Ops Talk Magazine Spring 2012 by DEL Communications Inc.

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Ops Talk Covering all aspects of educational facilities and operations.

In this issue EFMA President’s Message – Ken Janzen, CEFOP.................................................................... 6 Safety in numbers – Robert Lawrence retires after 36 years of safety service........ 8 Considerations for overcoming the scheduling dilemma............................................... 10 LEDs: partnering savings with sustainability – without sacrifice ............................... 16 Creating capital for asset sustainability................................................................................... 20 CNC Technical Education centres ‘LEED’ the way.............................................................. 22 Looking after your roof investment.......................................................................................... 24 Northwest Community College’s Smithers Campus now open.................................. 26 The science behind restoration................................................................................................... 28 Communicating with your heating system – get ready for the next wave of innovation............................................................................ 30 EFMA 2012 Conference Information.......................................................................................... 33 Thoughts on: communication...................................................................................................... 40 The new sports floor finish: RJC low VOC Moisture Cured Urethane..................... 42 School floors ‘learn their lessons’ with Ultrabond ECO® 711 adhesive..................... 44 Vermiculite removal done cheaper and safer....................................................................... 45 How to reduce playground vandalism .................................................................................... 46 Transportation Section School bus drivers – it’s not just a job! ............................................................................. 48 Let Western Bus help you with your school bus repairs........................................... 50 Keeping the heat on is elementary............................................................................................ 52 Thoughts on: career changes........................................................................................................ 53 A case for high performance......................................................................................................... 54 School design for an ever-changing world............................................................................ 56 A balanced approach to capital asset planning: FAM3.................................................... 60 Taking stock: using the BEPI to organize your energy management plan............... 62 The role of HVAC air filtration and LEED® certification................................................... 64 Index to advertisers........................................................................................................................... 66

Published by: DEL Communications Inc. Suite 300, 6 Roslyn Road Winnipeg, Manitoba R3L 0G5 TF: 1.866.831.4744 TFF: 1.866.711.5282 President David Langstaff Publisher Jason Stefanik Managing Editor Katrina Senyk katrina@delcommunications.com Advertising Sales Gary Barrington Jennifer Hebert Ross James Dayna Oulion Production Services Provided by: S.G. Bennett Marketing Services www.sgbennett.com Art Director Kathy Cable Layout / Design Dana Jensen Advertising Art Julie Weaver © Copyright 2012. EFMA B.C. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of the publisher.

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained herein and the reliability of the source, the publisher in no way guarantees nor warrants the information and is not responsible for errors, omissions or statements made by advertisers. Opinions and recommendations made by contributors or advertisers are not necessarily those of the publisher, its directors, officers or employees. Publications mail agreement #40934510 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: DEL Communications Inc. Suite 300, 6 Roslyn Road Winnipeg, MB R3L 0G5 Email: david@delcommunications.com PRINTED IN CANADA 04|2012

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Ops Talk • Spring 2012

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EFMA PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Ken Janzen, CEFOP This has been a very busy year for the EFMA Executive, which has

ports and updates on the association business undertaken over the

continued to work toward our strategic goals. Meetings have been

past year.

difficult to arrange with the extra duties many of us have had due

On behalf of the executive, we hope that you have had a great

to the Teachers’ Job Action, but progress has been made due to the

year and remind you to register for the 2012 EFMA B.C. Conference,

dedication and perseverance of the executive and members.

June 5th to June 8th in Penticton – we will see you there.

As president of EFMA B.C., I would like to invite you all to attend

As my term as president comes to a close, I would like to thank

our 48th Annual Conference for the Educational Facility Managers

the current executive and the membership for their support and

Association of British Columbia. The theme for this year’s confer-

their constant efforts toward “Building Excellence” in our associa-

ence is “Building Excellence.” The conference committee (aided by

tion; I encourage all members to become involved and engaged in

members at large) has put together a terrific program. Once again,

the business of this association.

the week begins with the opportunity to participate in one of two Pro-D sessions offered. There is a very diverse range of sessions and

