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Facilities Management

0. Asbestos Management
0. Construction Administration
0. Crisis Communications
0. Keys (1)
0. Keys (2)
0. Maintenance Responsibilities
0. Parking (1)
0. Parking (2)
0. Recycling
0. Remodeling and Reallocation Request
0. Repair or Service Requests (1)
0. Repair or Service Requests (2)
0. Safety
0. Service Chargebacks (1)
0. Service Chargebacks (2)
0. Surplus Material
0. Use of Campus Facilities (1)
0. Use of Campus Facilities (2)
0. Vehicles (1)
0. Vehicles (2)

Introduction

The appearance of the campus creates a strong early impression on prospective students and their families and on other visitors. Well maintained buildings and equipment add not just to the comfort of students and employees, but to their productivity as well. Facilities management can set an overall atmosphere for the entire institutions, either positive or negative.

Sophisticated facilities management will include an effective program of regularly scheduled preventive maintenance. The goal is to keep building systems and equipment running and avoid costly downtime. Even so, facilities will still need repairs and renovations. All employees can play a key role by reporting such needs to the maintenance department. Procedures included in this section deal with the procedures for doing so. Other statements illustrate the fixing of responsibility for various types of facilities services—maintenance, cleaning, grounds care, utilities, heating and cooling, and construction—within the organization, and deal also with the specialized topic of construction management.

Facilities departments typically have the operating budget authority and responsibility for the routine services listed in the preceding paragraph, and they will also administer a major portion of the capital budget. Departments throughout the institution, however, may request special work to be financed from their own budgets. The institution needs chargeback systems to make this possible. Descriptions of two such systems are included here.

Requests from outside organizations to use campus facilities for special events are fairly common. Established policies and procedures will ensure that such requests are treated in a fair and consistent manner.

Significant security and safety concerns surround the issuance of keys for campus buildings and rooms. Careful control is needed to keep keys out of the hands of unauthorized persons. Loss of keys, particularly master keys, can require the costly replacement of locks.

Most institutions provide vehicles for use by employees, including student employees, for approved purposes. Security and safety concerns arise here also. The responsible department must keep vehicles in a safe condition and make sure assigned drivers have proper training and an acceptable driving record.

The mention of vehicles leads logically to the subject of campus parking. A common business officer’s joke is that a parking tag is a hunting license. Parking regulation and enforcement is a serious matter, however, and one that requires carefully reasoned procedures.

Colleges and universities are teaching concern for the environment in their classes. Students expect them to demonstrate this concern with environmentally sound campus operations, with careful disposal of surplus material, and with recycling programs. Special problems arise when asbestos-containing materials are discovered on campus. This section deals with all of these issues.

A matter covered in a thorough statement is campus communications in a time of crisis. This issue is broader than facilities management, but it includes a significant facilities component dealing with fires, accidents, natural disasters, explosions, and environmental damage. Therefore, the manual includes it here.