The Approach

A focus on knowledge and practical application

As an effective and competent facilities manager within the commercial property sector, you are likely to be a generalist and possess sufficient knowledge on hard and soft services delivery and on legislative compliances as well as the ability to communicate at all levels from senior management to operatives. The foundation to the above qualities can be quantified in two major areas, namely legislative compliance and duty as an employer/client.

In UK, the duty of an employer to health, safety and welfare of his employees is regulated by Act of Parliament, regulations, approved codes of practice, standards and industry benchmarks. The failure to comply is costly both financially and reputationally because it is a deliberate policy of the UK government to impose severe fine and/or community sentence against any flouting of the law and in serious cases with custodial sentence. This is examined in more details in later chapters.

The basis of British health and safety law is the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The Act sets out the general duties which employers have towards employees and members of the public, and employees have to themselves and to each other. The duty of care to employee and others should be the guiding principle and moral consciousness of every action in a daily working life of a facilities manager.

In a commercial building environment, the following regulations and ACOP are most relevant due to the exposure to potential risk of fatality. A sufficient knowledge will assist a facilities manager in the efficient use of his/her resources to fulfil the duty of care.

Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989
Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998
L8 Approved Code of Practice on the control of legionella bacteria in water systems
Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998
The Work at Height Regulations 2005, as well as
Slips and trips at work

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 “CDM 2015” covers safe systems of work and is of significance importance to FM practitioner because the regulation is the embodiment of FM on site tasks, large & small. The word construction does not only apply to the construction industry but also to all maintenance and repair activities in any structure. “Construction Work” means the carrying out of any building, civil engineering or engineering construction work and includes— (a) the construction, alteration, conversion, fitting out, commissioning, renovation, repair, upkeep, redecoration or other maintenance … (e) the installation, commissioning, maintenance, repair or removal of mechanical, electrical, gas, compressed air, hydraulic, telecommunications, computer or similar services which are normally fixed within or to a structure. “Project” means a project which includes or is intended to include construction work and includes all planning, design, management or other work involved in a project until the end of the construction phase.

Furthermore, a thorough understanding of Regulation 4 under CDM 2015 is essential to FM best practice because facilities manager normally acts on behalf of the client and will assume the client duties in parts or in full. The client has contractual control, appoints designers and contractors, and determines the money, time and other resources available. No matter the size of the FM task, the following steps must be considered and action.

Appoint the right people at the right time
Ensure there are arrangements in place for managing and organising the project
Allow adequate time
Provide information to your designer and contractor
Communicate with your designer and building contractor

WIFM and RICS published BIM Data for FM Systems and Strategic FM Framework RICS guidance note respectively. Both are strategic look at FM role within a demand organisational framework. The author presents the FM role from a knowledge based approach to day to day management and recommends that they should be read as complimentary information covering both micro and macro management.

In summary, an effective and competent facilities manager has sufficient knowledge both legislatively and technically, to fulfil the client duties and the courage of conviction to mitigate or at least report to senior management any potential risk of harm identified during the day to day maintenance service delivery of the property under his/her control.

A competent person

How to be a competent FM?

A competent person is someone who has sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities. The level of competence required will depend on the complexity of the situation and the particular help you need. Training and skill are interchangeable words when satisfying compliance of the laws.

The International Facilities Management Association IFMA offers 11 core competencies of facility management: Occupancy and human factors; Operations and maintenance; Sustainability; Facility information and technology management; Risk management; Communication; Performance and quality; Leadership and strategy; Real estate; Project management and Finance and business.

The author offers an alternative interpretation to the core competencies of a facilities manager. To be a competent person, facilities manager must possess, as a minimum, the following skillsets.

