Category: Building Maintenance

Tips for Emergency Preparedness

Follow these tips to get the most out of your emergency preparedness action plan.

Communication is Key

Make sure to have a clear and concise communication strategy for facility occupants. This could be as simple as an email list or regular newsletter. Through this channel, you can communicate any relevant warnings if an emergency situation presents itself. By taking this simple step, you ensure your facility’s staff and occupants have the vital information they need at the moment they need it. This will keep occupants safe and give you peace of mind. 

If you don’t already have one—and you should—make a detailed, thorough risk assessment and emergency scenario plan for all emergency situations that are relevant to your facility’s surroundings, climate, and industry-specific risks.

Some examples of what you may need to plan for:

  • Hurricane
  • Flood
  • Power Outage
  • Fire
  • Chemical Spill
  • Active Shooter
  • Serious equipment malfunction
  • Winter Storm
  • Tornado
  • Industrial accident

Make sure everyone in the facility is aware of and familiar with each of your emergency plans.

Prepare for the Worst

When an emergency arises, make sure you have a plan to evacuate all facility occupants. If this is not possible, make sure to have enough non-perishable foods, water bottles, and basic toiletries to keep everyone in your facility safe and healthy during an emergency that prevents them from leaving the building for an extended period.

What to Do if You Must Defer Maintenance

When funds are running low, the list of postponed repairs and maintenance can grow quickly. Although it might make short-term financial sense, deferring maintenance will always cost you dearly in the long run.

What is Deferred Maintenance?

Deferred Maintenance is maintenance, improvements, or repairs that are postponed. In order to understand your deferred maintenance situation:

  • Identify the reason maintenance was deferred
  • Understand the scope of the problem
  • Know your exposure if unmaintained equipment breaks down
  • Prioritize projects to allocate what maintenance funding you do have
  • Perform preventive maintenance and repairs on time to avoid project backlogs

Though it’s usually a funding shortfall, there are other reasons maintenance can be deferred:

  • Lack of maintenance staff
  • Unknowledgeable personnel
  • Effects of maintenance on normal facility operations
  • The needed parts are unavailable

Regular maintenance is a key factor in guaranteeing optimum facility efficiency and your employees’ health and wellbeing. Such maintenance also lowers the cost of large maintenance projects by reducing their number and severity.

When facility assets are not taken care of, they wear out early and then need to be repaired or replaced prematurely. To maximize the life of your assets, you must perform regular maintenance. Otherwise, you risk costly replacements and even costlier unscheduled downtime.

Want to know more about deferred maintenance? Call the maintenance experts at MaintenX today!

Is There Such A Thing as Too Much Preventative Maintenance?

Any good facility manager worth their salt will tell you that regular maintenance is cheaper and a smarter financial decision than solely fixing things when they break. In addition to the financial costs of repairs, there is problem of production loss caused by unplanned downtime when an asset fails. But, with as important and crucial to a facility’s staff and the company’s bottom line as preventative maintenance is, could there really be such a thing as too much of it?

Affective Preventative Maintenance

One of the prime objectives of a good preventative maintenance program is to prevent equipment failure before it happens by performing regular, routine inspections and pre-emptive repairs. But, after preventative maintenance, some equipment can sometimes stop working correctly. There are a few different reasons this can happen:

  • Faulty replacement parts leading a mechanism to work incorrectly or stop working altogether
  • Improper installation or repair processes which lead to problems that result equipment in failure
  • Damage caused during routine maintenance can occur that is initially unnoticed, thus causing the equipment to have a problem or fail completely
  • Lengthy, prolonged maintenance work, which can cause problems for equipment designed to be in constant use

Examine and Respond

A thorough and exhaustive review of your preventive maintenance program can oftentimes lead to big efficiency improvements, leading to shorter periods of downtime and higher overall efficiency, both for the facility’s equipment and its workers.

Want to know more about preventative maintenance? Look no further than the maintenance experts at MaintenX!

The True Cost of Deferred Maintenance

Every facility manager has the same problem: how to do more with less? Facilities managers are under constant pressure to lower the price of almost everything. That’s why they are always on the lookout for new ways to cut repair costs. While deferred maintenance might shrink short-term costs, it often causes wide-ranging long-term costs. Below are some of the true costs of deferred maintenance

Lower Equipment Effectiveness

One big hidden cost of deferred maintenance comes from its effects on equipment efficiency. When equipment isn’t properly maintained, this increases the amount of energy needed to make it work correctly. As a result, the equipment has to work harder—and use more electricity, which drives up costs needlessly.