Sincerely,

roundtable discussions throughout the week. The AGM will have re-

Ken Janzen b

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Ops Talk • Spring 2012

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Safety in numbers Robert Lawrence retiring after 36 years of safety service By Daniella Ponticelli For more than 36 years, Robert Lawrence has worked for School District No. 60 in British Colombia, Canada; although, he wasn’t always the supervisor for safety he is today. “I put out an ad in the paper in 1975, and they hired me,” says Lawrence, who was taken on as a custodian at the time. From there he continued moving up, becoming a journeyman locksmith and obtaining a class-four power engineering certificate. When he became district supervisor, John Holland (then SPOA president) encouraged Lawrence to join the association. “The wealth of information contained within the association members, and their willingness to share, has proved a real assistance over the years,” says Lawrence, who was a zone representative for a number of years and presented at annual conferences. While Lawrence has enjoyed the various hats he’s worn, educating others about safety is his passion. “I look after all the health and safety for the school district,” says Lawrence, who spends most of his days instructing others how to stay safe. “I just like to know people are leaving work without aches – that they can go home and live happy.”

Lawrence speaks from experience, having come back from a severe injury that happened more than a decade ago. “I have been injured while on the job,” Lawrence explains. “I was driving back from a work site and hit a patch of black ice and I shattered three vertebrae in my back.” The experience left him off work for more than six months, but more motivated than ever to make a difference for others. “I live in constant pain and if we can prevent just one person from that, it’s worked,” he says. Lawrence visits high schools to speak with students about the importance of being safe at work. Lawrence’s classes teach students about Canada’s Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS), a feature on many of their future job sites. He also outlines other potential hazards on the job. These classes are filmed and broadcast online, so students 60 miles away can also participate. “I love the variety that comes from this job and being in the classroom with the students, preparing them for the future,” he says. Lawrence, who’s puts on workshops about the safe use of chemicals, safe lad-

der use and workplace ergonomics, has also had a hand in creating the B.C. school safety handbook, “A Clean Sweep,” in which an ergonomist was hired to help create an info booklet for custodial staff to perform their tasks in an ergonomically safe manner. Lawrence pitched the idea of creating an online safety program, and now appears alongside his staff members in multiple online training courses. These vignettes are used as course material for an online safety program B.C. employers can mandate their staff to complete. So far, Lawrence’s dedication to safety has paid off: for the past two years, School District No. 60 has maintained the lowest rate of workplace injuries in the province of British Colombia. Lawrence announced he is retiring this spring, a bittersweet farewell to a lifelong career he’s had at the school district. “Thirty-six years with one employer; it’s a long go,” laughs Lawrence, who couldn’t say enough about the support he’s had. “If you’ve got a good idea, they let you run with it – and they’ve always been supportive with promoting it.” Bob Hardy has known Lawrence since he became involved with the Educational Facilities Management Association of British Colombia. “His expertise in custodial health and safety, and mentoring of new members, will be missed by all members of the association,” said Hardy. “We wish Robert and his family well in his upcoming retirement.” b

Ops Talk • Spring 2012

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Considerations for overcoming the scheduling dilemma By Steve Woods, M.Eng., MBA, P.Eng. Scheduling is a daily activity for all of us. We review our appointments for the day, decide which tasks to complete, prioritize emergent problems, and plan for upcoming events. Scheduling is also a key function of maintenance management. Effective scheduling enhances customer satisfaction and improves workforce productivity while avoiding unnecessary costs. However, “changing a company’s maintenance practices is like turning around a supertanker. Maintenance change is a five-year effort involving progressive action. It takes two years to get the change underway, and another three to see the full impact” (Hora, 2001, p. 74). This article examines effective scheduling characteristics and approaches. Sources of the scheduling dilemma are described. Next, common scheduling roadblocks are identified. Finally, some techniques for managing the scheduling dilemma are presented. Characteristics of Effective Scheduling Given that organizations often view maintenance as controllable overhead and not as a key value-added aspect of strategic plan-

