Practical Facilities Tips, News & Advice.
Leaf blowers aren’t just for autumn—you’ll see them in use throughout the year. They can be used to blow the grass off your mower, to blow cut grass off sidewalks and paths … they have essentially replaced brooms and rakes for many tasks. They may be time-savers, but leaf blowers also pose hazards.
Summer is fast approaching in the northern hemisphere. Soon enough, facilities management professionals will be out in force, working hard to keep their grounds and buildings attractive for tenants and customers, with the familiar growl of mowers and lawn tractors, the howl of leaf blowers, and the whiz of string trimmers echo through the land. […]
Winter is here, and many parts of the country are seeing snow. With the seasonal changes come the hazards of outdoor work in cold conditions, snow and ice removal, and other dangers. At its Winter Weather resource site, OSHA lists 10 common winter weather hazards that employers should train employees to recognize.
The security concept known as CPTED—or Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design—started back in the 1970s with the publication of architect Oscar Newman’s book, Defensible Spaces. His thinking has influenced building designers, facility maintenance directors, security consultants, and even police agencies since that time. The question today is, does it still work?
While there is no way to accurately predict what the facilities management landscape will look like in the future, we can take a squint in the rear view mirror and get a sense of where we might be heading. Looking back can give you, as a facility manager, a good sense of where the industry […]
Despite the National Hurricane Center’s earlier predictions about the strength of the storm, Hurricane Michael remains on track to strike the Florida panhandle, though now it is doing so as a Category 4 storm. This means Michael, the first hurricane of this size to make landfall in the panhandle, will hit with 145 mph sustained […]
Workplace safety is an important goal in any industry, but promoting and achieving safety is more challenging in some industries than in others. What are the most dangerous jobs in the United States? Time recently published a list of “The Top 10 Most Dangerous Jobs in America.” Not only are some of the jobs on […]
The latest safety trend for construction workers may have been established by a New York City (NYC) law signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio in October 2017. Local Law 196 set forth new training requirements for employees at certain construction jobsites. The requirement—a minimum number of hours of training on specific safety subjects for workers […]
Many facilities have vending machines in place to help employees get through their day, or, to keep customers sated while they move from store to store. Some vending machines, however, serve a much more nefarious purpose. Like the 3 non-permitted machines in the town of Brookhaven, New York (located on Long Island) that were found […]
It was far too easy for a disgruntled content creator to walk onto YouTube’s property in San Bruno, California, last April and open fire on employees in a courtyard. The incident shone a bright light on existing security issues built into Silicon Valley’s open campus culture. Big tech companies have long desired to create a […]