Safety is such a common word in the lips of all and sundry and yet less conscious in the
minds of many- haha! It’s just a word.
Perhaps, if it was treated less of a word and more consciously in the minds of people,
we wouldn’t witness the painful losses of lives and properties.
My words still remain illogical in your head? Okay listen.
In 2019, the Honourable Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige asserted that over 2.8 million
people lose their lives annually to occupational hazards in Nigeria. Another 374 million
suffer non-fatal occupational accidents. Crazy as it seems, it is alarming!.
Facility Maintenance
While we are always quick to perceive facility (or office) maintenance as the conscious
proper management of equipment and gadgets used in the office, the concept so much
lies in our office demeanor.
Facility maintenance is a deliberate act to keep whatever facilitates work progress, in a
healthy and safe status such that office staff aren’t at the risk of any hazard.
An unnoticed Olabode suddenly begins to feel dizzy. He can’t concentrate and letters
seem scattered on the draft he has written. He becomes sweaty on the edges of his
neck and he loses his tie to create an allowance.
The effort does little for him. He stares at the fairly large room cramped with over fifty
workspaces. Every employee scampers around and seems to have something to do at
another colleague’s desk. The whole place is a definition of rowdiness.
Olabode thinks he urgently needs some fresh air. The fast-moving ceiling fan only
slashes through the air but does nothing to keep a moderate temperature. He gets up
but the discordant noises in the cramped office unsettle violently in his head. He
collapses and loses consciousness. The last thing he hears is someone shrieking his
name in a distance…
While a great deal of employees have experienced tragic incidents not just because
they got overwhelmed with office duties but because of the unhealthy office environment
they work in, it’s a danger how these incidents continue to happen in our working
environment with no final solution.
What kinds of faulty office equipment could pose a form of hazard to employees
at work?:
What is on the mind of every employee each time he takes the elevators or climbs the
flight of stairs to get to his workstation is the cumbersome workload on his desk that he
quickly wants to finish. So he doesn’t pay much attention to the hearty greetings of his
co-employee, talkless of a safety orientation in his head.
That is why the occasional smell from two cables having contact in a switch box
escapes his notice, or the faulty faucet in the toilet, or a substantial spill of liquid on the
floor that wouldn’t be mopped off. All these have potential to trigger office hazards.
Other work facilities and gadgets that can trigger work accidents include an overloaded
power socket, chipped floor tiles, a broken door handle, a dislodged desk drawer, a
leaking pipe, a missing window, inadequate ventilation, an electrifying photocopier, a
leaking roof etc.
What office equipment/gadget needs to be maintained and managed in the office?
- Fire suppression system: Fire suppression systems such as pneumatic heat detection tube, fire extinguisher,
pressurized gas system, water sprinkler etc. should not only be installed in strategic
places of office, but must be kept intact.
Some of them that channel water from an external vessel, such as a pneumatic heat
detector tube, should always be checked regularly, especially to make sure the pipes
are not leaking.
The outlets of these systems should be properly checked to make sure they are not
blocked or even damaged. - Electrical systems: Most often than not, electrical systems have been a large cause of fire outbreaks in
office halls.
Maintenance staff, including employees, need to imbibe the culture of switching off
power outlets and switches after working hours. Office appliances such as the Heating
Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) units, lights, water dispenser etc. should be
turned off after the last individual has left the office hall.
Importantly, maintenance staff should regularly carry out orientation sessions for
non-maintenance staff on guidelines to imbibe while handling electrical appliances in
the office.
Additionally, the maintenance staff should teach other employees on how to handle
certain appliances in the office, otherwise, the latter would risk damaging such costly
gadgets out of desperation. - Office equipment and furniture: Office equipment and furniture have a subtle way of causing hazards to employees in
the office.
Employees should avoid sitting on the table surfaces and balancing their weight on it.
Their weight coupled with the load of documents can make the table to creak and get
dislodged at the joints.
Office furniture should not be dragged but rather carried, if it has to be moved. Dragging
an office furniture can also get it dislodged at the joints.
People in the office should imbibe the culture of lowering themselves into office chairs,
rather than dropping or slumping into it.
Employees should also be careful at turning the keys while opening or locking their desk
drawers.
Damaged office furniture should be immediately replaced with new ones. Collapsing
shelves should be replaced, and office maintenance personnel should ensure it is not
overladen with books.
Workers should ensure that office equipment like office pins, pads, staplers, writing
articles etc. are properly stacked away to safety.
Desk drawers that cannot be closed properly, and with faulty locks, should be
immediately repaired. This is to prevent employees from hitting them unexpectedly and
risk having a bone dislocation or fracture. - Plumbing Infrastruction: Poor plumbing infrastructure can spell unforseen office hazards for employees while
working.
It could be a leaking pipe, that constantly makes the toilet floor wet, a faulty faucet, that
can make water overrun into the main office, or no water supply at all, that would cause
the office to have an offensive smell. Of course, no one will want to work in such a
polluted environment.
Original plumbing works and facilities should always be purchased in order not to
experience a quick wear out.
Employees should be admonished to always tilt the faucet knob correctly after use.
Also, they shouldn’t yank the toilet handle or punch at it irrationally, or they’d risk
damaging the toilet system.