Ops Talk • Spring 2012

ning, scheduling begins with the objectives of minimizing required resources while maximizing the amount of work completed. Facilities maintenance personnel tend to view these objectives from the perspective of mitigating the risk of service disruptions and damage from equipment breakdowns. Building occupants often focus more on predictable work order turn-around times, timely support for educational programs, and avoiding conflicts with school activities. Cost savings are a key performance indicator of maintenance management systems. Effective work order scheduling can enable cost savings by reducing materials overhead, potentially leading to just-in-time materials management. Further, schedulers can consolidate similar work orders to achieve economies of scale through (a) minimizing set-up time, (b) bulk purchasing, and (c) efficient hiring or contracting processes. Gray and Larson (2008) present the concept of delaying noncritical work during periods of peak workload as a technique to improve resource utilization without adjusting maintenance capacity. “Because payroll is one of the largest costs in many organizations, a

relatively minor improvement in employee scheduling can provide a significant return on investment” (Studebaker, 1997, p. 16). Creating stable work schedules by deferring noncritical work to periods of low maintenance activity and, conversely, accelerating seasonal or time-sensitive work is a key characteristic of effective scheduling. Additionally, improved employee morale results from (a) not being overwhelmed by too much work; (b) less exposure to layoffs; and (c) more certainty when planning absences or vacations. From the employer’s perspective, the maintenance organization benefits by having greater flexibility to accommodate unforeseen employee absences and reduced employee turnover. Creating stable work schedules leads to predictable work order turnaround times and supports management of customer expectations. Alfieri (2009) advocates transparent, flexible and easy-to-understand decision support systems. For example, providing customers a “dashboard” of key performance indicators gives customers a sense of a well-managed maintenance system. To accommodate operating environments in which information is hard to quantify, these decision support systems should be adaptable to different scheduling problems and approaches. Approaches to Scheduling Scheduling issues are usually approached as either capacity-constrained or time-constrained problems. Capacity-constrained problems begin with the perspective of more work orders than available

resources. Time-constrained problems focus on work deadlines. Although these approaches are not mutually exclusive, one approach often dominates the scheduling problem under consideration. Infinite capacity scheduling is appropriate when, without incurring a cost premium, resources can be quickly expanded, contracted, or reallocated as needed. Examples include the use of casual labourers, well-stocked materials inventories, and Standing Offer Agreement contracts. Since the organization has infinite capacity, completion deadlines are given relatively little consideration. Scheduling on a “first-come, first-serve” basis is typical of infinite capacity scheduling. Customers often link work priorities with scheduling expectations. For example, if a safety-related work order is a higher priority than an office renovation, the safety-related work order is always completed first. Finite capacity scheduling is appropriate for organizations unable to adjust resources without incurring a cost premium or, despite full utilization of the existing resources, “there is no control valve that adjusts random work requests automatically with the fairly constant available staff hours. Result: too many jobs in progress and too few being completed…” (Westerkamp, 2001, p. 37). Not surprisingly, finite capacity scheduling is typically very complex (Gray & Larson, 2008, p. 240). A simplifying technique, ideal for “shelf” or “shovel-ready” projects, is to only consider the length of time required to complete the work order (Lui, 2008). That is, no deadline exists and the work order is done as resources permit.

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Studebaker (1997) identifies two methods for time-constrained scheduling. Backward scheduling begins from the work order completion deadline and continues “backward” in time to determine the latest date that a work order can start. Backward scheduling gives priority to meeting the work completion deadline. For example, cartage support for a school assembly in a gymnasium typically requires backward scheduling to reduce risk of event postponement. In contrast to backward scheduling, forward scheduling gives priority to delivering work efficiently and cost effectively. Forward scheduling begins from the first available date when work can begin and continues “forward” in time to determine when the work order will be completed. Schedulers sometimes need to combine backward and forward scheduling. For example, if the gymnasium was in use just prior to previously mentioned school assembly, the pre-defined time constraints on work site availability (start and end times) transform this work order into a capacityconstrained problem. 12

Ops Talk • Spring 2012

Sources of the Scheduling Dilemma The root cause of a scheduling problem is the creation of work orders. Many (if not the majority) of work orders are systemic to asset maintenance and management. That is, customers are relatively unaware of work occurring “behind the scenes.” These maintenance work orders are triggered by either events or on a fixed schedule based on calendar dates. Preventive maintenance typically triggers a work order based on occurrence of a predictable event (e.g., number of kilometres driven, number of hours in operation, equipment exceeding allowable operating tolerances). Other event sources include the arrival of a new piece of equipment and repairs to correct findings from an inspection. The order-based shop environment described by Liu (2008), in which a customer order is not shipped until all jobs within the order are completed, is analogous to an event created by completion of another work order. Triggering work orders based on calendar dates is less common than using events because calendar dates

