Advertisement

Polling Personnel

December 2003 - Facilities Management

Building occupants are none too afraid to let somebody know when certain things are awry. When a building is too hot, the coffee too cold or the parking lot too small, rest assured they will find a facilities person to tell. But when in comes to gauging indoor environmental quality (IEQ), assessing an occupant’s satisfaction becomes more difficult.

That, too, is changing.

David Lehrer of UC-Berkeley’s Center for the Built Environment (CBE) says there are new, effective ways of collecting and analyzing feedback from building occupants to assess IEQ and improve building operations in the process.

Lehrer, along with Leah Zagreus, a CBE research specialist, will present this information at the National Facilities Management and Technology Conference/ Exposition, taking place March 9-11, 2004, at the Baltimore Convention Center. One of the tools he will discuss is a CBE-developed, Web-based occupant survey that enables facility professionals to measure building occupants’ satisfaction with their workplace environment.

“A set of core questions is used to investigate environmental

factors: indoor air quality, thermal comfort, lighting and acoustics,” Lehrer says. “The survey questions and open-ended comment fields provide a channel of detailed occupant satisfaction data, helping diagnose the cause of perceived problems.”

Survey results are presented via an automated online reporting tool that allows results from one building to be compared with data from other buildings.

“These occupant surveys can be used in a variety of ways,” Lehrer says. “Facility managers can compare the performance of facilities in a real estate portfolio, diagnose causes of occupant discomfort, evaluate the effectiveness of improvements, and monitor occupant perceptions of operations and maintenance effectiveness.”

Lehrer’s and Zagreus’ presentation will use examples from actual CBE field studies to show how the occupant survey has been used to evaluate the performance of building design features and to diagnose problems.

The presentation will also discuss a new Web-enabled tool for managing occupant complaints and requests: the Tenant Interface for Energy and Maintenance System, which was developed for the U.S. General Services Adminis-tration (GSA) and is being tested by CBE and GSA.

AFE Announces Credits Available at NFM&T 2004 For the first time, NFM&T attendees will be able to receive recertification credits from the Association of Facility Engineers (AFE) for attending educational sessions at the NFM&T show March 9-11, 2004. Individuals holding either the Certified Plant Engineer (CPE) or Certified Plant Maintenance Manager (CPMM) will be awarded credits as follows: One professional development hour equals one hour of educational seminar attendance equals 0.1 recertification credit (CEU). In order to receive credits toward their recertification, holders of AFE certification (CPE and CPMM) attending NFM&T should complete the individual CEU form located on the AFE Web site. Attendees should complete the form and submit it to AFE to the attention of the certification department. Attendees can submit the forms via fax at (513) 247-7422 or e-mail.

 

Free Education, Valuable Information From IAQ to CMMS to ADA, NFM&T addresses the alphabet soup of issues that impact the management of facilities. The following two sessions are part of the free conference’s Operations track: CMMS Optimization Computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) have become more powerful in recent years. Yet surveys indicate that 90-95 percent of CMMS users feel the systems have not delivered the desired results. Is this due to a preponderance of faulty software or some other, less obvious flaw? This presentation describes the critical difference between an installed CMMS software suite and one that has been install and fully implemented. It will give attendees the tools and information needed to plan for, participate in, and guide implementation. Firestopping: Prepare your Facility for the Unexpected This presentation will give managers specific actions that they can take to address firestopping issues and keep their rated walls and floors up to code. With today’s computer and communications technology, cables and wires run through rated walls and floors daily in office buildings, hospitals and education facilities. When these openings are not firestopped properly, these walls and floors do not meet the requirements of the building code and the life safety code. By addressing these issues through specification, inspection and documentation, a manager can regain control of rated barriers in a building.

 

The Details The National Facilities Management and Technology Conference/Exposition takes place March 9-11, 2004. Here are brief descriptions of some of the conference tracks. In all, NFM&T will offer more than 60 free educational sessions across seven tracks. Strategy. Hear how facilities professionals can continue meeting facility challenges while staying fiscally responsible. Operations. See what is needed for successful projects and to make buildings an engineering success. Technology. Learn how the latest in building systems can improve a facility’s bottom-line performance. Sustainable Design & Operations. Investigate how green buildings improve occupant satisfaction while reducing environmental impact. Energy. Get insights into managing energy supplies and use while staying focused on efficiency. Online Registration Going on Now. Register Today! For more information on seminars, speakers, accommodations and schedules, visit www.nfmt.com or call (414) 228-7701, extension 339.

Comments

Add a comment