Start as You Mean to Go On

This is an excerpt from an article in the Facilities Management Journal.

No one has a better understanding how a building operates in its day-to-day life than the facilities manager (FM). The responsibility for even the smallest of operational elements results in a much greater understanding of economy, aesthetic and efficiency and how all of these impact on the end user. Now, with the advent of Building Information Modeling (BIM), the role of the FM in the design process is expected to increase.

BIM is a completely different approach to designing buildings. It analyses a building’s efficiency at all stages of the life cycle, treating it as a holistic entity. As such, different aspects can be added, changed or removed to alter performance levels before work even begins. This step change in every aspect of building design has meant a review of processes of how decisions are made and the people involved in making them.

Alongside this development, a recent report from Building Research Establishment (BRE) and the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) looked at the results of a three-year study to increase the role and profile of FMs both in their organizations and relationships with other sector or industry professionals. One of the most interesting aspects, from the point of view of a partitioning company like Komfort is the setting out of the multiple benefits of involving FMs within initial design consultations and the common reasons they’re excluded from design processes.

The full article is available on the Facilities Management Journal website.

New Research Identifies Trust As A Business Critical Issue

This is an excerpt from an article posted on todaysfacilitymanager.com.

A new report prepared by Working Families and Lead Research Consultant Susanne Jacobs (and in partnership with Unum) has revealed not just the importance of the sense of trust between businesses and their employees in creating a high-performance work culture, but also what drives this trust and how it can be applied in a practical manner. The report, entitled Trust: The Key to Building Well-Being and Performance in the Workplace, describes the advantages of creating trust in the workplace for wider communities and societies.

The study examines the importance and influence of key external factors—work-life integration, workload expectations, and flexible working alternatives—as they relate to well being. In particular, work-life integration supported by flexible working was shown to provide a significant boost to operational performance.

Linda Smith, HR Director of Unum, says, “Given the unprecedented demographic, social and technological changes that have transformed the workplace over the last 30 years, businesses need to be smarter than ever about how they hire, develop, and retain talent. The report shows that any effective strategy needs to deliver an integrated approach that focuses on the issue of trust. By embracing flexible working, freeing up communication, and providing a balanced employee benefits package that delivers long-term financial security, firms can create a high-performance culture that delivers a real, competitive advantage.”

In the report, the benefits of a flexible working culture were shown to be equally important to both genders; they were also equally important to those with or without dependents. It also dispelled the myth about flexible working, demonstrating that there is no link between flexible working and “work centrality”— the importance employees attach to work in their life.

The full article is available on the Today's Facility Manager website.

Water Efficiency

This post is an excerpt from an issa.com article.

Americans have been blessed in the sense that, for most of our history, a shortage of water has just not been a big concern. Except for the Dust Bowl period in the 1930s and short-term droughts over the years, water has been plentiful and relatively inexpensive. However, this appears to be changing and, as it does, the shortage is likely to impact both consumers and companies, including those in the professional cleaning industry.

As far as the business implications, Marc Levinson, an economist with JPMorgan Chase, complained back in 2008 that most American companies are simply not taking water shortages or the cost of water in the United States seriously. According to Levinson, many firms filling out loan applications or seeking investors “provide a great deal of information about potential risks to their operations, earnings, [and] profits, but they don’t do an adequate job of disclosing the risks they face in the event of water shortages—even short-term ones.”

Furthermore, Levinson believes that the few companies that actually do think about water supply risks remain very shortsighted. “They figure they can truck in water,” he says. “But not only is it very expensive to truck in water, but they’ll be in competition with scores of hundreds of other [companies and consumers] scrounging to get water at the same time.”

The end result: The cost of water is going up in many parts of the country and will likely continue to go up, potentially impacting a company’s competitiveness, and in worst-case scenarios, threatening its ability to survive. In fact, many experts now believe companies closing plants or going out of business entirely due to rising water costs, water shortages, or the lack of dependable water supplies will become more commonplace in years to come.

And as the cost of water goes up, so too, will the cost for many agricultural products, including those used to manufacture green cleaning products. And as these costs escalate, those increased charges will be passed on to end customers.

The the full "Water Efficiency" article is available at the ISSA website.

Environmental Solutions Toolkit Links Analysis, Companies

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Commerce are announcing the launch of an interactive online reference tool for international audiences, which connects EPA environmental analysis and regulatory structure to U.S. solutions providers.

