Category: Maintenance and Operations

Survey: Clean Restrooms Support Public Health and Visitor Loyalty This Summer

By Joe Bebon, Editor Jul 23, 2026 Maintenance and Operations

Updated: Jul 23, 2026

As airports, restaurants, entertainment venues, and other public facilities welcome larger summer crowds, Bradley Company’s 17th annual Healthy Handwashing Survey highlights the role that well-maintained restrooms play in protecting public health and creating a positive visitor experience. The survey comes as Americans navigate another busy summer travel season while public health officials continue monitoring foodborne […]

Indoor Air Quality Policy Is ‘Entering a New Era’

By Joe Bebon, Editor Jul 23, 2026 Green Building

Updated: Jul 23, 2026

The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), the Brown University Pandemic Center, and the Air Club have jointly released a new report highlighting a rapidly expanding wave of indoor air quality (IAQ) policy innovation across the globe. Drawing lessons from nearly 160 policies spanning 40 countries, the report identifies five leading policy models that governments are […]

What 9 Million Service Requests Say About Facilities Management

By Carla Hinson, MRI Software Jul 22, 2026 Energy Management and Lighting

Updated: Jul 23, 2026

Some building owners and tenants view facilities managers as people who handle unexpected problems. But in many cases, the problems FMs face are predictable. The evidence: an analysis of 9 million service requests from 2024 and 2025, which revealed common patterns across geographies, building classes, and building types—patterns that may remove the element of surprise and […]

When Documentation Fails, Facility Operations Pay the Price

By Jack Rubinger, ARC Facilities Jul 21, 2026 Design and Construction

Updated: Jul 21, 2026

Every construction project generates a large volume of critical information including drawings, O&M manuals, submittals, commissioning reports, warranties, and test records. Once the project is complete, that data often gets scattered or never fully makes its way to the facilities team. As Paul Petroski, a senior facilities leader with the Department of Defense, noted, “Drawings […]

workplace safety

OSHA-Compliant Doesn’t Always Equal Up-to-Date

By Cam Mackey, ISEA Jul 20, 2026 Design and Construction

Updated: Jul 20, 2026

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 […]

Making Electrification Projects Work: Lessons from Large-Scale Retrofits

By Elbert Walters III, Powering Chicago Jul 16, 2026 Building Controls

Updated: Jul 16, 2026

In a city like Chicago, electrification rarely happens in isolation. Large retrofit projects are almost always delivered in occupied buildings, alongside active operations, and under pressure to modernize multiple systems at once. The projects that succeed understand this from the start. Electrification works best when treated as core infrastructure—the backbone that supports building automation, electric […]

The Coordination Overload Quietly Burning Out Facilities Managers

By Chester Avey, Contributing Writer Jul 15, 2026 Maintenance and Operations

Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Ask a facilities manager what they do, and the honest answer in 2026 sounds less like building operations and more like air traffic control. A typical morning means lining up an HVAC contractor, chasing a quote that was promised last week, approving an invoice, fielding a tenant complaint about a meeting room, confirming a fire […]

Why Facilities Managers Are Replacing Paper Visitor Logs with Smart Systems

By Gabriel Freitas, SiteSafe Jul 14, 2026 Access Control

Updated: Jul 14, 2026

A facilities manager’s day is full of urgent tasks. Managing the visitor log rarely feels urgent. But paper sign-in sheets create small costs that add up over time. First, lost records. Paper gets thrown away, coffee-stained, or torn. If an insurance adjuster asks for a thirty-day visitor history after an incident, a missing page becomes […]

Back to Basics: What to Know About Edge AI in Facilities Management

By April Miller, Contributing Writer Jul 13, 2026 Back to Basics

Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Back to Basics is an article series that highlights important, but possibly overlooked, information facilities management professionals should know. In facilities management, edge artificial intelligence (AI) can be transformative. Automating routine tasks and improving the accuracy of building data could streamline workflows and lower operational expenses. However, successful deployment requires management to understand what edge AI […]

State vs. Federal Workplace Safety: What to Know as the Regulatory Ground Shifts

By ​​Samuel H. Pond, Pond Lehocky Giordano Inc. Jul 10, 2026 FM Perspectives

Updated: Jul 10, 2026

Editor’s note: FM Perspectives are industry op-eds. The views expressed are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of Facilities Management Advisor.  With the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) expected to stay on the rulemaking sidelines over the next few years, states are moving in different directions regarding workplace safety. Some are tightening their […]