ignore the actual amount of wear-and-tear on the asset. Nevertheless, calendar dates are used when deterioration is assumed to be at a constant rate (e.g., roof inspections) or when the activity is regulated (e.g., fire extinguisher maintenance). Vandalism, unforeseen breakdowns and customer requests are sources of work orders that place variable workload demands on maintenance staff. Ideally, Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) are used when submitting work requests. This process facilitates effective work scheduling. In some cases, however, customers ask maintenance staff to perform minor tasks while attending the site to do other work orders. In addition to placing staff in the difficult position of circumventing work order discipline, these maintenance “targets of opportunity” stress the CMMS by placing unvetted tasks ahead of planned work and thereby undermining scheduling systems. Once a work order is created, resource availability is dependent on funding. Contractors, materials (e.g., tools, consumables/building supplies, shop equipment), and staffing all require sufficient funding. When resources cannot satisfy peak workloads, capacity-constrained scheduling is used. Delay of noncritical work orders or extending the length of time to complete a work order are potential consequences of insufficient resources (Gray & Larson, 2008, p. 234). Carver (2001) argues an organization’s preventive maintenance program determines its minimum manpower requirements. Chase, Jacobs and Aquilano (2005, p. 679) support this position by noting that the ideal staffing plan sustains the minimal workforce levels to accomplish the daily work while reducing the variance between actual and planned output. Given the organizational uncertainty created by unpredictable funding, Gray and Larson (2008, p. 237) note the common assumption of capacity-constrained scheduling that, once work begins, sufficient funding will remain in place to complete the work order (regardless of cost).

Work complexity and the coordination of multiple resources is another source of the scheduling dilemma. Technically challenging work may require detailed engineering analysis, design, and site supervision. Regulatory requirements may delay the work or impose conditions (e.g., building permits, fire inspections, environmental protection measures). Work order completion may also be delayed by the lead time needed to obtain specialized parts or the maintainability of equipment (e.g., availability of access panels). Achieving economies of scale is relatively difficult when implementing complex work orders. When opportunities for economies of scale are found, however, the benefits to capacity-constrained scheduling are significant. Bringing together the right number of people, with the right skills, at the right time is an important aspect of work-order coordination. Gray and Larson (2008, p. 236) state “human resources are usually classified by the skills they bring to the project.” In some cases, skills may be interchangeable but may result in some loss of productivity (i.e., extending the amount of time needed to complete the work order). Conversely, some loss of productivity may be acceptable. For example, consistently assigning the toughest assignments to the most skilled tradespersons will undermine employee morale and fail to develop less experienced personnel (Gray & Larson, 2008, p. 252). Scheduling dilemmas may arise from access to the work site. The previously mentioned example of cartage support for a school assembly in a busy gymnasium shows how work site availability can create a capacity-constrained scheduling problem. Other work in progress, such as a seismic upgrade, can delay projects unless leveraging opportunities are found. Multi-trade work orders can also create scheduling problems. For example, unforeseen delays in completing drywall installation will result in re-scheduling of painting. Work order prioritization is often the most contentious aspect of scheduling because, as previously mentioned, maintenance staff and building occupants have different perspectives. Customers provide

direct input into the prioritization of their

a simple prioritization chart may be based

work orders. Unfortunately, this input is

on the type of asset under consideration

provided without full knowledge of the

(e.g., classroom, bus garage, school board

organization’s systemic work orders and

office) and the nature of work (e.g., health

other scheduling factors. Therefore, in the

and safety, renovation, restoration of elec-

absence of any other scheduling factors,

trical service). Chase et al (2005, p. 668)

customers often expect “contention for

identify several other common prioritiza-

resources is resolved in favour of [the] job

tion rules, including (a) required due date;

with the higher priority that is ready to run”

(b) amount of time required to complete

(Mahesh et al., 2008, p. 17).

a work order; (c) amount of materials re-

Rules are used to determine the rela-

quired; and (d) availability of underutilized

tive priority of a work order. For example,

resources.

