1.5 Chapter Summary
Key Takeaways
- Facilities Management (FM) involves maintaining and efficiently operating buildings and infrastructure to ensure comfort, safety, security, and efficiency for the place, processes, and people working on the property.
- FM includes managing physical infrastructure (hard services) like HVAC systems, utilities, and building structures, as well as non-physical elements (soft services) such as security, custodial services, catering, and waste management.
- Successful facilities management requires a diverse team of professionals, including custodians, security personnel, maintenance team members, and waste disposal workers, who ensure the comfort, safety, security, and efficiency of the property and its operations.
- Each professional provides specific skills essential for facilities management, such as custodians maintaining cleanliness, security personnel monitoring and controlling access, maintenance team handling repairs and installations, and waste disposal personnel managing garbage, recycling, and composting.
- Strategic planning involves the leadership team looking toward the future, considering the current environment and likely future events, to determine the best way to achieve organizational objectives over the next three to five years. The strategic plan is a document that communicates these objectives and guides employee actions toward achieving the stated goals.
- The strategic planning process includes analyzing external factors (PESTEL) and internal factors (SWOT), identifying necessary resources, implementing the plan, and presenting it to employees to encourage buy-in. The plan should be evaluated annually to ensure its effectiveness.
- The Nutrition and Food Service Manager plays a crucial role in facilities management, similar to a project manager, by identifying specific tasks required for meal service, evaluating the physical space, and ensuring a clean, safe, and secure environment. This includes contracting or assigning work to the correct skilled workers and supervising professionals involved in facilities projects.
OpenAI. (2025, January 23). ChatGPT. [Large language model]. https://www.chatgpt.com Prompt: Summarize the passage into key points. Edited & Reviewed by author.
Key Terms
Architect: Provides blueprints, which are plans and instructions for the construction of the physical space.
Contract Services Management: Tasks such as plumbers, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, electricians, waste management, hood cleaning, and grease trap cleaning.
Custodians or Housekeeping: Responsible for the cleanliness of the physical space. Experts in cleaning and disinfecting, which reduces infection transmission in the workplace.
Electricians: Install, repair, and maintain the safety of electrical wiring, fixtures, and equipment.
Engineers: Create blueprints and plans for construction, focusing on technical and structural aspects. They are often required to complete work on sewage or electrical systems.
Facilities Management (FM): Involves the maintenance and efficient operation of buildings and infrastructure to ensure the comfort, safety, security, and efficiency of the place, processes, and people working on the property.
Gasfitters: Install, inspect, and repair gas lines and equipment such as gas ranges.
Hard Services: Physical infrastructure that requires management and maintenance. These include equipment, building systems such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), utilities such as lighting, and physical structures such as windows and roofs.
Health and Safety: Tasks such as the joint health and safety committee, ergonomic equipment, safety policy, and protocols for equipment use, such as lockout/tag out.
Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) technicians: Install, repair, and provide maintenance to the systems that regulate air quality in the building. In the foodservice department, this includes hood vents, return air, refrigerators, and freezers.
Hood Vent Cleaning Services: Work to remove grease and debris from the exhaust system, an important part of routine maintenance that may need to be contracted out.
Interior Designers: Work closely with architects to select décor, such as lighting, furniture, paints, wallpapers, and window coverings that create a functional and safe space.
Maintenance Person: Involved with safety inspections, small-scale installations, and general repairs.
Millwrights: Read blueprints and schematics to assemble mechanical equipment and machines, such as a commercial dishwasher.
Pest Control Professionals: Educate, inspect, and create a plan for long-term pest control at the premises. Long-term pest control supports food safety by preventing the infestation of rodents, bugs, and other insects.
PESTEL: An acronym for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal. PESTEL requires the company to focus on the external environment and identify issues that may impact the company’s business goals and processes.
Plumbers: Have expertise in installing, repairing, cleaning, and maintaining pipes and fixtures used to supply and dispose of water.
Property Services: Tasks such as building maintenance, repairs to infrastructure, or preventative maintenance activities.
Security Personnel: Often found stationed at the entrances and exits to a building. Their role is to monitor, patrol, and control access to the building, but they are also trained to provide safety education, first aid emergency response, and de-escalation services when required on site.
Security Services: Tasks such as security guards, closed-circuit television (CCTV), fire protection systems, and locked entrance or code systems for entrance.
Soft Services: Non-physical elements that focus on creating a productive, safe, and comfortable environment for the staff. These services include security, custodial, catering, and waste management.
Strategic Planning: Participating in the process that determines objectives (tasks) to be completed with a specific timeline in the future (usually a five-year plan).
SWOT Analysis: A method used to identify an organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Waste Disposal Personnel: Can include garbage removal, recycling, composting, and septic waste care if the property is rural and not connected to city sewage services.
Review Questions
Text Description
1. What is the primary focus of facilities management (FM)?
- Increasing property value
- Ensuring the comfort, safety, security, and efficiency of the place, processes, and people working on the property
- Reducing operational costs
- Enhancing aesthetic appeal
2. Which of the following is considered a hard service in facilities management?
- Security
- Custodial services
- Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC)
- Catering
3. Who is responsible for the surface cleanliness of the physical space in facilities management?
- Security personnel
- Custodians
- Engineers
- Architects
4. What is the role of security personnel in facilities management?
- Designing the physical space
- Monitoring, patrolling, and controlling access to the building
- Installing and repairing HVAC systems
- Cleaning and disinfecting surfaces
5. What is a strategic plan in the context of facilities management?
- A document outlining daily cleaning tasks
- A list of goals the company intends to achieve in the upcoming three to five years
- A maintenance schedule for HVAC systems
- A blueprint for building design
Answers:
- b.
- c.
- b.
- b.
- b.
Multiple Choice Activity
1. What is the primary focus of facilities management (FM)?
- Increasing property value
- Ensuring the comfort, safety, security, and efficiency of the place, processes, and people working on the property
- Reducing operational costs
- Enhancing aesthetic appeal
2. Which of the following is considered a hard service in facilities management?
- Security
- Custodial services
- Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC)
- Catering
3. Who is responsible for the surface cleanliness of the physical space in facilities management?
- Security personnel
- Custodians
- Engineers
- Architects
4. What is the role of security personnel in facilities management?
- Designing the physical space
- Monitoring, patrolling, and controlling access to the building
- Installing and repairing HVAC systems
- Cleaning and disinfecting surfaces
5. What is a strategic plan in the context of facilities management?
- A document outlining daily cleaning tasks
- A list of goals the company intends to achieve in the upcoming three to five years
- A maintenance schedule for HVAC systems
- A blueprint for building design
Answers:
- b.
- c.
- b.
- b.
- b.
Microsoft. (2025, January 23). CoPilot. [Large language model]. https://copilot.cloud.microsoft Prompt: Create five multiple-choice questions with four answer options from the following information. Reviewed by author.
