Practical Facilities Tips, News & Advice.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), business and/or facility owners have a responsibility to provide a safe and healthy workplace. While this is straightforward on its surface, what many facility managers may not realize is that maintaining a safe work environment at their (or their organization’s) facilities can extend beyond their front door and […]
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) says that approximately 20% of working adults use some sort of tobacco products, with almost 5% of these folks using two or more tobacco products “every day” or “some days.”
34-year-old James Byrnes of North Beach, Maryland, was working from a ladder, hanging Christmas lights at his neighbor’s home in December 2013, when he came into contact with an overhead power line and was electrocuted. That same month, 13-year-old Georgia Marshall of Barry, South Wales, United Kingdom, was electrocuted while helping her father retrieve Christmas […]
By itself, winter carries a heightened risk of fire, because it involves more of the things that create warmth and light—fireplaces, space heaters, candles, cozy blankets. During the holidays, even more light, heat, and potentially flammable decorations are added to that mix.
Wildfires can happen at any time, though changes in land use combined with the steady and continuing rise of global temperatures over the past decades have helped create the perfect environmental conditions for them to thrive. To compound the problem, more and more people are living and working in communities where the risks posed by […]
Recycled tire crumb rubber has a variety of potential uses in facility design, from flooring to mulching to playgrounds or playing fields. The EPA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission have released the first report in their investigation into recycled tire crumbs, […]
In yesterday’s post, we took a quick look at professional and do-it-yourself (DIY) options for winterizing your irrigation systems, with a deeper focus on choosing the right equipment for the job. Today, we’ll take a walk through the process of winterizing, once you have all your equipment—including an appropriately sized air compressor—in place.
Property owners want to maintain a pleasant landscape for a host of reasons, such as attracting quality tenants or to portray themselves as a positive force for their community, among other reasons. Whether the landscape is beautifully ornamented or a simple, lightly planted green space, facility managers charged with maintenance and operations have come to […]
As green buildings become more widespread, it’s important to not overlook how we can turn outdoor spaces into more sustainable designs. Xeriscaping is one landscaping method that creates a low-water natural space that is not only easy to maintain, it’s beneficial to the environment.
In case you haven’t noticed the large clouds forming outside building entrances, the use of e-cigarettes—also called vaping—is on the rise. As a result, many facility managers and their organization’s HR teams are playing catch-up to answer questions from employees, colleagues, and executives.