Assets and facilities
ISO 55001:2024
Asset management systems
ISO 55001 sets out requirements for an asset management system.
A certified organisation manages its assets, such as plant, infrastructure, fleets, buildings and equipment, over their whole life, so that decisions about acquiring, operating, maintaining, renewing and disposing of them balance cost, risk and performance and support its objectives.
Who it suits
Owners and operators of infrastructure and large asset bases, including utilities, energy networks, transport and rail, ports and airports, local authorities, property portfolios, mining and heavy industry, and the service providers that manage assets on their behalf.
What certification involves
ISAO, or a certification body accredited for ISO 55001, audits the system in two stages: first the scope, the asset management policy, the strategic asset management plan and readiness; then how asset decisions, plans, life cycle activities and asset information work in practice. The certificate states the asset portfolio, activities and sites covered. Certificates are normally valid for three years, with surveillance audits at least once a year and a recertification audit before expiry. ISAO carries out this certification itself, and also accredits certification bodies to do it. Every certificate ISAO issues, and every certificate issued under ISAO accreditation, is recorded on the public register.
Key themes
- A strategic asset management plan that links asset decisions to organisational objectives
- Decision-making criteria that balance cost, risk and performance over the asset life cycle
- Managing risks and, separately, opportunities
- Life cycle management as part of operational planning and control
- Asset data, information and knowledge
- Predictive action, monitoring and continual improvement
Edition
- Current edition
- ISO 55001:2024
ISO 55001:2024, the second edition, was published in July 2024 and replaced ISO 55001:2014. The revision moved the standard onto ISO's common structure for management system standards and asks more of leadership. It adds requirements on how asset decisions are made, on the strategic plan that links organisational objectives to asset plans, and on the knowledge needed to manage assets, and it treats life cycle management as part of day-to-day operational control. Risks are now handled separately from opportunities, and the old preventive action requirement looks ahead as predictive action. A certificate that still names ISO 55001:2014 refers to a withdrawn edition: ask the issuing body about it.
Check a certificate for ISO 55001:2024
- Enter the certificate number or verification code at Verify a certificate, or scan the QR code on the certificate. The record shows the certificate's status today, for example valid, suspended, withdrawn or expired.
- Compare the organisation name, scope and sites on the record with the copy you were given. Check that the assets, activities and sites you are concerned with are within the stated scope.
- Check who issued the certificate, as named on the record. Where a certification body accredited by ISAO issued it, the record shows the status of that accreditation and its accreditation number, and says so if the accreditation did not cover ISO 55001:2024 when the certificate was issued.
- If the certificate is not on the register, ISAO cannot confirm it: it may have been issued under another accreditation, or a detail may be wrong. Ask the issuing body, and report a concern if something does not look right.
Related standards
This is ISAO’s own summary, not the text of the standard. Copies of ISO 55001:2024 can be bought from ISO or from national standards bodies.