The heart of every educational institution is its people – the educators, staff, and students who compose the community. In order to flourish and learn, the community needs a clean, safe, and well-maintained campus. While every school needs a year-round facilities program, there are some tasks that are tougher to tackle during the busy academic year. Summer is a great time to do some off-season work to get ready.
Here are some facility services elements to consider for your campus
Trip and Fall Hazards
Summer is a great time to scan the passageways and walkways for potential hazards such as loose bricks, crumbled cement, overgrown roots, and unseated thresholds. Assign each team member a zone of campus for a walk-through to discover any obstacle or problem that needs repair. It’s easier to shut off an area for maintenance before the students come back to campus. And it’s far better to take the time to conduct the repair now than risk harming anyone in a trip or fall accident.
Deep Cleaning
People are germy, and campuses are loaded with touchable surfaces in classrooms, lecture halls, cafeterias, and dorms. A typical cafeteria checkout keypad has more than 13,000 organisms, this fact derived from a cleaning product firm SaniProfessional. Doorknobs in men’s dorm rooms contain more than 1.5 million bacteria colony forming units per square inch, this fact derived from College Stats. That’s one thousand times the CFU per square inch of a typical toilet seat. Bacteria can live on gym equipment for days.
These germs are just as harmful as cracked pavement to your community’s health. Preventing the spread of bacteria and germs can reduce illness and absenteeism. The summer is a perfect time to deep-clean every surface and to establish a disinfecting and sanitizing routine for year-round practice.
Systems Check and Maintenance
Campuses require significant HVAC and other facilities systems – now is the best time of year to perform routine cleaning and maintenance and to repair any faulty systems. Don’t wait until a plumbing issue creates a no-water situation for an entire dorm or cafeteria; invest in preventive maintenance to minimize impact to the community. Routine cleaning and repairs cost less in time, money, and stress than those done under emergency situations. Schedule systems maintenance for the slower summer months and ensure peak performance for the busy seasons ahead. An added bonus: many routine maintenance tasks result in changes that save energy and improve systems efficiency.
Energy Efficiency
It may be more than just a poorly functioning boiler that is driving up your campus energy costs – every campus should conduct a top-to-bottom energy audit twice a decade. At UG2, we partner with energy specialists to check all energy and engineering functions of the campus, including HVAC systems, hours of operation, occupancy, and sequencing for all controls. The resulting energy profiles enable us to recommissin controls, profile energy usage, and review all energy control measures (ECMs).
These audits often identify more than two dozen conservation measures that pay for themselves over time in reduced energy costs. We also can work with utilities to defray the up-front costs of implementing changes.
Grounds and Landscaping
Well-maintained campuses can be visual show stoppers – students, staff, and visitors all enjoy strolling the grounds. First impressions matter for prospective students, too, so campuses should invest the time to stay on top of the maintenance. Trim low branches and overgrown shrubs, weed and mulch all beds, and review all pathways for obstacles that could hinder leaf and snow removal. Because before you know it, the seasons will turn and we’ll be ready for a new cycle.
Many higher education facilities have the luxury of a “slow” season to manage these tasks. Take the time now to do the deep work and it will be easier to implement a strong routine for facilities maintenance that keeps your campus at its best year round.