Practical Facilities Tips, News & Advice.
COVID-19 has profoundly altered the way we work and, as a result, the way building owners and employers operate office buildings and other workplaces. As they’ve quickly adapted, they’ve embraced three new trends in access control and visitor management: digitizing these systems and moving them to the cloud; streamlining them to be more frictionless; and […]
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 […]
More than two years since the COVID-19 pandemic made Zoom calls a reality and daily commutes infrequent, employers are still juggling their return-to-work options among fully remote, fully in-person, hybrid, flex space, and shared space approaches. And now, it’s a dual effort on the part of both HR managers and facility managers to retain current […]
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 […]
Buildings are more complex machines than most people realize. Understanding how to read a Building Management System (BMS) to troubleshoot maintenance issues is in itself complicated and often difficult. Most tenants don’t know how to effectively read their energy or water utility data, nor do many have interest in these items unless they are the […]
Since 1996, National Safety Month has been observed and promoted each June by the National Safety Council (NSC) to raise awareness of the importance of keeping each other safe, from the workplace to anyplace. There are increased unintentional injuries and fatalities during the summer months, and according to the most recent data available, more than 4,100 […]
The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) and ISSA–The Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association announced the launch of the Healthy Workplaces Coalition, a new coalition of more than 40 national organizations, industry leaders, and trade associations collaborating to support and advance federal policy aimed at helping businesses and organizations better afford and implement health and safety improvements […]
In any building, the foremost objective of facility management is to provide a conducive environment that enables building users to gain the maximum benefits from being in that space. Achieving this objective requires a skillful administration of certain functions to optimize the four major areas of facility management—people, place, process, and technology. Facility management that […]
As the country observes Mental Health Awareness Month in May, the National Safety Council (NSC) has announced that the results of its Workforce Trends Indicator Survey show feelings of depression and anxiety were strongly correlated with how safe a respondent felt at work. Respondents who felt unsafe at work were nearly three times more likely […]
Countless studies have found that good indoor air quality is critical for facility occupants’ health. But are your facilities, themselves, located in a region with a dangerous amount of outside air pollution to combat? The American Lung Association has released its 23rd annual “State of the Air” report card, which tracks and grades Americans’ exposure […]