Maintaining business premises
Facility management
Facility management (FM, also facilities management) is the coordinated management of a building and the services that keep it running: maintenance, cleaning, security, utilities and space, so that the people working or staying inside can get on with their own job without thinking about the building.
Also known asfacilities management · FM · building services management · general services
What it covers: the hard side and the soft side
The trade talks about two halves. Hard FM is the building and its installations: heating and air conditioning, electrics, plumbing, lifts, fire protection. Soft FM is the services for people: cleaning, reception, security, catering, post. Whoever does facility management does not have to carry out any of that by hand; their job is to make sure everything is contracted, coordinated, on schedule and within the law. In medium-sized Spanish companies it is often called servicios generales (general services), and the ISO 41000 family of standards, including ISO 41001, sets out how to organise it as a management system.
An example from a rented office: a single person in general services handles the cleaning contract, air-conditioning maintenance, the company that inspects the fire extinguishers, meeting-room bookings and moving a department to another floor. Their day is not filled by any particular machine: it is filled by suppliers. That is why they are responsible for the coordination of business activities with each contractor and for keeping up with the building's statutory maintenance.
Worth knowing
Facility management is not the same as maintenance, nor is it a CMMS. Maintenance is one of its pieces, and a CMMS is one of its possible tools. A hotel or a restaurant chain does facility management even if nobody on the staff has that title: it is done by the manager who, on top of their own job, calls the technician, signs off the inspection and asks for quotes.
Sources
Related terms
- CMMSA CMMS (computerised maintenance management system) is the software a maintenance team uses to keep the asset register, work orders, the preventive plan, spare parts and costs. In Spanish it is known as GMAO.
- Statutory maintenanceStatutory maintenance (mantenimiento técnico-legal in Spain) is the set of inspections and servicing that the law requires a business's installations to undergo, with how often, who may carry them out and what paperwork is kept. It is distinct from the maintenance a business chooses to do on its own account.
- Coordination of business activities (CAE)Coordination of business activities (CAE) is the duty of companies and self-employed workers working at the same time on the same premises to cooperate on health and safety. The holder of the premises tells whoever comes in about its hazards and emergency arrangements (art. 24 LPRL and RD 171/2004).