The COVID–19 pandemic and its attendant consequences couldn’t stop the International Facility Management Association, Nigeria chapter from celebrating this year’s World Facility Management Day.
The association rolled out the drums to celebrate the day with the theme Celebrating Our Environment virtually.
While welcoming participants to the exceptional event, president of the body, Mrs Abimbola Olusegun-Adamolekun, said facility management practitioners play significant roles in operating and maintaining environments where people work and live. She noted that this is a huge responsibility that they proudly do every day.
According to the president, “This special day enables us to reflect on our achievements of the profession. It is expected that the 2020 edition of the celebration will enable professionals to coordinate the workplace, people and technology especially at this time of COVID-19 pandemic so that our facilities can remain open and free of viruses.”
In his lecture, the Guest Speaker, Dr MKO Balogun, Group Chief Executive Officer of Global Property & Facilities International Ltd, noted that facility management is a $1.15 trillion global industry, with over 65,000 professional and industry participants across the world.
According to him, “Facility management has successfully integrated people, place and process within the built environment with the purpose of improving the quality of life of people and the productivity of the core business”.
The don said facility managers, facility engineers, janitors, security team, IT teams in residential buildings, hospitals, government offices, and public offices should be celebrated for their sacrificial roles that they have played since the outbreak of the dreaded disease.
He also revealed that environments which are not properly managed would lead to Building Related Diseases such as humidification issues; chemicals and cleaning agents; fumigation and pest control concerns; moist surfaces and dampness in buildings; air conditioning tower issues and poor filters.
Dr Balogun also noted that COVID-19 has greatly improved the environment, as there has been a drastic drop in the level of pollution due to human activities that negatively affects the environment such as transportation which reduced by 80 percent, the use of buildings and its facilities reduced by more than 60 percent, power utilization, water use, waste generation and others reduced significantly due to lockdowns and restrictions of movement.
He advised facility managers to focus on building a sustainable environment and they need to turn buildings into green buildings having been found to be a better environment than normal buildings.
It is also expected that they optimize energy and water while equally reducing all resources that has negative impact on the environment; educate occupants on culture that can positively impact the environment and automate all touch points.
The World FM Day celebrates the significant contribution of facility management to the global economy.
This year’s event aims to raise the profile of the FM profession by drawing attention to their impact on the health, safety, productivity and well-being of everyone who utilises the built environment.
The event celebrates the involvement of the facility managers and the role of the industry as a key driver of practices that support facility sustainability and resilience.
Facility managers create, operate and maintain environments where people work, rest or play in all parts of their lives across the world.
Adedapo Adesanya