Educational Facility Managers Association of B.C. www.efmabc.com

Effective scheduling requires weighing different factors, including funding (or resource availability), work complexity, worksite availability and work-order prioritization. This evaluation, however, must be in the context of the objectives of work order scheduling, including (a) meeting due dates; (b) minimizing lead time; (c) minimizing setup time; (d) minimizing inventory levels; and (e) maximizing resource utilization (Chase et al., 2005, p. 667). When weighing scheduling factors, the possibility of time-line slippage needs to be recognized. Critical-chain project management techniques may be appropriate in organizations having “a corporate culture which values accurate estimates and refrains from blaming people for not meeting deadlines” (Gray & Larson, 2008, p. 271). Common Roadblocks to Effective Scheduling Whether due to an unforeseen customer request or an emergency breakdown (possibly arising from poor maintenance scheduling), emergent work orders “jumping the queue” threaten an organization’s ability to schedule maintenance work effectively. Developing the flexibility to absorb emergent work requires investment in scheduling capabilities. In many organizations, data collection and management is a key issue. “Without documentation of each job, ef-

fective scheduling is impossible” (Carver, 1971, p. 44). Given the complexity of many scheduling problems, computer-based tools are essential in most maintenance organizations. Properly used, these tools should be more than simple migration of a manual system into an electronic format. For example, enterprise data management solutions enable seamless interface with other business functions, including payroll, procurement, and capital asset management. Scheduling software enables maintenance organizations to identify scheduling conflicts and resource shortfalls before they occur and facilitates “what if” analysis to avoid pending issues. Reports should be available in a variety of formats, to suit users’ needs and level of expertise. Where an organization has the necessary tools (e.g., project management software, Computerized Maintenance Management Systems), poor data integrity may undermine the technology investment. Chase et al. (2005, p. 677) stress the importance of shop discipline and data responsibility by everyone interacting with the work order. As exemplified by the many technologies developed for real-time communication (e.g., bar codes, work order applications for hand-held devices, radio frequency identification tags), data responsibility includes

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Ops Talk • Spring 2012

recording information as soon as possible. However, changing an organization’s culture and the training of work receptionists and maintenance supervisors can be difficult and costly. Similarly, hiring schedulers entails benefits that may be difficult measure until the “supertanker begins to turn around.” Westerkamp (2006, p. 41) equates the number of schedulers in an organization with an equivalent number of maintenance personnel. Therefore, in the short term, benefits may be limited to maintenance supervisors and tradespersons spending less time vetting emergent work orders (and more time on repairs). Monitoring the Schedule “The key to creating and using a schedule successfully is having the ability to measure the activity and compare actual status against the plan” (Studebaker, 1997, p. 14). In addition to proactive work order management, Gray and Larson (2008, p. 255) note that monitoring the schedule is critical for tracking costs because resource utilization will follow the work order schedule. Chase et al. (2005) distinguish between shortterm (daily) and long-term scheduling. Short-term scheduling is best controlled within the maintenance shop or production centre, particularly during peak workloads (Carver, 2001). Shops focus on work orders issued for that day. This provides shop supervisors more time to oversee work because their planning horizon is limited to the day’s activities. Large maintenance organizations often use a work control centre for long-term scheduling. Work control centres are a business function in which resources are organized (Chase et al., 2005, p. 664). In smaller organizations, a single person may be responsible for long-term scheduling or the function may be combined with another position’s duties. Regardless, shortterm and long-term scheduling requires coordination through ongoing communication and frequent scheduling meetings. For example, a common understanding of standard times for maintenance tasks is required. These standard times serve as a good start point for work order scheduling,

but may not reflect local conditions. Incorporating feedback from maintenance shops into long-term scheduling results in greater accuracy of the schedule and facilitates better management of customer expectations. Knowing the current status of the work orders, schedulers are well-positioned to collaborate with customers. As exemplified by providing customers a choice of two options among “fast, cheap, good” (SixSide.com, 2005), “most research in scheduling either ignores due dates or assumes that due dates are set a-priori and are an input to the problem” (Charnsirisakskul, Griffin, and Keskinocak, 2004, p. 698). With respect to work order due dates, customer satisfaction declines after their preferred due date until reaching the latest allowable due date (after which the work is no longer required). By understanding this, schedulers can shift the due date paradigm and achieve greater lead time flexibility.

a review of how work orders are triggered.

Gray, C. F., & Larson, E. W. (2008). Project

Following a discussion of common road-

management: The managerial process

blocks facing many organizations, a system

(4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

for monitoring and improving work order

Hora, M. E. (1987). The Unglamorous Game

schedules was provided.

of Managing Maintenance. Business Horizons, 30(3), 67-75.

