As the month of May approaches, it is a reminder that our annual fire riser inspections are almost due. The riser inspection includes testing the fire sprinkler system to ensure that the fire alarm is able to detect a drop in water pressure. A drop in water pressure means that a fire sprinkler has been triggered somewhere in the building. These inspections are conducted annually by license fire sprinkler companies. The inspection may take an hour or two. After new construction, it may take longer as the inspector will also check that sprinkler heads and pipes are properly installed. Any deficiencies will need to be corrected.
This brings to mind that the built environment, a fancy way of saying "your building", operates on cycles. There are annual cycles, seasonal cycles, monthly, weekly, daily. Keeping the property in optimal condition requires constant inspections and attention. New Facility Managers should be aware that all products have life cycles. For example, rooftop HVAC units typically have a 15 year life cycle. As the units get closer to 15 years, they start to become costlier to maintain and operate. At that point, they must be replaced.
Roofs have between 20 and 30 year cycles, if properly maintained. Once that time has elapsed, it may require replacement or refreshing, depending on the type of roof you have.
Electrical systems also have cycles. Circuits generate heat when in use. Over time, the constant heating and cooling can cause splices and connections to work themselves loose. These can create hot spots that could lead to a short circuit or fire hazard. It is a good practice to have electrical systems inspected once every five years.
There are so many parts to the built environment that require regular inspection and maintenance. Having a good scheduling system that can keep track of the cycles of all the different components of a building can help a Facility Manager stay on top of the work that needs to be done. More importantly, the work can be done before any breakdowns or other failures occur. Although running until failure is an option for many organizations, failures often happen at inconvenient times. Therefore, it is less disruptive to catch problems early and have them addressed. This is particularly true of emergency equipment that does not typically experience much use. For example, regularly testing a backup generator ensures that it will be operational when it is needed. Otherwise, it may not be able to perform its duty when the time comes.
If a property is not able to provide services to its occupants, then the ability of the occupants to carry out their work is impacted. For any organization, having two of its largest assets, buildings and people, out of service can be extremely costly.
Originally posted on Facility Manager. Hive blog powered by ENGRAVE.