Management ability
Sufficient technical knowledge
Sufficient accounting knowledge to comprehend service charge calculations
Legal knowledge relevant to the job
Other soft skills

Managerial skill

The ability to make business decisions and lead subordinates within a company. Three most common skills include: 1) human skills - the ability to interact and motivate; 2) technical skills - the knowledge and proficiency in the trade; and 3) conceptual skills - the ability to understand concepts, develop ideas and implement strategies. Competencies include communication ability, response behaviour and negotiation tactics.

Sufficient technical knowledge in the following areas

Electricity
Electricity procurement
Fuel
Gas
Gas Procurement
Fuel Oil
Fuel oil procurement
Water and sewerage charges
Security guarding
Security systems
Cleaning
Hygiene services/toiletries
Waste management
Pest control
External landscaping
Snow clearance/gritting
Marketing and promotions
Mechanical and electrical services (M&E) SFG20
Lift and escalator maintenance
Lift and escalator inspections
Suspended access maintenance
Suspended access inspections
Fabric maintenance
Engineering insurance inspections
Project management

Sufficient service charge accounting knowledge

Budget preparation
Periodic and annual expenditure summary
Periodic and annual account reconciliation

Sufficient legal knowledge

Duties imposed by the Act
Regulations, codes of practice and guidance
European directives (before BRIXIT)
Competent authorities
Standards
Enforcement policy
Powers of inspectors
Fee for Intervention
Sentencing guide

Other soft skills

Soft skills are interpersonal skills such as the ability to communicate well with other people and to work in a team.

The First Step of FM Actions

Pre-construction Information

Complying with Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM) will help ensure that no-one is harmed during the work, and that your building is safe to use and maintain while giving you good value. Effective planning will also help ensure that your work is well managed with fewer unexpected costs and problems.

CDM is the primary piece of legislation for all FM activities within the commercial property sector. Why? “Construction Work” means the carrying out of any building, civil engineering or engineering construction work and includes— (a) the construction, alteration, conversion, fitting out, commissioning, renovation, repair, upkeep, redecoration or other maintenance (including cleaning which involves the use of water or an abrasive at high pressure, or the use of corrosive or toxic substances), de-commissioning, demolition or dismantling of a structure; … (e) the installation, commissioning, maintenance, repair or removal of mechanical, electrical, gas, compressed air, hydraulic, telecommunications, computer or similar services which are normally fixed within or to a structure. “Project” means a project which includes or is intended to include construction work and includes all planning, design, management or other work involved in a project until the end of the construction phase.

The client has contractual control, appoints designers and contractors, and determines the money, time and other resources available. CDM makes the client accountable for the impact their decisions and approach have on health, safety and welfare on the project. The client has the main duty for providing pre-construction information.

“A client must provide pre-construction information as soon as is practicable to every designer and contractor appointed, or being considered for appointment, to the project.” under Regulation 4 client duties in relation to managing projects. This is the basis of formulating FM activities and warrants a closer scrutiny of pre-construction information.

Under section 42 & 43, pre-construction information is information already in the client’s possession (such as an existing health and safety file, an asbestos survey, structural drawings etc) or which is reasonable to obtain through sensible enquiry. The information must be relevant to the project, have an appropriate level of detail and be proportionate to the nature of the risks. The client has the main duty for providing pre-construction information. This must be provided as soon as practicable to each designer (including the principal designer) and contractor (including the principal contractor) who is bidding for work on the project or has already been appointed. For projects involving more than one contractor, the client should expect the principal designer to help bring the pre-construction information together and provide it to the designers and contractors involved.

Pre-construction information is defined as information about the project that is already in the client’s possession or which is reasonably obtainable by or on behalf of the client. The information must:

be relevant to the particular project;
have an appropriate level of detail; and
be proportionate to the risks involved.

When pre-construction information is complete, it must include proportionate information about:

the project, such as the client brief and key dates of the construction phase;
the planning and management of the project such as the resources and time being allocated to each stage of the project and the arrangements to ensure there is cooperation between dutyholders and the work is coordinated;
the health and safety hazards of the site, including design and construction hazards and how they will be addressed;
any relevant information in an existing health and safety file.

