In early 2020, qldwater and Mackay, Whitsunday and Fraser Coast Regional Councils signed off on a joint research collaboration aimed at developing clear guidance for water service providers to assist in identifying critical assets, determining criticality ratings, and ultimately improve the risk management of critical assets. Leveraging off industry expertise, the three Councils agreed that they needed a consistent framework that was not overly complicated and could be aligned to each organisation’s risk appetite and their relative size.
The result is a Statewide Network Asset Criticality Guideline which allows the participating Councils, as well as other Queensland Water Service Providers, to take a risk-based approach in managing their assets. The joint approach helped to alleviate resource constraints often experienced by small and remote Councils.
What is Asset Criticality?
Asset criticality is a measure of the consequence of failure on a business. It is driven by the following factors:
Criticality is often confused with risk, where risk is actually a combination of criticality (consequence) and the likelihood of failure.
The project started out with a focus on network assets, with phase 2 expanding the asset base to include facility assets such as pump stations and water and sewage treatment plants. The three Councils tested 100 assets against the network assessment tool (Excel spreadsheet) after which it was distributed to volunteer councils along with draft guidelines in mid-November for further feedback.
Each of the individual investing councils received a criticality assessment framework and customised tools to apply to their respective assets. Once assessed and aligned to a corporate risk framework, it helps target maintenance and renewal programs to better manage risk.
The project is being delivered by Moira Zeilinga from Clear Idea - she provided this update as part of the qldwater Essentials Webinar Series:.
This project has been a great example of a co-investment model with shared benefits and we are looking forward to being able to share the results with our broader member base. We anticipate commencing development of a web-based tool to help streamline assessments in November 2021.
Related Documents
Asset Criticality Assessment Tool - Release Date 08-Oct-2021: - This network and facility asset criticality tool has been developed for qldwater (in association with Mackay Regional Council, Fraser Coast Regional Council, Whitsunday Regional Council) by Clear Idea to provide a simplified methodology and framework, including definitions with criticality score ratings and what they mean for both water supply, sewerage and recycled network and facilities assets.
Asset Criticality Guidelines 2021 - Release Date 08-Oct-2021: - Asset Criticality Methodology Guideline produced by Moira Zeilinga from Clear Idea
Asset Criticality Guideline Training - Release Date 08-Oct-2021: - Network asset criticality tool and guideline run through presentation by Moira Zelinga from Clear Idea held on 22 January 2021