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Facility Management Online



Facility management online speaks facility management skills and building management.

This page describes facility management skills, a discipline which deals with the operation and maintenance of all types of buildings utilized by people in general.

The facility manager is ultimately responsible for the facility mechanical, electrical, plumbing and lighting systems.

The facility manager is also responsible for the cleaning, decorating, grounds keeping, elevators and security for the building.

Some of the work may be performed by in house maintenance personnel and much is performed by outside contractors.

In today’s world many of these maintenance requisites are scheduled or even operated by building automation systems.

The outsourcing and pricing of outside contracts is the ultimate responsibility of the manager as is the budgeting for in house personnel.

Facility management online states that although similar to property management it is not the same.

Facility Managers

Facility managers are primarily involved in the operating and maintenance of the building while the property manager must also deal with leasing and marketing activities.

The facility manager is responsible for caring for the tenant needs after the property manager has brought the tenant to the building.

The FM must face a major challenge in today’s world and that is minimizing energy use in the facility and carbon emissions from the building which hopefully will reduce operating costs. Reducing operating costs is only meaningful if comfortable building ambient conditions are maintained.

The FM has many considerations and responsibilities:

Health and Safety

  • Is the building clean?
  • Is waste removed on a daily basis?
  • Are Occupational Health and Safety guidelines adhered to?
  • Is there acceptable Hazardous Material compliance in the building?

    Building Mechanical Systems

  • Are the building HVAV systems maintaining acceptable ambient conditions?
  • Is building indoor air quality being maintained?
  • Are preventive maintenance programs being done on a scheduled basis?
  • Is the elevator maintenance being done on a scheduled basis?
  • Is there a program of predictive maintenance in place? This is not in place in many facilities as it is quite expensive.

    Building Power Systems

  • Are there preventive maintenance programs in effect for electrical substations, switchgear, emergency power, uninterruptible power supply and standby generators.

    Life and Safety Systems

  • Are sprinkler systems inspected and tested as decreed by local authorities?
  • Are smoke and fire detection systems tested as decreed by local authorities?
  • Are fire distinguishers inspected and tagged as required?
  • Are other fire suppression systems such as gaseous extinguishers, FM-200, FE-25 and Halon systems inspected as required?
  • Is there adequate signage for building evacuation?
  • Are all tenants familiar with the building fire evacuation plans?

    Tenant Space Requirements

  • Are there floor plans showing the existing offices space layout?
  • Are there drawings showing the furniture placement?

    Employees involved in the facility management:

  • Facility Manager

  • Assistant Facility Manager

  • Maintenance Manager

  • Manager Performance Management

  • Maintenance Supervisor

  • Maintenance Team Leader

  • Electric Team Leader

  • Building Technician

  • Maintenance Plumber

  • Maintenance Electrician

  • Maintenance Carpenter

  • Maintenance Painter

  • Operating Engineer

  • Property Service Coordinator

  • Tenant Service Coordinator

  • Health Safety Specialist

  • Health and Safety Coordinator

  • Warehouse Technician

  • Senior Facility Technician

  • Stationary Engineer

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