About the Author

Liu, C. H. (2009). Lot streaming for

Steve Woods, M.Eng., MBA, P.Eng., is en-

customer order scheduling problem in

ergy manager and manager of operations at

job shop environments. International

School District No. 72 (Campbell River).

Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, 22(9), 890-907.

References

doi:10.1080/09511920902866104

Alfieri, A. A. (2009). Workload simulation

Mahesh, V. V., Dulluri, S., Reddy, C., & Rao, C.

and optimisation in multi-criteria

P. (2008). Powers of Two-Based Heuristic

hybrid flowshop scheduling: a case

for Job-Shop Scheduling. ICFAI Journal of

study. International Journal of Production Research, 47(18), 5129-5145. doi:10.1080/00207540802010823 Carver II, J. O. (1971). Short-interval maintenance scheduling for abnormal

Operations Management, 7(1), 16-31. Prasad, R., & Altaf, M. (2008). Turnaround Planning. AACE International Transactions, 1-7. SixSide.com. (2005). The Right Tool for

workloads. Management Review, 60(9),

the Right Job. Retrieved December 18,

41-44.

2011, from http://www.sixside.com/

Chase, R., Jacobs, F., Aquilano, N. (2006). Operations Management for Competitive

Conclusion Advantage, 11th ed. New York: McGraw This article has described considerations Hill. for overcoming the scheduling dilemma. Charnsirisakskul, K., Griffin, P. M., & Characteristics of effective scheduling and Keskinocak, P. (2004). Order Selection two scheduling approaches, capacity-conand Scheduling with Leadtime Flexibility. strained and time-constrained, were preIIE Transactions, 36(7), 697-707. sented. Typical sources of the scheduling ShutterShade_Ad.qxd_ShutterShade_Ad.qxd dilemma were identified, beginning with 12- doi:10.1080/07408170490447366

fast_good_cheap.asp Studebaker, D. (1997). Improving customer satisfaction through advanced scheduling. IIE Solutions, 29(3), 14-17. Westerkamp, T. A. (2006). Maintaining maintenance. Industrial Engineer, 38(7), 37-42. Westerkamp, T. (2001). Plan for maintenance productivity. IIE Solutions, 33(8), 36-41. b

Educational Facility Managers Association of B.C. www.efmabc.com

LEDs

Partnering savings with sustainability â&#x20AC;&#x201C; without sacrifice

By Scott Williams (former editor of Lighting magazine) As facilities across Canada seek to lower energy costs, solid-state lighting can help give every building a sustainable future. Rising utility costs are becoming as commonplace as the continual rise of fuel prices at the pumps. The rapid development of LED technologies is accelerating this change. Architects and building owners strive for a balance of sustainable practices that allow aesthetics and functionality to live together, while ensuring the quality of light, energy savings and long service life provide the return they want. Furthermore, government regulation will soon mandate a number of incandescent light sources inefficient, such as the 60W and 100W. LED lighting is arguably the most profound change the lighting industry has witnessed since the invention of electric light itself. It is a fundamentally new kind of lighting, using new principles, materials and means of control. Whether as retrofits or new installations, LEDs are opening up new possibilities for how and where lighting can enhance the human experience. But buyers beware: not all LEDs are equal. Because of the opportunities this new technology represents, there has been an influx of LED suppliers into the marketplace. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important to do your research 16

Ops Talk â&#x20AC;˘ Spring 2012

to ensure your investment is a sound one. We recommend going with branded products from suppliers that are fully entrenched in the lighting industry to ensure your adoption of this new technology turns out to be a positive experience. LED Sustainability Mention LEDs in a conversation, and what first springs to mind is low energy use. But there are plenty of other benefits including less waste, less use of materials and resources and greater recyclability. LED lighting supports sustainable design in several ways. It uses less energy than most other types of lamps, lasts longer (which means less frequent replacement and therefore reduced waste), generates virtually no heat, is mercury-free, and can be housed in special luminaires designed for easy disassembly and recycling. In fact, in life cycle assessments, LED bulbs have less of an environmental footprint compared to incandescent or compact fluorescent technology. This is largely attributed to their energy savings, as the electrical consumption during the usage phase of a bulb is the most dominant environmental factor, representing nearly 95 percent of the entire