System Failure

Prolonged deferred maintenance may result in entire system failure. In HVAC systems, for example, certain components need to be replaced from time to time. That unfortunately means that the immediate price tag of replacing these parts could seem like a huge expense, but continued use of damaged or impaired components can likely cause failures across the entire system.

Put simply, the faster you can do a repair, the better for your facility and your bottom line. Being proactive can radically grow the efficiency of staff, your facility and the long-term health of your facility’s valuable equipment. Abandoning preventative and routine maintenance can only lead to trouble down the road—trouble that will be way more costly than taking the proper measures to fix problems as they occur.

Want to know more about the dangers of deferred maintenance? Call the maintenance experts at MaintenX today!

3 Ways to Lower Your Office Supply Budget

One of the simplest methods to pare back you office budget is to decrease office supply costs. Office supplies can add up quickly. That random $25 purchase can really add up over time. –Luckily, there are many ways to cut back on expenses without losing the tools you need to do business. Below are three things you can do to cut down on your office supply budget:

Recycled Paper

Buying recycled paper is an easy and painless way to be greener while saving money on office supplies. Recycled paper is easy to find and comes in every size and use you could possible require.

Also, don’t throw away that used paper. Reuse pages that only have something printed on one side. Printing double-sided documents, though, is another great way to cut down on waste awhile saving money in the process.

Buy in Bulk

It’s a good idea to buy bulk wholesale office supplies whenever you have the chance. There are thousands of online and offline paper product sellers that can substantially mark down the price if you buy in bulk from them. Buy all the ink cartridges, lead pencils, paper, pens, dry erase markers, note pads, sticky notes, and clipboards you want that are on clearance. If you think you can’t afford to purchase in bulk, do some homework. There are a lot of sources and you can find great prices and liquidation sales if you’re savvy enough. It’s worth the effort and can save you thousands of dollars in office supply costs.

The Best Office Cleaning Products of 2018

When it comes to keeping your office clean, it’s a good idea to keep up with the latest trends. It might just increase the productivity of your maintenance processes and even save you on your monthly expense budget. Here are some of the best office cleaning products of 2018.

Lysol Disinfectant Cleaner

Lysol is a hospital-grade cleaning product which is a tried-and-true defense against infection and disease. This powerful stuff can get rid of dust, fungus, mold, organic matter, mildew, and viruses.

This cleaning powerhouse is a concentrated formula that can decimate harmful micro-organisms that cause illness. If preventing the spread of diseases in the workplace is a priority, Lysol Disinfectant Cleaner is your best defense.

Nitrile Gloves

When dealing with harsh chemicals or facing infectious surfaces while at work, nitrite gloves are the answer. You need to make sure to put on protective gloves when you need to come in contact with dirty—and potentially infectious—surfaces. Nitrile is a material which is perfectly suited for this task. It keeps germs out while cleaning and can be easily and safely cleaned.

Febreze

Even with regular cleaning, office and facility furniture can start to emit odors that can be off-putting as well as dangerous.

Many people try to mask odors with air fresheners. Sadly, air fresheners just add an overpowering scent to the air and don’t attack the problem at its source. To remove bacteria—the thing that’s causing the odor—you need to use a product which chemically breaks down the problem, not one that solely hides it.

Febreze Fabric Refreshener is different from other refreshening products because it is specifically formulated to eradicate strong odor from fabric by killing the bacteria which produces it in the first place.

The Importance of Disaster Recovery Plans

Do you have a disaster recovery plan in place in your facility? If not, you really should. Here’s why.

What is a Disaster Recovery Plan?

First of all, what exactly is a disaster recovery plan, anyway? A disaster recovery plan (DRP) is a thorough, documented process which aims to create a system meant to recover a business’s IT infrastructure in the event of a disaster.

The purpose of a disaster recovery plan is to make sure you are ready to deal with the aftereffects of service outages caused by an emergency (hurricane, flood, tornado, terrorist attack, snow storm, wildfire, etc.”) and to restore services to the widest extent possible in the shortest possible timeframe.

