FACILITIES REQUIRE CONSTANT UPKEEP

From managing routine maintenance projects to emergency situations, maintaining a building is hard work. Learn how to make it run smoothly with these five Facility Management practices.

1. PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE: Taking time to fix things before they break prevents more in-depth costly repairs. Staying on top of timely repairs keeps the facility functioning properly.
2. WORK ORDER SYSTEM: This enables tracking requests and routine maintenance. This helps with organising and assigning tasks, which also tracks maintenance staff and their activities.
3. ESTABLISH BENCHMARKS: The record created by the work order system is also used to establish benchmarks. Installation dates, cleaning times and repairs completed are available for easy reference. If a task is completed multiple times and still not fixed, it could be time for a longer-term solution. Further, access to the maintenance schedule can be used to justify expenses or labour.
4. GET SMART: Get your building to work smarter with technology. For example, installing lighting sensors will provide light when people need it, but also turn the lights off if a room is empty. Additionally, connecting systems, such as lighting and temperature controls and security, can allow you to automate the monitoring of these systems.
5. COMMUNICATE: Last but not the least, communication is essential in maintaining a facility. It is important to receive feedback from maintenance staff as well as others who make use of the building. Again, this is where a work order system is utilised. In cases of non-emergencies, anyone can complete a work order that’s forwarded to the maintenance department for assessment and completion. Further, users can get status updates or provide additional information if facility staff has questions.