Practical Facilities Tips, News & Advice.
During my years as a teacher and school principal, I learned that having an emergency operations plan and being prepared to respond to an emergency are not always the same thing. Most districts have emergency preparedness procedures that include conducting drills, working closely with first responders, and investing time preparing for emergencies. Those efforts certainly […]
Summer 2026 has made an already familiar problem nearly impossible to ignore. In early July, a heat dome fell over the central and eastern United States, breaking daily temperature records from Newark to Boston, with heat indices reaching 115°F in some areas, according to the National Weather Service. The same week, grid operator PJM Interconnection […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has released the K-12 Cybersecurity Foundations Resource Package, a comprehensive collection of guides, videos, and supplemental materials to help K‑12 schools and districts prevent, mitigate, and respond to prevalent cyber threats. Based on current cybersecurity best practices and frameworks, the resource package outlines cost-effective, actionable, and customizable steps that […]
Managing swimming pools for multifamily communities, associations, country clubs, hotels, gyms, and other commercial facilities requires more than maintaining clear water and opening each day. Successful operations depend on disciplined systems that protect swimmers, extend asset life, and prevent safety incidents, whether operating seasonally or year-round. More often than not, safety incidents and operational disruptions […]
Healthcare facilities are designed to heal people. Yet for many healthcare workers, safety has become an increasingly urgent concern. Hospitals and healthcare campuses today face a complicated environment. Teams are managing higher patient volumes, workforce shortages, increased visitor traffic, and growing concerns around workplace violence. Security leaders are being asked to do more than respond […]
Walk through almost any facility and you’ll see hard hats, safety glasses, first aid kits, and other personal protective equipment (PPE) in use every day. The gear is there, employees are trained, and everything appears to comply. But here’s the question many employers never ask: Is compliance enough? What some facilities managers don’t realize is […]
A fire scene can look calmer once the trucks leave: the flames are out, the alarms have stopped, and people want answers, access, and a timeline for reopening. That moment calls for a slower, more controlled pace from facility teams. Recovery should account for fire residues and odors that may affect the building, HVAC system, […]
A building’s public safety communication system passes inspection. The certificate of occupancy stays intact, the fire marshal signs off, and the facilities team moves on. Twelve months later, the same system fails recertification. Nothing was touched. Nothing was changed. And yet, somewhere between last year’s pass and this year’s test, the building quietly lost coverage. […]
Organizations operating across multiple buildings like schools, hospitals, military bases, or hotel properties face a simple reality: Fragmented communication creates risk. In an emergency, delays, confusion, or missed alerts can escalate situations quickly. End-to-end safety communication systems are emerging as a critical approach to reduce that risk, enabling organizations to prevent, respond to, and recover […]
Walk into almost any K‑12 school in America, and you’ll see evidence of intent: secured or restricted vestibules, posted check-in procedures, and safety guidelines on the wall. But walk in during the middle of a busy afternoon, and you’ll probably see something different: a door that’s been propped open, a visitor wandering past an unattended […]