Good Essay On Regular Quality Checks
The Olympic Park called the Queen Elizabeth II is situated in the city of London. This park has been built for the purpose of holding the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. This Olympic Park is situated to the east of the city of London.
It is essential for every company to manage its day to day operations and facilities effectively. In today’s competitive market, Facilities Management plays a very important role in the day to day operations of an organization. Effective management of operations is essential because an organization can sustain and continue to grow if customers and employees are managed well. In the following discussion, we are going to review the facilities and operational management skills of Olympic Park Queen Elizabeth II. Also we are going to see and review the role of facility management in the Olympic Park (McDonnell, 2006).
In order to gain sustainable advantage and for the successful running of the business, one of the strategic areas of management is often being used and implemented by managers. Such management is known as Facilities Management. There are many operational responsibilities of a Senior Facilities Manager towards Staff working in the Facility Management Team. First and foremost, no company can compromise with the quality of its products. Qualify of the output or end product is the most important thing for a company to sustain in a competitive market (Darcy, 2003). So the Facilities Manager should ensure about that the staffs who are given the responsibility of maintaining high quality are doing their work properly (Dowse, 2012). The final output should not be of poor or low quality. In order to maintain this, the Facilities Manager should review the work of his staffs on regular intervals. Reviewing or rechecking will help the employees perform better (Blake, 2005). Also if any of the staffs is found to be inefficient, he should be trained properly in order to reach his aim. Some of the main responsibilities are as follows:
Training and Development
Motivation of Staffs
Better Customer Service
The Olympic Park offers plenty of facilities to its visitors. 560 acres of former parkland is covered by this Park (Gold, 2009). There are 10000 temporary loos and 362 toilet blocks for its visitors. This Park stretches over four London Boroughs. This Park is well connected by different means of transport. 14m meals are available in this Olympic Park. A plenty of games have promoted greener environment, an investment of 10 million with up-gradation of cycling and pedestrian routes. In the wetlands, 300000 plants were planted.
A Facility Manager has operational responsibilities towards all customers who using the services. Most importantly a Facilities Manager has to give good customer service to a customer (Munday, 2009). Good customer service can only retain a customer. The customer will come back again and again and avail the same services if the company can satisfy the customer with its services provided. Customer satisfaction and retention are also important responsibilities of Facilities Manager (Frawley, 2012). The role of the Facilities Manager is to monitor the day to day operational program. They need to ensure that customers are getting the best services on time. In case, if the customers are found unhappy, then the Facility Managers can meet them personally to listen to their complaints and suggestions (Masterman, 2014).
The operational responsibilities in regard to the building are
Oversees the repairs and maintenance of the building
Ensuring the visitors and customers safety
Gives information about electrical, service or water outrages
In situations of emergency, develops and implements emergency plans
During emergencies, helps emergency rescue teams at the time of evacuation (Blake, 2005).
The Facility Manager is the person who is given the responsibility to look after the day to day operations in the organization. Power lies in the hands of a Facilities Manager. Hence a Facilities Manager should be given the power of making responsibility. After the Facility Manager comes to any decision, he should discuss with the Management. Also the Funding Agencies play a very important role as they give the initial capital to the company in order to run its operations.
The health and safety environmental measures are as follows:
Emission of Air pollutants and substances that deplete ozone.
Management of wetlands and storm water
Management of solid waste
Treatment, storage and disposal facilities of wastages.
Proper storage of Petroleum
Management of Toxic Substances
Pesticide Management
National Environment Policy Act
Fire Safety
Safe Driving Policy
Alcohol and Drugs Policy
Standard Health and Safety Policy
Policies related to environment, risk management and action plan.
Accidents at workplace, accidents that happen due to diseases at workplace. Thorough investigation regarding such accidents and proper treatment of the employees.
MHSWR 1992 (The management of H&S a work)- Stands for Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (1999). This law talks about the general duties and responsibilities of the employer. As an employer, one should carry out a risk assessment that might result from the work. The risks should be controlled by the employer in order to ensure safety and security of the employee.
PUWER 1998 (The provision and use of work equipment regulations)- stands for Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. With the help of this law, the Facilities Manager places duties on the employee or the companies on the usage of the equipments owned by the company (Lodge, 2009). The laws prevent the usage of any hazardous equipment.
Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 also known as MHOR clearly indicates the Facilities Manager not to handle products manually if there is any risk of injury associated to it. Any hazardous manual handling operational work need to be avoided as much as possible (Lodge, 2011).
Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997-There are some regulations in Fire Precaution Act that need to be followed by the Manager. The Manager should carry out an assessment of risks in order to prevent any ignition or fire. The risks should be assessed properly and there should be an early detection of the same (Bernthal, 2010).
COSHH 1999- Stands for Control of Substances Hazardous to Health. There should be a check by the Facilities Manager on use of chemicals (Renström, 2013). An assessment of risk can be carried out in order to ensure the safety of the employees. If risks are found, measures should be implemented.
Workplace Health Safety and Welfare Regulations 1992- Issues like health, safety and welfare are covered by this law (Kintrea, 2011). First and Foremost, the Facilities Managers should always keep in mind that the employees are the assets of the company. So their health should be given priority and proper safely and welfare of the employees should be ensured.
Health and Safety measures are very significant from the viewpoint of an organization. Hence proper documentation for compliance and auditing purpose is thus essential. For maintaining the rules and regulations, a Facilities Manager should be aware of all kinds of facts. This is also required as a part of statutory regulation of safety and health. Information like age, marital status, ethnicity and size of the family is extremely essential for the FM to be aware of. Proper documentation of all the employees should be maintained for the purpose of auditing.
Although LOCOG had a Safety Management Program but I think LOCOG needed to maintain a proper record of the employees. Also the Facilities Manager needed to enhance the Health Management Program at LOCOG (Renström, 2013). The Statutory Regulations related to Health and Safety needed to be given more importance in order to develop an excellent system of Health and Safety Program. Enhancement of health and welfare facilities is extremely essential as employees are considered to be assets to the company. Any hazardous accidents can be detrimental for the company. Documentation would be essential for audit purpose.
A field which is interdisciplinary in nature is known as Facilities Management of FM. The proper coordination of space, employees, organization and infrastructure ensure proper facilities management. The Facilities Management looks after the day to day operations of the organization and ensures whether the statutory regulations and compliances are met or not (Jacobs, 2008).. FM covers a wider range of activities and the functions or activities that fall under FM are known as non core activities. These functions are not same in every business, they vary from one another. Additionally the Facilities Manager has to take care of the health and safety issues, fire rules and safety issues, different kinds of security issues, proper maintenance and repair of the equipment and cleaning and tendering operations.
It is very essential to have a sound control system for this sporting facility. In order to ensure proper utilization of workforce, a sound control system should be in place. For the sporting facility proper utilization of manpower need to be in place (Séguin ,2008). A sound control system should be in place to ensure this. Next is, there should be a system which should check the quality of the work. Quality check system need to be in place in order to ensure whether quality standards are met or not (Horne, 2011). The sporting facility also needs such a system which could ensure quality being maintained at the facility.
If I am asked to evaluate and review the role of the facilities manager and the facilities management program and operations of the sporting venue, then I would say the sporting venue is doing well because it is well managed by the Facility Manager. Also it has proficient employees and the quality is well controlled by them (Raco, 2012). The organization trains its employees properly so that they can deliver their best. Employees are motivated for better performance and they find enough time to socialize. Employee Satisfaction and Retention also helped them to do well in a sustainable environment (Willick, 2013).
The Facility Manager needs a sound administration and support system in order to help communication with employers, staffs and customers. First and foremost, the organization can utilize technology to collect a lot of information. In general, the employees or staffs should maintain databases. The databases can help one to manage and keep data properly and safely. Also a Facility Manager should always ensure that there is no miscommunication among the employees. A system can be maintained in order to prevent miscommunication. A Facility Manager should encourage communication via email rather verbal communication. This will prevent miscommunication.
In the sporting venue, the Facility Manager should arrange for a strong support and administration system. A strong support team could be of great help in case of any emergency situation (Theodoraki, 2004). Also the Facility Manager should be very clear and precise in his communication with his employers, staffs. In the sporting venue, he should ensure and also send the message to his staffs that there should be no compromise on the quality of services that is provided to the visitors at the time of the Games.
The Department Head can appoint a Building Manager for the sporting venue. He will be the point of contact for different kinds of issues related to the building like maintenance and construction issues or issues related to the repairs of the building (Moore, 2011). With the appointment of a Building Manager, the work of facility Manager also gets accomplished. Since the risk factors are prevented, so the day to day operations is not hampered. It also minimizes the chances of risk at the workplace (Poynter, 2009).
Conclusion: As discussed in the above article, one of the most important strategic functions of the organization is Facilities Management. This management ensures sound operations without any interruption at work. With the help of FM if proper control on the operations can be ensured then the organization can be a successful one. Although the Sporting venue has a strong Health and Safety Management but they need to strengthen their other statutory regulations.
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