Practical Facilities Tips, News & Advice.
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 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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
As we recently closed out Building Safety Month in May, it served as a great reminder for facilities managers to evaluate their passive fire protection systems. While active systems like sprinklers and alarms often get the spotlight, passive defenses—specifically fire door assemblies—are equally important for compartmentalizing smoke and flames to save lives. Over the past […]
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 […]
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. For decades, facilities management has remained relatively static: protect the building envelope, manage HVAC, and ensure critical safety equipment, such as fire extinguishers, are maintained. However, the landscape is shifting. As infrastructure becomes more […]
Walk onto any industrial facility floor, and you’ll likely spot layers of personal protective equipment (PPE) safeguarding workers: hard hats for maintenance crews, safety glasses in mechanical rooms, hearing protection in high-noise environments, flame-resistant clothing in hot work zones, and self-retracting lifelines and harnesses at elevated sites. The equipment is visible, essential, and mandated by […]
Your organization operates in a world where threats come from multiple angles and the damage from any kind of physical or cyber breach can be significant and long-lasting. Every facility visit, every meeting, and every interaction, physical or virtual, carries its own unique security and compliance implications and risk. Because of that, your organization cannot […]
A new report from Avetta offers insights into how organizations are improving safety outcomes across increasingly complex global operations. Chiefly, it shows that while foundational supply chain risk management capabilities and improved visibility both contribute to fewer serious health and safety incidents, the most significant improvements—up to 97% lower workplace fatality rates—occur when these capabilities […]