Category: Safety

IIoT and Connected Devices: Perfect Partners that Help with Facilities Management

Advocates for using industrial internet of things (IIoT) technology in facilities management often cite room use, temperature, and air quality monitoring as examples of the technology’s benefits. Yet, multiple technologies are advancing rapidly, and while passive applications are useful to inform decisions, IIoT currently offers active and real-time benefits to optimize facilities, improve safety, and […]

back to school

Back-to-School Resources to Combat COVID, Keep Classrooms Open

As a new academic year begins, the Biden administration has issued a back-to-school fact sheet highlighting guidance and resources available to help protect students and staff from COVID-⁠19 spread and keep schools safely open all year long. The fact sheet calls for vaccination, testing, and improved indoor air quality. It also notes actions the administration […]

We Need to Think About Cleaning Safety

Several years ago, a restaurant worker died while performing one of his regular tasks—cleaning a restaurant’s kitchen floor. To clean the floor more effectively and efficiently, he decided to combine two incompatible cleaning agents: concentrated chlorine bleach and an acid-based cleaning solution. An example of an acid-based cleaning solution is ammonia; however, reports of the […]

Officials Urge Communities to ‘Remain Vigilant’ as U.S. Enters Peak Hurricane Season

Despite a slow start to the hurricane season, “the next Ida or Sandy could still be lying in wait,” warned FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. Atmospheric and oceanic conditions still favor an above-normal 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, according to NOAA’s annual mid-season update recently issued by the Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Weather Service. […]

COVID-19 Task Force Recommends Air Quality Upgrades

A nongovernmental task force recently recommended that building owners begin taking four steps to address SARS-CoV-2 infection risks in schools and workplaces: verifying building systems are performing as designed, increasing outdoor air ventilation, upgrading air filtration, and deploying portable air cleaners where needed. The Lancet COVID-19 Commission’s Task Force on Safe Work, Safe School, and […]

Safety Advocates Issue Call for Schools to Install Inside-Locking Doors

In the wake of the Uvalde school shooting tragedy, the Door and Hardware Institute, in conjunction with the Door Security & Safety Foundation (DSSF), released the following joint statement: On July 12, NBC News published an article highlighting a basic security feature that is lacking in more than a quarter of all schools across the country—classroom doors […]

How to Turn Facilities into Public Cooling Centers During Extreme Heat

As temperatures and humidity increase in many sections of the United States, we are all looking for relief. Facilities managers should understand the importance of making their facilities into cooling centers and consider the best ways they can help keep the public safe. What Is a Cooling Center? According to the CDC, cooling centers are […]

Back to Basics: 10 Ways to Prepare Your Facilities for Wildfires

Back to Basics is an article series that highlights important, but possibly overlooked, information facilities management professionals should know. With summer in full swing, along with rising temperatures and increased dry vegetation, facilities management professionals should be reminded that this year’s wildfire season has already begun—and it’s becoming a larger problem than in the past. […]

5 Steps Public Venues Should Take When Evaluating Security Solutions

Several public venues, including facilities hosting sports, concerts, and other events, have begun to trade out traditional technologies for frictionless screening solutions. Providers of these solutions promise to increase the fan experience without reducing screening capabilities. The potential can be polarizing, increasing the need to understand the technology and evaluate the unique needs of your […]

Congressional Action on School Security in Bipartisan Measure

Update: As expected, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, and President Joe Biden signed it into law on Saturday, June 25. Congress is poised, as of this writing, to pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), the gun and school safety measure carefully negotiated over the last few weeks in response to the mass murders at […]