DON’T YOU WISH someone had handed you a road map to your job when you started?
Something that spotlighted the most important systems, components, operations and activities in your facilities, that pointed out the key steps involved in making these components more efficient and cost-effective to operate and maintain, and that organized the entire process into concise and clearly defined chapters so the task of making the needed changes didn’t seem so overwhelming?
Well, someone just did.
In January, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) component of its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) green buildings rating system. According to the USGBC, the system is aimed at managers and others “who wish to drive down operating costs while increasing the occupants’ productivity in an environmentally responsible manner.”
Because the USGBC developed the rating system, the new component obviously has as its primary goal minimizing a facility’s environmental impact and helping an organization earn credits toward LEED certification. But note that the above quote also cites its ability to help managers update and streamline procedures, from purchasing to scheduling, in ways that make their departments more efficient and effective.
Whether or not an organization has a green mandate, managers can borrow from and adapt the system as they see fit to help their departments perform more efficiently.
The comprehensive nature of the O&M component is perhaps its most appealing attribute. No matter what area a manager might want to change or update, the map is right here, covering everything from water efficiency, refrigerant management, and green purchasing and cleaning to indoor air quality, mercury reduction and integrated pest management.
No two facilities are alike, and no two maintenance and engineering managers have the same set of job responsibilities. But the O&M component goes as far as any management tool has so far in laying out a road map to success.
Managers can check out the LEED-EB system and its O&M component at www.usgbc.org.
