Facility management ensures corporate and regulatory compliance and the proper operation of all aspects of a building to create the most optimal, safe and cost-effective environment for residents to work. This is accomplished by conducting the following activities.
Health and Safety Issues:
An organization's facilities management department is responsible for controlling and managing many security-related issues. Failure to do so can lead to injuries, lawsuits, business losses, and insurance claims. Worse, investor and consumer confidence can also be shaken by the bad publicity that the media so craves.
Security Matters:
For any organization, in this current volatile global environment, security is crucial to protect employees and the company, and most of the time it falls under the wing of the facilities management department, especially when it includes the maintenance of hardware infrastructure.
Maintenance, testing and inspection:
Maintenance, testing, and inspection schedules are necessary to ensure that the organization is operating safely and efficiently, to maximize the life of the equipment in use, and to minimize the risk of breakdown. There are also statutory requirements that need to be met. Work is preplanned, often using a computer-aided facilities management system.
Operation:
The Facilities Management Department is responsible for running the building, day and night. These tasks may be performed by subcontracted or directly employed personnel. This is a policy issue, but because of the immediacy of response required in many of the activities involved, the facility manager must maintain tight controls, often requiring daily reports or escalation measures.
There are some issues though that require more than just periodic maintenance; For example, issues that may halt or impede business productivity or that have security implications. Many of these are managed by the facility management help desk. The help desk can be contacted by telephone or e-mail. Answering help desk calls is prioritized but can be as simple as lights not working, too hot or too cold, freezing rainwater, spilled coffee, jammed photocopiers, critter intrusions, vending machine problems, etc.
Tendering:
Facility management teams will periodically look to re-tender their contracts, or at the very least standardize them to ensure they are getting value for money. For this to happen, it is essential to have an up-to-date list of equipment or assets to be sent with the tender. This information is often kept on the same computer as the maintenance schedule and can be neglected to be updated as equipment is changed, replaced or new items are installed. The asset register is also an important tool for budgeting, used for forecasting life cycle costs and capital expenditure.
Commercial Property Management:
The building may be occupier-owned or leased. Leased property will be subject to periodic rent reviews.
Business Continuity Plan:
Every organization location should have a continuity plan so that in the event of a fire or major failure, the business can recover quickly. In large organizations, there may be a situation where employees need to move to another site that is set up to model existing operations. The facilities management department will be one of the key players in moving the business to a recovery site.
Allocation and change of space:
In many organizations, the workplace structure is subject to frequent changes. This process is referred to as the churn rate, which is shown as the percentage of workers transferred in a year. These changes are usually planned by the facilities management department using computer-aided design. In addition to meeting business needs, compliance with statutory requirements regarding office layout includes providing a minimum amount of space per staff member; fire safety system; light level; signs; Free air circulation; temperature control, and welfare measures such as toilets and drinking water. Consideration may also be given to vending, catering or a place where employees can prepare drinks and take a break from their desks.
Facilities management services encompass multiple specialties to ensure the effectiveness of the built environment by integrating people, space, processes and technology.
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ISO 41001:2018 Facility Management System — Three years on — Problem solved or just another standard?In late 2018, the long-awaited International Standard Organization published ISO 41001:2018 — Facility Management system — Requirements with guidance for use.
Some two and a half years later, we look at whether it has been a success story or whether it has failed to live up to its pre-launch expectation.IntroductionThe questions I will answer are:Should we pursue ISO 41001 and become certified?What is the certification process and the stages involved?What are the benefits of certification and will it add value?
In Part 1, dated June 2019, I looked at early indicators of how the standard was received by the profession and industry, less than a year after it was launched.
At the time, I experienced varying opinions from around the Globe.
It was evident however that the ‘FM Mature’ countries were not adopting the standard as quickly as its pre-launch expectation suggested.
There were numerous reasons for this, mainly due to a) a lack of awareness of the standard; or b) organisations were already certified to any one of several other associated ISO Management System Standards (MSS), notably ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 and that until they felt a need or were being persuaded that ISO 41001 was a must, they would refrain for the time being.