The pre-construction information will evolve as the project progresses towards the construction phase. At first, drawing together the information should involve identifying relevant documents the client already holds. These might include a health and safety file produced as a result of earlier construction work, any surveys or assessments that have already been carried out (eg asbestos surveys), structural drawings etc. For projects involving more than one contractor, the client must pass this information to the principal designer as soon after their appointment as possible. In liaison with the principal designer, the client should then:

assess the adequacy of this information to see if there are significant gaps;
take reasonable steps to obtain the information needed to fill any gaps identified by, eg commissioning relevant surveys; and
then provide the information to every designer and contractor as soon as practicable.

The stage at which it is practicable to provide information will depend on a number of factors such as the scale and complexity of the project, when dutyholders are appointed and when information is obtained. However, the client, together with the principal designer, must also take account of when designers and contractors will need pre-construction information to enable them to carry out their duties. For example:

designers or contractors who are seeking appointment for work on the project should have sufficient information made available to them at a time which allows them to put together a bid based on a clear understanding of the nature of the work involved;
designers already appointed should be provided with sufficient information at a stage early enough to enable them to judge whether it is reasonably practicable to eliminate any foreseeable health and safety risks in the design process and, where it is not, the steps they should take to reduce or control the remaining risks. It may not be possible to provide this information all at
once, in which case it should be provided as soon as it becomes available;
contractors already appointed should be provided with the information they will need to plan, manage and monitor their work.

Facilities manager normally acts on behalf of the client and will assume the duties in parts or in full. A sufficient understanding of the importance of pre-construction information is a prerequisite to competent FM practice.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Working Safely

The general principles of managing risk including COVID-19

Duty holders continue to have obligations to comply with health and safety at work legislation and requirements to manage and control workplace risks, including protecting workers and others from the risk of COVID-19 infection. As an employer, you’re required by law to protect your employees, and others, from harm. Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the minimum you must do is:

1) identify what could cause injury or illness in your business (hazards)

2) decide how likely it is that someone could be harmed and how seriously (the risk)

3) take action to eliminate the hazard, or if this isn’t possible, control the risk

In L153 CDM 2015 ACOP, the general principles of prevention apply to all industries, including construction, providing a framework to identify and implement measures to control risks on a construction project. The general principles of prevention are to:

1) avoid risks;

2) evaluate the risks which cannot be avoided;

3) combat the risks at source;

4) adapt the work to the individual, especially regarding the design of workplaces, the choice of work equipment and the choice of working and production methods, with a view, in particular, to alleviating monotonous work, work at a predetermined work rate and to reducing their effect on health;

5) adapt to technical progress;

6) replace the dangerous by the non-dangerous or the less dangerous;

7) develop a coherent overall prevention policy which covers technology, organisation of work, working conditions, social relationships and the influence of factors relating to the working environment;

8) give collective protective measures priority over individual protective measures; and

9) give appropriate instructions to employees.

The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 is the primary piece of legislation covering occupational health and safety in Great Britain.

Sections 2(1) and 3(1) set out the general duties which:

1) employers have towards employees and members of the public

2) employees have to themselves and to each other

3) certain self-employed have towards themselves and others

In terms of what they require of duty-holders, HSE considers that duties to ensure health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable ("SFAIRP") and duties to reduce risks as low as is reasonably practicable ("ALARP") call for the same set of tests to be applied.

The Sentencing Council issues a definitive guide to Breach of Health and Safety

Regulations.

1) Health and safety offences are concerned with failures to manage risks to health and safety and do not require proof that the offence caused any actual harm. The offence is in creating a risk of harm.

2) The greater the number of people, the greater the risk of harm.

Specifically, for coronavirus, the Government issues 14 guides covering a range of different types of work to make your workplace COVID-secure. As an employer, you have a legal responsibility to protect workers and others from risk to their health and safety, including from the risks of COVID-19.