Strengthening Standards in Healthcare Engineering: IHEA Appoints Inaugural National Standards Representative

IHEA Membership
Mar 19
2 min read

The Institute of Healthcare Engineering Australia (IHEA) has taken an important step in strengthening the voice of healthcare engineering within national frameworks, with the establishment of a new governance role: National Standards Representative.

This position has been created to ensure that the practical realities, technical expertise and operational challenges of healthcare engineering are effectively represented in the development and review of Australian Standards and related guidance.

Introducing Steve Delides

IHEA is pleased to announce the appointment of Steve Delides as the inaugural National Standards Representative.

Steve brings a wealth of expertise and a strong reputation for partnering with organisations to achieve best-practice water safety outcomes across complex environments. Known for his pragmatic approach, strong ethics and commitment to quality service, Steve combines technical excellence with a deep understanding of operational delivery.

His areas of expertise include:

Water quality and water quality sampling
Member of the Australian Standards Working Group for the AS 5667 series
Drinking water quality management and Legionella management
Workplace training and project management
Water and air quality monitoring
ISO 17025 internal auditing
Contaminated sites and acid sulphate soils

This breadth of experience positions Steve uniquely to contribute meaningfully to standards development, ensuring they are both technically robust and practically applicable.

The Role: Bridging Practice and Policy

Healthcare engineering sits at the intersection of clinical risk, infrastructure performance and regulatory compliance. As such, it is critical that standards reflect not only theoretical best practice, but also the real-world conditions in which healthcare facilities operate.

The National Standards Representative will play a key role in achieving this by:

Facilitating IHEA member involvement in Australian Standards committees, ensuring appropriate representation of healthcare engineering expertise
Identifying standards and guidelines that may require review or updating, particularly where current requirements are outdated or create barriers to best practice
Acting as a liaison between IHEA members and standards bodies to ensure industry knowledge informs national frameworks

A Stronger Voice for the Sector

This initiative reflects IHEA’s ongoing commitment to ensuring that healthcare engineering professionals have a strong, credible and informed voice in the standards that shape infrastructure safety, reliability and performance across the Australian healthcare sector.

By strengthening engagement with standards development, IHEA aims to support outcomes that are not only compliant, but also practical, efficient and aligned with contemporary best practice.

Further information about the role — and how members can become involved in standards activities — will be shared in the coming months as Steve becomes established in the position.