FMJ.CO.UK WINTER PREPARATION FOCUS
SEPTEMBER 2020 41
– including meeting rooms, desks and
entrances – businesses can collect data on
how their sites are used and employees can
book desk or meeting space in advance. This
data can be used to ensure that capacity
levels aren’t breached and that there is
su icient space for employees to maintain
a safe distance. Monitoring and analysing
this data in real-time can also be used to
determine whether the holiday season has
le parts of the building empty so that they
can be hibernated to reduce energy use.
In addition to monitoring occupancy,
sensors can also be installed in the
building’s key assets and connected to the
building management system (BMS) so that
they can be monitored remotely in real time.
This ensures that all equipment is running
smoothly and raises the alarm should
anything require maintenance or a repair.
Not only can this preventive maintenance
save money from repair costs, it can also
ensure systems are using energy e iciently –
reducing carbon emissions.
These sensors can also be used to
ensure critical infrastructure is protected
from any cold. By programming ‘Frost
Protection’ settings into the BMS, it will
then automatically adjust the building’s
heating based on outside temperatures.
This protects assets such as heating units
or chillers from freezing, preventing costly
damage. By connecting the BMS to remote
access and ensuring the Frost Protection
settings are regularly checked through
simulations, businesses can be confident
that their sites will keep running, no matter
the temperature outside or occupation
levels inside.
As the weather turns colder, employers
can help their people stay healthy and
prevent the spread of coronavirus with
some simple measures. For example, by
ensuring that employees are regularly
updated with the latest government
guidance, are aware of how and when
they should take a COVID-19 test and are
encouraged to have the flu vaccine where
possible. At Mitie, we’ve taken this one step
further by providing free access to the flu
vaccination to every employee this winter.
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
BRYAN CHERRY, ENVIRONMENTAL RISK
SURVEY MANAGER, FROM ADLER AND
ALLAN:
If you are still to reopen your sites following
lockdown, or you encounter localised
lockdown during the winter, here are some
environmental considerations to ensure
you remain compliant and don’t cause
unnecessary damage when restarting
your operation that could lead to more
downtime.
CRITICAL EQUIPMENT
If you haven’t been running equipment like
tanks, pumps and fuelling systems while
the lockdown has been in force, you might
find when you restart them, they don’t
work. You should work with specialists
to service critical equipment before you
switch it back on, to ensure everything is
in good working order. They will diagnose
and solve problems, such as degraded
fuel quality in generator tanks, to get you
back up and running, minimising further
disruption to your operation. It is also
important to ensure systems that have
continued to operate, such as
septic tanks and drainage, are
operating e ectively.
If your equipment
hasn’t been in use
during lockdown there
is a small possibility
that hazardous
materials could have
leaked whilst you
have been o site, or
maintenance issues
caused by the downtime
could cause a spill when
equipment is restarted. It is a
good idea to engage a specialist
response contractor to be on hand
when you restart equipment to deal with a
spill of any hazardous or polluting material
quickly and e ectively.
If your equipment hasn’t been
in use during lockdown there is
a small possibility that hazardous
materials could have leaked whilst you
have been off site, or maintenance
issues caused by the downtime
could cause a spill when
equipment is restarted.”
PREPARING FOR WINTER:
KNOW YOUR RISKS
Now lockdown has eased in the majority
of the country, it is important to refocus
on preventing environmental risks. Don’t
let winter cause any further unnecessary
downtime to an already turbulent year.
Follow these simple steps to identify your
environmental risks and ensure your sites
remain safe and compliant, whatever this
winter has in store.
Check your separators: Separators are
essential for avoiding pollution. If le
unchecked, they can become blocked
and their filters saturated, creating a
flooding risk or causing polluted water
to contaminate the local environment.
Ignoring the state of your separators could
result in he y fines and prosecution.
Environment Agency and EN standard
EN858-2 states that separators
should be serviced at least twice
a year. Just before winter is a
good time to do this as dust
caused by long dry spells in
the summer build up and
turn into silt when it rains
which can quickly block
separators.
Tanks and pipes: If you
store fuel on your site, the
colder months can bring an
increased demand and risk, with
tanks and pipes liable to being
damaged by freezing temperatures.
A common problem for tanks as the
temperature drops is burst pipework, so
steps should be taken to protect them
against corrosion and physical damage.
With lockdown, followed by summer,
heating systems are likely to have been
switched o for an extended period this
year. The system should be checked before
switching it back on to ensure the integrity
of the tanks and pipes to avoid the risk of
oil spills.