Solutions and Strategies for Re-Entering Your Building

Re-open your building
As you prepare to re-open buildings for employees and visitors, steps should be taken to ensure the environment is safe and able to maintain healthy business operations. Consider the following guidelines for operational readiness:

• Ensure preventive maintenance inspections are up-to-date on all building systems
• Ensure fire/life safety inspections are up-to-date per NFPA and other regulatory bodies, and equipment is performing properly
• Perform systemic start-up procedures for mechanical equipment such as chillers
• Flush out air and water systems and replace filters
• Clean, test and treat cooling towers and other water sources
• Review new occupancy levels, schedules and update:
  • Fire/life safety systems/services based on new fire risk profiles
  • Security systems/services based on new security risk/loss profiles
  • Sequences/schedules in security, building automation and lighting control systems
• Update HVAC system operations, maintenance and equipment to minimize spread of airborne infectants

Keep building occupants safe, secure and well
Consider the different ways you’ll be working, changes to occupancy, how employees interact with each other, visitors and the building. These suggestions can help maintain the safety, security and wellness of your people, buildings and spaces:

• Update HVAC system operations, maintenance and equipment to minimize spread of airborne infectants
• Reinforce new policies for entering the building with:
  • Additional visitor management processes/technologies
  • Thermal screening technologies
  • Negative pressure rooms for screening and isolating potentially infected occupants
• Use security, video, lighting and building automation systems to:
  • Enforce social distancing policies
  • Reduce density or enforce maximum occupancy policies
  • Optimize cleaning practices
  • Reinforce hand hygiene
• Add disinfectant lighting systems
• Create touchless environments:
  • Cover and lock thermostats
  • Replace light switches with occupancy sensors
  • Create mobile/web-based interfaces to allow occupants to control lighting and temperature
  • Use access control, sensors and interlocks with doors and elevators to provide “frictionless” movement through the building
  • Install hands-free fixtures in bathrooms and kitchens

Cost-effective operations
Controlling operating expenses and enhancing building efficiency are easier than you may think. Our suggestions include:

• Seek guidance on stimulus funding and financing options to preserve valuable cash and improve the safety of your facility in these difficult times
• Add remote monitoring of HVAC & security systems to diagnose and resolve many systems issues quickly over the phone, minimizing staff requirements
• Enable preventative and predictive maintenance programs to ensure equipment uptime and reliability
• Employ self-testing of fire alarm equipment using addressable notification to ensure compliance
• Explore energy cost control measures through optimized equipment and lighting strategies

Resilient, flexible operations
Finally, no one knows what the future holds, but we can take what we’ve learned to prepare buildings for future states, including pandemics and surges, and optimize the building infrastructure to support flexible, resilient spaces. Consider these modifications:

• Add additional modes of operation to the BAS, lighting control and security systems for pandemics, energy efficiency, air quality, minimal occupancy, demand response or other specialized conditions
• Add additional capability to monitor, operate and service the building and building systems remotely

Your partner for the re-entry to a “new normal”
Johnson Controls is the power behind your mission through the uncertainty of this time. We can help you take advantage of available government-sanctioned stimulus packages or financing options to fund a plan and successfully implement strategies to ensure your work environment is safe and able to maintain healthy business operations.

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