FEA Principal Chris Hodges wrote about Leading in a Crisis: Creating Safer, Healthier Facilities for the September/October 2020 issue of IFMA’s FMJ magazine. The article explores how a steady hand is needed to navigate the challenges posed by any emergency threatening the safety, security and health of its stakeholders.
During any crisis, the most prepared organizations are more
likely to recover faster, more completely, and with fewer
adverse health, safety and economic impacts. If the magnitude of the crisis is significant and prior experience with the crisis
is limited, the general knowledge of the recovery process is diminished, and recovery will be far more difficult, even under the best of circumstances.
In early 2020, facilities worldwide were and are challenged by
COVID-19. On one hand, the rapid departure from office buildings, public and recreation facilities, restaurants and community gathering places led to large vacancies. FMs were faced with how to prepare buildings for minimal operation. On the other hand, emergency and health care facilities were required to escalate health and safety requirements to brace for maximum occupancy under significant additional health threats and limited resources. As areas move toward a recovery phase, organizations must determine the conditions under which they will be operating their facilities in the near- and long-term. The challenge of both re-occupation and continuous operation under new environmental conditions poses an even greater threat as information on health, safety, cleaning and operational risks changed (and continues to change) on an almost daily basis.
Additional Resources
Read the full article here.