Effective Communication is Key

When a disaster occurs, your best defense is communication. A well-planned communication strategy is of the most importance. That’s because a truly effective disaster recovery plan puts all of your company’s employees on the same page and guarantees that clearly outlined procedures are enacted—enhancing and safeguarding all communication within your company during this crucial time.

Rely on your Backup System

Make sure that your backup is running correctly and make sure it includes a supplementary full local backup on all of your facility’s servers and any relevant data in your disaster preparation plan. Run them as far back as possible. Ensure that they’re backed up to a secure location which will not be impacted by the emergency.

Want to know more about disaster recovery plans? Contact MaintenX today!

Bank of the West’s Renewable Energy Exhibitions

BNP Paribas has promised that it will invest $15 billion in renewable energy by the year 2020. BNP Paribas, parent company to Bank of the West, is celebrating its commitment to investing in Renewable Energy in a spectacular and unusual way by hosting a yearly renewable energy exhibition. The exhibition, which first launched in central London in January 2018, has a lot of features to look out for, including ICX’s ingenious new heating pump system.

ICAX uses a heat pump to reprocess the heat it creates back into the building in winter month without burning fossil fuels.

Also featured at the event is the Owen Square Community Energy Scheme which exhibits the decarbonization of heating in system which nixes the necessity for insulated ductwork.

The ICAX Energy Center:

  • moves electricity use from peak and off-peak energy hours to maximize efficiency while lowering costs
  • transfers heat into buildings in winter without using combustion and without emitting greenhouse gases
  • works in traditional spaces and with existing infrastructure already in place in most facilities

The BNP Paribas Group has said that it will no longer do business with any companies whose principal business activity is the exploration, production, or trading of oil or gas.

The BNP Paribus Group also promised that it will no longer finance any oil or gas exploration or projects in the Arctic.

Want to know more about renewable energy and how companies are using them to change the world? Contact MaintenX today!

How to Add Composting to Your Facility

Recycling things like cardboard, plastic, glass and even light bulbs comes second nature to a lot of facility managers. But what about food waste? Your facility is a great source of organic material. From meal scraps to lawn trimmings, there’s a lot you’re wasting if your facility isn’t composting.

Here are some tips to help you integrate composting into your facility waste management regimen:

Assess Your Facility

You need to decide if your facility is a good candidate for composting. Think about:

  • the amount and type of organic waste that’s generated
  • the space you have or don’t have for on-site composting
  • the amount of effort your facility can practicably commit to maintaining your on-site compost system
  • the amount of money it will cost
  • the amount of money you’re willing to dedicate to implementing a composting system

Get Started

Your composting program’s considerations should be defined by the specific number of employees and the amount of waste they create on a regular basis.

Vermicomposting

If you don’t have room or access to an outdoor area where you can construct a compost bin, consider vermicomposting indoors. Vermicomposting involves using worms to take care of the composting for you, in an indoor area. Worms are more than happy to eat your food scraps. And breathable compost bins can be placed beneath a break room sink or even in a utility closet. It may sound strange if you’ve never heard of the concept, but vermicomposting produces high-quality compost and is virtually effortless to maintain.

Does Your Facility Have Enough Recycling Bins?

Recycling has changed through the last decade from a good idea for a company’s image to, oftentimes and in many places, a legal obligation. Facilities now, in addition to paper, cardboard and aluminum, routinely collect and recycle electronic waste, fluorescent lamps, and batteries.

But are you doing it in the most effective way? Let’s explore some problems and solutions to recycling woes.

Location, Location, Location!

In an office, the best place to start recycling is right at the desk. Encourage people to sort paper into appropriate bins, which then can be emptied regularly. Workers can place inkjet cartridges in envelopes provided to every office and drop them in the mail. The processor of the cartridges then refunds a check to the organization.

Managers should locate recycling containers as close as possible to the source of the product to be recycled. If the location is right, it is much easier to sell recycling than if containers are located at a distant location. Do not expect people to walk long distances to recycle. If you do, then expect disappointment, as they are likely to drop the item to be recycled into the nearest trash container.

Measure and Share Your Results

Even if you’ve had a waste management strategy implemented for a while, it’s important to relaunch and remind people where the bins are and what can be recycled. Then ensure you maintain communication through monthly meetings or reports to keep a waste strategy top priority.

Want to know more about recycling? Call MaintenX today!