6 Workplace Problems Every Facilities Manager Needs to Handle

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A lot of responsibility is placed on the shoulders of modern facilities managers. When you work in this position, it’s crucial to understand everything that can go wrong and what the main workplace problems are in your office, factory, warehouse, or other business premises.

Below are six workplace problems every facilities manager needs to handle.

1.      Cabling

Most businesses today depend on telecommunications. This means there are hundreds of metres of cable in many workplaces. These cables pose a danger to your employees and anyone who visits your business, with many people tripping over cables and getting injured every year.

Having cables lying all over the place in your workplace also looks unprofessional, especially if clients and other business associates call to your company’s premises. To avoid this problem, every facilities manager should ensure that all cables are set up properly, are in good working order, and are neatly kept.

A reliable desk cable management services company, for example Network Data Cabling who are one of the most renown service providers in the industry, can help you with this work and ensure that you have the proper data cabling support. Regular checks on the cabling in a business should then be carried out to make certain that they are not causing any problems and no faults have occurred since they were last checked.

2.      Health and Safety

Keeping your employees safe and sound is of paramount importance. It’s vital to introduce health and safety procedures and equipment that will achieve this goal and allow employees to work productively without risking their lives and well-being.

Health and safety has become a huge issue in recent years, with many laws and procedures being introduced. If a facilities manager does not comply with the latest health and safety rules and regulations, this failing can tarnish a business’s reputation, with fines also being imposed in some situations.

3.      Keeping Your Facility Clean

Keeping business premises clean and tidy is important for a number of different reasons. First of all, it’s easier and healthier for employees to work in a clean, well-kept environment. Secondly, every year, many people slip, trip or fall because a workplace is cluttered or floors are not cleaned on a regular basis. Finally, the accumulation of dust can affect the health of employees, but it can also play havoc with business equipment such as computers and servers.

Hiring professional cleaners is essential and they have the tools and experience required to guarantee that your business premises are as clean and tidy as possible. As the facilities manager, you should also encourage employees to be more responsible and keep the immediate area they work in clean and tidy.

4.      Maintenance

In every business, things can go wrong and certain areas of your business have to be checked and maintained from time to time. Once again, scheduling regular maintenance checks will identify any issues in your commercial building or in your business grounds, that need to be addressed and fixed. Typical features that need to be maintained and monitored in this way include lighting, water supplies, the condition of buildings, and the condition of other important equipment used on a daily basis.

5.      Security

Unfortunately, most businesses face a wide range of external threats, ranging from theft and vandalism to online breaches of their IT systems. Every one of these threats can be costly, so it’s crucial to put in place a comprehensive security plan and introduce effective security measures.

Typical ways a facilities manager can make a business more secure include installing the appropriate alarms, CCTV systems, secure doors, windows and shutters, secure entry systems and intercom systems. Hiring security staff to keep a business safe at certain times of the day or night may also be required and it’s often the facilities manager’s responsibility to find the appropriate security person or people to do this work.

6.      Heat and Cooling

Managing the heating and cooling systems in many businesses is critical. Some businesses house their own servers, which need to be kept at a certain temperature. A facilities manager and their team have to continually make sure that this temperature is maintained. In other situations, a business, such as a food company or another company that deals with perishable goods, needs to maintain consistent temperatures so that their inventory remains as fresh as possible.

As well as maintaining the correct temperature for the equipment and products in a business, you also need to consider the needs of employees in that business. Controlling the temperature so that the workplace is cooler when it’s hot outside and warmer when it’s cold outside will allow a workforce to operate in a more comfortable environment.

Every facilities manager faces a number of different workplace problems. Once you overcome these issues, the organisation you work in becomes much more professional, efficient, safer, and a better place for employees to work in.

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