The First Facility Management Blog

TFM has created a new, free, online resource to help facility managers analyze their purchasing options and make more strategic decisions regarding all aspects of building operations. This library of white papers sets out to streamline researching processes and increase productivity levels for busy fms.

The first offering in the TFM Online White Paper Library comes from Honeywell. It’s titled, Construction Industry White Paper: Severe Weather and Walls/Roofs, and it makes the case for SPF roofing and insulation for facilities prone to extreme weather.

Onset Computer Corporation, maker of HOBO® data loggers, has made available a white paper that provides guidance and tips on how data logging weather stations can be used to monitor green roof performance. The document –”Monitoring Green Roof Performance with Weather Stations”– discusses a range of monitoring applications that can help satisfy requirements for LEED Certification credits, such as stormwater management performance documentation.

Interested parties can access the white paper at www.onsetcomp.com/greenroofs. Basic contact information is required to access the download.

About Onset Computer Corporation
Located in Bourne, MA, Onset as been producing small, inexpensive, battery-powered data loggers and embedded controllers since 1981, and has sold over 1,000,000 loggers that are used throughout the world by over 50,000 customers. The company manufactures a broad range of data logger and weather station products that are used to measure temperature, humidity, light intensity, voltage, and a broad range of other parameters. Onset products are used in a wide range of research, commercial, industrial, and educational applications.

A new, free white paper, titled “A `Six Step’ Process to Investigate and Prevent Laboratory Accidents,” is now available for download here from EH&E.

InvestigatePreventLabAccidents.pdf

This white paper will be applicable to all those that work in laboratories, including managers, technicians, laboratory safety directors, and environmental health and safety officers.

Laboratories are potentially dangerous work environments and often contain a wide variety of toxic, flammable, corrosive, or reactive compounds. Accident prevention is imperative for any proactive health and safety program, and accidents themselves, while unfortunate, present an opportunity to improve the performance of the laboratory safety program.

This white paper details the six key components of an accident investigation and mitigation program that are necessary to provide improvements in the overall safety program and prevent future accidents. The steps the white paper discusses include:
•Notification and Response
•Site Investigation and Interviews
•Root Cause Analysis
•Report of Findings and Review
•Implement Corrective Measures
•Monitoring

The author, Kevin Coghlan, M.S., C.I.H., director of EH&S, Compliance & Strategic Support at EH&E, a Newton, MA-based environmental engineering and consulting firm, has over 18 years of experience in assessing, evaluating, characterizing, and solving environmental problems in laboratories.

Allsteel Inc. designs, builds and delivers relevant and innovative workplace furniture solutions with advanced functionality and lifetime durability. The company’s R&D teams share many of their findings directly with customers, architects and designers, facility managers, and others through the firm’s online Knowledge Center, which contains white papers, workplace trends, project profiles and more.

Allsteel continues to add to the online library with its latest white paper titled “Managing Multiple Generations in the Workplace.” Allsteel’s Knowledge Center also contains information on sustainability, ergonomics, case studies, project profiles and detailed information on Allsteel products.

“Workplace trends are central to the development of solutions that our customers need now and in the future. Our research generates insights that feed directly into new products, services and information that can be used to enhance the workplace,” explains Kelly Sterk, Allsteel Workplace Research Manager.

“Managing Multiple Generations in the Workplace” is a detailed report which takes an in-depth look at the dynamics of multiple generations working side-by-side in today’s office settings.

“There can be up to four generations working together, and each has its own assumptions, expectations and needs,” Sterk added. “This poses a challenge for facility managers, architects and interior designers alike to create workplaces that make all workers feel valued and rewarded and encourage them to reach their highest levels of performance. Our latest white paper outlines workforce trends and potential implications for organizations.”

To access “Managing Multiple Generations in the Workplace,” visit this link. Click on Knowledge Center and then choose Workplace Trends.

System Sensor, a Honeywell company, has developed a white paper to address placement, testing, and maintenance of system-connected carbon monoxide detectors based on NFPA 720, Standard for the Installation of Carbon Monoxide (CO) Warning Equipment in Dwelling Units.

Currently, the NFPA 720 Technical Committee is in the process of revising the standard, which is expected to include non-dwelling occupancies such as hotels, day care centers, and schools (the standard will mirror NFPA 72). The revised NFPA 720 will most likely include more precise placement, testing and maintenance sections, which, in turn, will force mmanufacturers to design system-connected CO detectors to a uniform code.

Unlike smoke detection devices that have been enhanced over 30+ years, system-connected carbon monoxide (CO) detectors are still in a stage of infancy and do not yet have mature standards to govern their use. To help fire protection professionals, the white paper reviews the requirements of NFPA 720, 2005 edition, focusing specifically on sections 5.1.1.1, 5.1.1.2, 5.4.1.1, 5.5.2 and 5.5.1.

Entitled, “Eliminating Confusion,” the white paper addresses areas of deficiency in the current form of NFPA 720. Copies are available for download from this link: CO%20WP%20Placement%20Testing.pdf

Allsteel, Inc., designer and manufacturer of contract furniture, has added the new research to its online Knowledge Center. Interested parties can download the white paper, “Managing Multiple Generations in the Workplace,” from the company’s Web site.

“Workplace trends are central to the development of solutions that our customers need now and in the future. Our research generates insights that feed directly into new products, services and information that can be used to enhance the workplace,” explains Kelly Sterk, Allsteel workplace research manager.

To read about accommodating aging workers in the workplace, read, “Office Design, Ergonomics, And The New Normal,” by Robert Stuthridge, BSc, MSc, FRSH, from the February 2007 issue of Today’s Facility Manager (TFM).

Allsteel’s R&D teams share many of their findings directly with customers, architects and designers, facility managers, and others through the firm’s online Knowledge Center, which contains white papers, workplace trends, project profiles, and more.

This latest report takes an in-depth look at the dynamics of multiple generations working side-by-side in today’s office settings.

“There can be up to four generations working together, and each has its own assumptions, expectations, and needs,” says Sterk. “This poses a challenge for facility managers, architects, and interior designers alike to create workplaces that make all workers feel valued and rewarded and encourage them to reach their highest levels of performance. Our latest white paper outlines workforce trends and potential implications for organizations.”

To access “Managing Multiple Generations in the Workplace,” visit www.allsteeloffice.com. Click on Knowledge Center and then choose Workplace Trends.