents of water,” according to the WHO.
Lab provides affordable solution
In 2003, Bridge-Soft, LLC of Manchester, New Hampshire, USA, developed and implemented a comprehensive solution in cooperation with Goulburn Valley Water of Shepparton, Victoria, Australia. This Quality Management System (QMS) provides a wide array of tools for managing operational and compliance information, incident notification and response, and ISO/HACCP program support. QMS is manageable and affordable for medium to large utilities, but not for the smaller utilities that make up the majority of public systems.
The link between these industry trends and analytical laboratories became clear during a presentation to Simmonds and Bristow (S&B) Pty Ltd of Rocklea, Queensland, Australia. Its 40- year history of providing scientific and engineering services to water and sewerage utilities helped S&B immediately recognize that its clients had a need for the features of Bridge-Soft’s QMS solution, but in many cases possessed neither the financial nor human resources to purchase, implement, and support such a system. By hosting this Virtual Delivery Platform (VDP), S&B would be able to deliver value added services at an affordable price.
Mount Isa Water Board (MIWB), a bulk water supplier to the local authority and industrial customers in western Queensland, Australia, discovered the advantages of this new system. This small organization with large responsibilities found it difficult to control its compliance testing, operations and maintenance, and incident management programs in a manner consistent with its organizational risk management plan. Their remote location and limited staffing resources makes them an ideal candidate for the VDP service.
Mount Isa plans to rely heavily on the VDP for information and incident management. Having test results available instantly 24 hours a day, seven days a week will improve the efficiency of their engineering department. The online analytical tools will allow them to analyze and visualize all of their data without any infrastructure investment. Finally, the online incident notification, assessment, and response module is expected to dramatically enhance their ability to implement, monitor, and communicate their risk management strategy.
Conclusion
Water and wastewater utilities around the globe are looking for tools to manage information and reduce risks at the lowest possible cost. Analytical laboratories can expand the traditional business model and offer outsourced services that benefit both the provider and consumer.
Article by Jon DiPietro
Hits: 738
Posted : 07/09/2006
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