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New Streamlined Process for LEED and WELL Building Certifications

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), and the International WELL Building Institute pbc (IWBI) have released a streamlined process for projects pursuing certifications for the LEED green building rating system and the WELL Building Standard. The process streamlines documentation for projects that are pursuing both certifications at the same time […]

Maximizing Indoor Air Quality: A Guide to Effective Air Conditioning

With many of us now choosing to work from home, the onus has been placed on businesses to improve working environments if they want staff to come into the workplace more often than not. Companies of all sizes need to think about the little things that they can do to have a positive impact on […]

Pennsylvania OKs $4.8M Safety and Security Training Program for All School Employees

All school employees in Pennsylvania will receive three hours of safety and security training every year, at no charge to their schools, through a new program grant approved by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD). “Every kid deserves to be safe and feel safe, whether they’re in the classroom, on the playing field, waiting […]

A Closer Look at the Robotics Safety Process

Industrial robots can extend or enhance productivity at your facility, as well as perform dangerous or repetitive workplace tasks, thereby protecting the health and safety of your workers. Robotic systems are becoming more collaborative and mobile in nature. The future of robotics involves more collaborative robots, or “co-robots,” rather than fixed industrial robots isolated from […]

PUMP Act Compliance: How to Create Lactation Space at Your Facilities

On Dec. 29, 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act, a.k.a. the PUMP Act. This new legislation requires employers of all kinds to provide break time and adequate facilities for employees to pump breast milk. This means that workplaces—from retail stores and restaurants to warehouses and […]

K-12 School Leaders Converge on D.C. for Clean Energy Symposium

More than 50 school leaders from 16 states recently traveled to Washington, D.C., for the first-ever Clean Energy Schools Symposium—a national meeting of school decision-makers who have flipped the switch to clean energy and are actively inspiring and supporting other schools across the country to do the same. National clean energy nonprofit Generation180 hosted the […]

Spring Cleaning with a Twist: Rediscovering Citric-Acid-Based Solutions

If Google Trends is any indication, spring cleaning is on just about everyone’s mind. Back on December 20, 2022, so few people were doing searches using the term “spring cleaning” that Google declared “there was not enough data [searches] to measure the term.” Jump ahead to March 6, 2023, and the number of people searching […]

FAA Challenge Lets Kids Design Airports Using Minecraft

Will the kid gamers of today design the airports of tomorrow? The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) annual Airport Design Challenge took flight on April 1 and is open for enrollment. The challenge helps students design virtual airports using the Microsoft game Minecraft. Students studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) across the globe will meet aviation professionals […]

DOE Offers States $50M to Boost Smart Manufacturing Facilities

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $50 million in funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for states to ensure that smart manufacturing technologies and high-performance computing are more accessible by domestic manufacturing firms. The State Manufacturing Leadership Program aims to remove existing barriers that prevent innovative, data-driven tools and technologies from being used by small- and medium-sized […]

6 Timeless Skills Every Successful Facilities Manager Has

“Join the FM world—it is far more than what you may think it is!” Those are the upbeat words of Liz Bishop, an assistant facilities manager for Austin-based tech company Bazaarvoice. And she makes an excellent point—there’s no denying that facilities management is a challenging but rewarding career. As the business world evolves, so does […]