If a plumbing facility appears to be malfunctioning, the maintenance team should
immediately consult a trusted plumbing service to rectify the problem.
In order to allow free flow of water through water outlets, the maintenance team should
inform staff members to avoid washing substances that can block these outlets. - Roofing, tiling and windows: Whenever a leak is noticed in the roofing let the maintenance team be informed. This
prevents further hazards such as ceiling damage, wet floor, wet documents etc. from
happening.
A leaking roof should immediately be replaced so that the company doesn’t risk losing
the entire roofing.
Employees should not drag objects such as chairs, tables, mopping buckets etc. on a
tiled floor. This causes it to lose its friction effect, and that can be dangerous while
walking.
Trolley-like mop buckets can be used for smooth movement while mopping. Tables,
chairs, cupboards etc. should be lifted when moved from one place to another in the
office.
Employees should avoid placing objects capable of breaking window panes. They
should also try to lock the windows especially when there’s wind. - Landscaping: In terms of landscaping maintenance, the maintenance team should employ the
services of horticulturists who’d plant trees and flowers in the premises of the company.
Certainly, this will prevent erosion and gullies from occurring on the premises of the
working place.
The presence of trees will prevent strong winds from destroying properties that belong
to the company, especially windows and roofs. Trees help to reduce the force that wind
carries whenever it occurs. - Safety hazard communication: Safety hazard communication is necessary in an office hall, to guide both employees
and visitors on what and what not to do for their own safety.
Safety tips like “Mopping in progress. Slippery floor”, “Alarms will go off in case of
emergency”, “Emergency exit” etc. will help to guide those within the premises of a
company from any mishap that can occur in an office building.
Maintenance staff/personnel
A maintenance staff is very crucial to the safety and well-being of a facility and the staff
that work there.
Their job is to make sure every equipment or gadget used at executing the duties of
other employees are safe to use and in a good working condition.
The maintenance staff know and can handle all equipment present in a facility- from
HVAC to the computer systems used by employees, from the window blinds to the
microwave in the kitchen, the door security code to the generator plant etc.
They also keep records and inventories of every purchase made such as office files,
stamps, office machines, cable subscription, data subscription, and even the work
desks and chairs.
They also liaise and relate with experts and professionals whenever an equipment or
gadget is faulty. They can confidently describe the nature of the problem and
communicate it well to the professionals who’d go ahead to approach the problem
based on the former’s description.
The maintenance team knows how to address other employees whenever an issue
arises. They use a compelling tone to make employees abide with the instructions given
as regards to safety and property maintenance.
They command obedience by making the employees understand the severe
consequences of not abiding with instructions to safety.
But they also have a listening ear too. They give audience to the technical complaints of
other employees and try to comprehend what the problem might be.
The maintenance team might not be angels, but they play a crucial role in making sure
employees come to the office, successfully execute their duties, and leave the office
unscathed.
It’s indeed an important job!
Why is facility maintenance important:
It’s simple! Maintenance is less cost productive compared to repair and replacement
cost.
It is only more economical to fund maintenance costs and less profitable to finance
repairs.
Building Upgrade
Building upgrade is a decision taken to improve the architectural design, interior and
exterior appearance of a building.
It could also refer to necessary adjustments made on either the exterior or interior
designs of a building to accommodate a newfound architectural feature.
Most often than not, building upgrades are done to meet a need.
So, Mr Andrew decides to pay a visit to an insurance company that one of his cronies
had recommended. He gets in front of the insurance company and remains skeptical as
he stares at the foot of the insurance building.
There are two layers of stairs, but Mr Andrew is lame and only moves about with the aid
of a wheelchair. He is undecided as to how he’d enter the building.
Meanwhile, three levels above him, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) stood and
watched, critically observing what was amiss.
Three days later, the floors of the company were replaced with smooth-like grounds that
could be accessible by People living with Disabilities (PWDs). The building was all
inclusive now.
Other building upgrades that proprietor’s can take into consideration are:
1. Replace the doors with security doors that can only be accessible when each
employee imprints one of his fingers. This increases security.
2. Install Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) in the office so that
employees don’t become easily exhausted due to adverse temperature.
3. Create a relaxation/dining section within the office space. This easily enables an
employee to be refreshed in an atmosphere that isn’t his workstation.
4. Provide well-cushioned and firm working chairs. Sitting too long on a spot can
easily cause fatigue. But sitting on a chair that has no cushioning material
underneath can make work execution unbearable and attitude to work lukewarm.
Firm chairs cannot cause body deformities.
5. Install an emergency alarm system in the office hall that can easily be triggered
when there is an emergency.
6. Install water sprinklers, which can supplement existing fire extinguishers during a
fire outbreak.
7. Install an inverter system, so that office work wouldn’t be interrupted or disrupted
whenever power goes off.
Importance of building upgrade:
1. It sets a tone for the employees that the company is willing to adopt worldwide
standard practice.
2. A building upgrade only makes a company’s goals to be achieved faster.
3. It provides a conducive environment for employees to work in.
4. It creates a positive attitude in employees towards their work and duties.
5. It establishes a cordial relationship between proprietors and employees as the
latter realize that new adjustments in the office serve their interest and
well-being.
6. Very importantly, it establishes work safety and ensures that workers’ well-being
isn’t jeopardized