Significantly reducing facility maintenance costs through innovative custodial safety: Fid-Bau Portal

Significantly reducing facility maintenance costs through innovative custodial safety

Campbell, Jeffery L.

According to the US National Safety Council (NSC), in 2001 there were 1,537,600 injuries and illnesses reported for all work occupations in America. The National Safety Council estimated that these work injuries and related costs totalled more than US$132bn annually, with an average cost of US$85,848 per injury or illness. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, janitors and cleaners have the fifth highest occupational injury and illnesses rate in the US. In 2001, janitors and cleaners reported 52,600 injuries or illnesses, with more than 38,600 of these injuries requiring time away from work. Custodial accidents and illnesses are costing more than US$4.5bn each year. Custodial costs have a dramatic effect on large organisations. Boeing in Seattle, Washington, and Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, were the focus of a research study conducted by Brigham Young University Facilities Management faculty and students in 2003. A new cleaning approach called OS1 (Operating System One) was developed by ManageMen, a custodial consulting company. Boeing and Sandia implemented the OS1 system over several years. The research compared pre-OS1 custodial recordable accidents, incidents and lost work days with post-OS1 implementation accidents, incidents and lost work days. The findings, presented in this paper, show that, with the implementation of OS1, recordable accidents and lost work days were significantly reduced, with some reductions as high as 90 per cent. The study also showed a significant reduction in overall custodial operating costs.