AEDs need a fire drill

In the past few years, it has become common to see automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) securely mounted to the walls of office receptions areas, office corridors, supermarkets, arenas, movie theaters, and other densely populated venues. Having written about their life-saving contributions in The McMorrow Report about five years ago, it was pleasing to see their prevalence grow. My supermarket installed one, and in the first year, a customer was saved by it before paramedics arrived.

An automated external defibrillator or AED is a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses the potentially life threatening cardiac arrhythmias of ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia  in a patient, and is able to treat them through defibrillation, the application of electrical therapy which stops the arrhythmia, allowing the heart to reestablish an effective rhythm.

AED vendors are also exhibitors at facilities management industry trade shows, and while that is encouraging, new research indicates that staff/employee training is insufficient.

A Dutch study published online on February 1^st in Annals of Emergency Medicine reports that less than half (47 percent) of people in a public place with access to an automatic external defibrillator (AED) would be willing to use it, with more than half (53 percent) unable even to recognize one (“Public Access Defibrillation: Time to Access the Public”).

“An AED is only beneficial if a bystander is willing to use it when someone is in cardiac arrest,” said lead study author Patrick Schober, MD, Ph.D., of V.U. University Medical Center in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. “AEDs are increasingly available in public places, such as the train station where we conducted our survey.  However, in our study, only 28 percent of participants correctly identified the AED, knew its purpose and expressed a willingness to use it.”

Just over one-third (34 percent) of participants stated that anyone is allowed to use an AED, with nearly half (49 percent) believing only trained personnel may use it. The most frequently mentioned reason given for not using an AED was not knowing how it works (69 percent), followed by fear of harming the victim (14 percent).  Only 6 percent of study participants spontaneously mentioned AEDs in response to a question about what should be done as quickly as possible for someone suspected of being in cardiac arrest.

Sudden cardiac arrest is a leading cause of mortality in North America and Europe.  Odds of survival decline by 7 to 10 percent per minute of delay in defibrillation. AED application by bystanders saves only 1.4 lives per one million people in North America.

“AEDs are actually very easy to use, but it is obvious that the public has not gotten that message,” said Dr. Schober.  “Only a minority of individuals demonstrated both knowledge and willingness to operate an AED.  Wide-scale public information campaigns are an important next step to exploit the lifesavings potential of public AEDs.”

If your corporation or organization has installed AEDs, it is advisable to ask the vendor or community paramedics to provide a tutorial to facilities management and human resources professionals, and then host an AED fire drill for all employees.

World FM Day 6.24.2010

When the concept of World FM Day was conceived by members of the Global FM organization, it was all about connecting facility management professionals around the globe and celebrating the ever evolving, challenging and wonderful profession we call facility management, according to Teena Shouse, CFM, IFMA Fellow, and past chairman, International Facility Management Association.

The idea was to celebrate and elevate the importance of the industry. “As with similar days hosted by organizations around the globe, World FM Day will be filled with accolades of past performances, sharing of visions for the future and recognition of the hard work accomplished by individuals who either work in or support the world of facility management,” says Shouse, senior FM consultant with Facility Engineering Associates, P.C. “It is important that we highlight the valuable contributions facility practitioners have made and continue to make to sustainable global communities and productive, safe and secure working environments.”

IFMA encourages facilities managers to find a way to celebrate on World FM Day, June 24, 2010. For more ideas on how to participate in your organization, there is a World FM Day site: http://www.ifma.org/worldfmday/index.cfm

Turbulent Times = FM Opportunity Time

Economic difficulty brings timely opportunities for facilities professionals operating in corporate and institutional structures.

One of the most important actions facilities managers can take is to make the business case for how much money you can save the company when there is a cost reduction effort. For example, in her World Workplace presentation, Managing Change in Turbulent Times, Diane Stegmeier said, “Providing a workspace to an individual employee costs an organization from $8,000 to $14,000 U.S. per year. Eliminating 100 workspaces can save an organization over $1 million per year. These savings are in real estate, energy and operations. None of these savings are attributed to salary, benefits or any other costs associated with the workforce. However, because many companies have already downsized staff due to the economy, the excess real estate becomes a primary target for significant cost savings.”

To bring credibility to the FM organization, she told FMs, “You need baseline ammunition on how you can change the use of space with alternative environments, rather than assigned offices, so you can add employees without increasing the real estate portfolio.” For example, Stegmeier suggests that facilities managers consider:

• increasing the ratio of worker to desk
• determining remote/mobile worker ratios
• demonstrating to HR and senior management how you can save money

Further, Stegmeier indicates businesses must cut costs dramatically in order to survive these turbulent times. The significant reduction of the number of employees remaining following corporate downsizing—coupled with the increasing trend for members of the workforce to spend the majority of their time working anywhere but their dedicated, assigned workspaces—creates the ideal scenario for corporate real estate professionals to demonstrate the true power of place. Organizations that had been uncertain whether they should attempt to break the 1:1 ratio of worker to workspace are ripe for moving forward with pilot programs to explore the impact on worker productivity. However, for many businesses, incrementalism is no longer an option, and now is the time for a wholesale transformation of the workplace.

While facilities and real estate managers become unpopular when they contribute to staff losing space, the issue of concern for employees is the fear of the unknown that creates uncertainty and discomfort. And that is the common thread for all four generations in the workplace, says Stegmeier.

In her book, Innovations in Office Design: The Critical Influence Approach to Effective Work Environments, published in 2008, she explains her research findings over a 10-year time span surrounding the impact of physical space on behavior in the workplace.

Dressing up Corporate America

Facilities management professionals have their work cut out for them. If my recent visits to several New York and Chicago offices are any indicator, when the economy improves, Corporate America is going to need a really big facelift, not just a nip/tuck. With staff reductions and business unit sell-offs, there are acres of vacant offices, cubicles, business equipment and technology that is lying fallow. At some point, a decision will be made to consolidate and reorganize the remaining office space for optimum functionality. Reinvigorating the workspace is a morale booster for existing employees and essential for the contributions of the newly hired.

In anticipation of such times, The McMorrow Corporate Facilities Management Report web site and e-newsletter have renovated and put on a new red dress. And we decided shorter is better. It was time to re-launch these pages offering easier navigation and direct clicks to where FMs may want to go—quickly.

We offer news in Corporate FM areas of interest such as: real estate, standards/guidance, outsourcing, interior design and architecture, manufacturers and vendors, life safety/security, education, IFMA & World Workplace, and professional associations.

New products will feature prominently on the home page with links directly to the vendors. We’ll highlight upcoming conferences and blog here directly from the ones we attend.

Interact with The McMorrow Reports. We hope you will forward a McMorrow Report page link to a fellow FM professional, architect, designer, or engineer and encourage them to sign-up for The McMorrow Reports e-newsletters that highlight site updates.