Code of Conduct

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Introduction

The maintenance and reliability (“M&R”) industry’s continuous improvement process involves the indirect transfer of maintenance and reliability and physical asset management concepts and practices from the “best-in-class” organizations to those seeking to improve. The committees and volunteers of the SMRP facilitate this process through establishment of standards and industry guidelines related to benchmarking, metrics development, maintenance and reliability knowledge, physical asset management, development of certification, tests, education and other activities.

To guide the activities of committee and volunteer members and enhance the professionalism and overall effectiveness of SMRP initiatives and programs, SMRP has established this SMRP Committee and Volunteer Member Code of Conduct. Compliance with this code of conduct is a requirement for participation on SMRP committees and involvement in the Society.

Governing Principles

The activities of the volunteer members of SMRP committees and the SMRP staff who support SMRP committees’ activities shall be governed by the following principles:

  • Volunteers have an obligation of fiduciary duty to SMRP. It requires the exercise of reasonable care, whether participating in SMRP activities, making statements or otherwise.  Fiduciary duty includes the responsibilities of honesty, good faith, care and loyalty.  In plain English, that means the volunteer shall look out for SMRP’s best interests, not the individual’s best interests or those of the individual’s member company
  • Data and other information submitted to SMRP for committee purposes shall be used to establish performance and practice norms, to codify industry standards and best practices. Data and other information may also be used to support SMRP research initiatives with the goal of expanding or amending the body of knowledge, certification, tests, education and other activities.
  • Any interchange of data and information for committee purposes shall be treated as confidential to the individuals and organizations involved. Confidential individual company data shall not be communicated to any individual or other organization without the expressed written permission of the company submitting the data. Only aggregated data shall be published or disclosed outside of the committee. Rules for aggregating data to protect individual company confidentiality shall be established by the individual SMRP committee’s involved, shall not be in conflict with SMRP policies and shall be strictly followed.
  • Committee members and volunteers shall have access to information that if revealed to outsiders, could be damaging or sensitive to other members or staff, harmful to the best interest of the organization or even create legal liability. Information provided to committees and volunteers may concern personnel, financial, contractual, membership or legal matters. It shall often be confidential and intended for use in decision making and governance. Information shall be held in strictest of confidence and shall not be divulged to any outside party, including other members without authorization of the Chair or Executive Director.
  • No attempt shall be made to gain confidential information from any organization that is not related to the activities of SMRP committees.
  • No attempt shall be made to seek confidential information on other companies through SMRP staff, Board or committee members.
  • If an individual inadvertently receives any information that, based on this Code of Conduct, they should not have, they should inform the Executive Director of how the information was received and return the information back to SMRP.
  • If committee members are made knowledgeable of SMRP information concerning personnel, financial, contractual, membership or legal matters, such information shall be held in the strictest confidence and shall not be divulged to any outside party without the authorization of the SMRP Board of Directors or Executive Director.
  • Any products or analytical reports developed by committees or individuals from data received shall belong to the SMRP.
  • Discussions or actions that might lead to or imply an interest in restraint of trade, market customer allocation schemes, dealing arrangements, bid rigging, bribery, collusion, boycotts, prices, sales related data, misappropriation or otherwise violate the SMRP Antitrust Policy and are strictly prohibited.

Requirements

  • Members of SMRP committees and volunteers shall be required to sign this SMRP Committee Member Code of Conduct.
  • SMRP staff and any third party researchers shall be required to execute confidentiality agreements in accordance with the SMRP policy. 

Compliance

Failure to comply with any provisions of this SMRP Committee and Volunteer Member Code of Conduct shall result in expulsion from the committee(s) on which the member serves and review of SMRP membership status by the SMRP Board of Directors.