The U.S. Environmental Solutions Toolkit was developed as a joint venture between the EPA and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) to offer environmental stakeholders in other countries a broad perspective on the U.S. approach to specific environmental issues. The Toolkit is a web-based resource that combines EPA expertise on solving environmental challenges with ITA’s catalogue of U.S. providers of related technologies. The newly launched resource emphasizes user-friendliness, featuring a series of interactive menus, search functionality, and adaptive formatting to allow for a range of mobile uses.

This is an excerpt of a full article from Water & Wastes Digest.

OSHA's Campaign to Prevent Heat Illness in Outdoor Workers

The following is an excerpt from OSHA's Campaign to Prevent Heat Illness in Outdoor Workers.

Heat illness can be deadly. Every year, thousands of workers become sick from exposure to heat, and some even die. These illnesses and deaths are preventable.

OSHA's nationwide Heat Illness Prevention Campaign aims to raise awareness and teach workers and employers about the dangers of working in hot weather and provide valuable resources to address these concerns. Begun in 2011, the Heat Illness Prevention Campaign has reached more than 7 million people and distributed close to half a million fact sheets, posters, quick cards, training guides and wallet cards. OSHA is again joining with other federal and state agencies and non-governmental organizations to spread the word about preventing heat illness. For example, OSHA is continuing its partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service to include worker safety precautions in their Excessive Heat Watch, Warning, and Advisory Products.

The OSHA website has several resources that can be used to prevent heat illnesses:

• The Educational Resources section links to information about heat illnesses and how to prevent them. Many of these resources target vulnerable workers with limited English proficiency and/or low literacy.
• The Using the Heat Index section provides guidance to employers to develop a heat illness prevention plan.
• The Training section includes a guide/lesson plan for employers and others to use in instructing workers on heat illness.  There are links to additional resources in other languages.
• The Media Resources section includes news releases, public service announcements (PSAs), drop-in articles about heat illness prevention that you can customize to share and campaign artwork.
• The Fatality map shows locations of outdoor worker, heat-related fatalities between 2008 and 2012. It is not an exhaustive list of all worker fatalities from heat exposure. The map provides a geographic reminder that Water.Rest.Shade. are vital to providing a safe and healthful environment when working outdoors in the heat.

For the full article, more resources and information, visit OSHA's campaign website.

Quality Results and Customer Satisfaction

Facility cleanliness impacts a customer or occupant’s impression of management or of the company as a whole. Therefore, keeping a clean facility can improve client retention and improve worker satisfaction within a facility. Automated window cleaning systems are designed to clean not only the windows and glass, but also to scrub the entire exterior of the building for a comprehensive clean. Some machines even offer an optional in-line water heater to deliver hot water for removing stubborn stains and soils. Plus, with a specially engineered, automated device performing cleaning applications, users can benefit from a uniform cleaning result, something that is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve with manual labor.

While no two cleaning applications are the same, most facility managers have similar goals: high-quality results that are achieved safely without impacting productivity. Automated window cleaning systems satisfy these demands without the time-consuming, laborious operation or safety hazards operation associated with traditional cleaning methods. Automated window cleaning expedites cleaning completion, with less labor and a consistent result.

Cost Cuts and Profit Growth with Automated Cleaning

Along with the primary safety benefits of automated window cleaning solutions, it's also worth addressing the cost cutting and profit-growth potential.

In many cleaning applications, the highest cost percentages arise from labor expenses. Manual cleaning operations are time-consuming and labor- intensive, ultimately translating into higher labor costs. Replacing these methods with an automated system can result in as much as 70 to 80 percent in labor savings. Implementing automated window cleaning systems can also cut equipment costs, as companies can avoid purchasing safety equipment, such as guardrails and harnesses, as well as squeegees, buckets and other cleaning supplies. Plus, some automated systems offer water-only cleaning, which also eliminates the additional cost of detergents.

Improving safety has a direct impact on a company’s bottom line, not only by reducing the actual pay-out for work-related injuries, but also from an insurance standpoint. By reducing the risk of window cleaning operations, companies can decrease the cost of required insurance coverage. Typically, insurance rates are directly correlated with how risky or potentially dangerous the specified task is. Therefore, by utilizing technology that eliminates the risk to employees, companies may be eligible to lower their premiums for the mandated liability insurance.