Deferred maintenance in institutional and commercial facilities is affecting high-tech facilities, not just aging public schools, according to an article by Politico. The University of Florida’s Citrus Research and Education Center is doing cutting-edge work to find cures for new biological threats to the U.S. citrus crop, but its researchers and staff housed in some of the facility’s older buildings are also waging a more immediate fight against bugs, rodents and other fauna that thrive in the muggy summer heat.
In one lab in the packing house, traps for mice and insects sometimes lie alongside microscopes and testing equipment; staffers keep a large supply of bleach on hand to clean mold off walls, vents and even dishes used to test samples. Often, it’s a losing fight. “The ants got into our incubators over here,” says Laurie Friedrich, a research technician, pointing to a wall stacked with what looks like about half-dozen dorm refrigerators. “When I came in in the morning, looking at the results of our studies, I can see the tracks where they tracked the pathogens all over the plates. And assumingly, they’ve tracked them somewhere else.”
Read more at:
http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/07/06/how-innovation-dies-000471
This Quick Read was submitted by Dan Hounsell, editor-in-chief of Facility Maintenance Decisions, dan.hounsell@tradepressmedia.com. To read consultants’ guidance on battling deferred maintenance, visit https://www.facilitiesnet.com/15865FMD. To learn more about the true cost of deferred maintenance, visit http://ow.ly/60BK30drh9K.