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ing, task lighting, accent lighting, wall washing and wall grazing. And, for facility managers in all of these below applications, the extended lifetime that LEDs offer also means less disruption to customers, employees and guests because maintenance staff is changing out light bulbs far less often. • LED in retail. Shopping today has become an experience. And lighting plays a vital role in creating that experience, whether in a small, trendy boutique or in a major department store. LED solutions are uniquely suited to retail outlets because they can provide a wide range of effects – from the strikingly dramatic to the intriguing and inviting – that contribute to the total shopping energy impact in a cradle-to-grave analysis. As a whole, benefits encompass dramatic energy savings, longevity, reduced maintenance costs and environmental impact with superior performance. LED Efficiency Conventional lighting products are quickly losing market share to LEDs simply because of their comparative inefficiency. Traditional incandescent lamps create light by heating a thin filament to a high temperature but are very inefficient, as over 90 percent of the energy produced is lost as heat. Incandescents also have a much shorter life span. Fluorescent light from CFL bulbs is created when an electrical current passes though mercury vapour, exciting the phosphor coating to produce ultraviolet light. Compact fluorescents (CFLs) have a longer life cycle than incandescents, but the life cycle is still in some cases one-tenth of an LED bulb. The following table details how they compare. Lighting Efficiencies: the LED Advantage

experience. LED solutions can highlight a product, create drama and interest, as well as reflect mood, helping to create the perfect environment for the ultimate shopping experience. • LED in offices. The philosophy behind lighting an office used to be to provide a uniform level of illumination throughout. Today, however, there is a growing awareness that efficiency can improve considerably if the lighting is adapted to each function. LED lighting solutions offer flexibility, adaptability and economy. • LED in hotels. The range of facilities (reception, restaurants, corridors, hallways, guest rooms, meeting spaces, service areas and recreation areas, with some of these facilities operating 24-7) make hotels a prime candidate for LED solutions. Hotels, for example, require lighting 24-7 – in corridors and hallways, for example, or in reception. LED solutions can make guests feel welcome, and staff more productive, while offering enormous savings in energy and running costs. • LED in hospitals. Healthcare facilities are continually being challenged with reducing costs, while using the greenest possible so-

Average Light Value Lifetime Range (lumens/watt*) (hours) 16 1000 – 5,000 55 8,000 – 12,000 30 20,000 – 50,000 150-200 100,000

lutions. In a setting where the lighting is operating for long pe-

* The efficiency of lighting (efficacy) is measured as light output (lumens) divided by unit of power (watts). A lumen is a measurement of radiated power to the sensitivity of the eye.

environmental footprint, when all is said and done, they also de-

Light Source Incandescent/halogen bulb Compact Fluorescent lamp Today’s white LEDs Tomorrow’s white LEDs

riods, and where reliability and performance are critical due to the nature of the task at hand, LEDs are a perfect fit. LEDs don’t contain mercury, and don’t emit UV or IR light in the beam, which makes them a sustainable choice. Plus the energy savings and long-life maintenance savings not only contribute to a reduced liver a very attractive payback scenario, which makes it an easy sell to hospital boards.

Exciting New Applications The future of lighting is here, now. In lighting solutions, LEDs can be pre-programmed, or changed at the touch of a button, to create myriad effects. The possibilities are endless. For architects, builders and lighting designers, LEDs are unsurpassed in flexibility and diversity of lighting effects. Each of the applications below poses stringent requirements on lighting sources, but LEDs meet them all with solutions for downlighting, cove light18

Ops Talk • Spring 2012

LED technology is fast becoming the industry leader in creating affordable, sustainable lighting solutions in new and retrofit applications. These lighting systems are so adaptable, so flexible, that a single lighting system can conjure up an almost limitless number of effects, moods and ambiances. And thanks to the ultra-long life of LEDs and their high efficiency, cost-savings on maintenance and energy can be very significant. b

Creating capital for asset sustainability By Doug Wall, P. Eng. With the recent release of the three-year budget by the B.C. Minister of Finance, the government has re-emphasized its longstanding priority of managing the province’s debt-to-GDP ratio. Combined with the adoption of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), however, this policy has resulted in school districts being prohibited from leveraging future operating cost savings to create capital for facility renewal and carbon emissions reduction projects. Borrowing against the guaranteed energy savings of a new school boiler would make sense both economically and environmentally – and put B.C. in line with access to capital being leveraged by school systems in neighbouring provinces in states. Missing from discussions regarding the province’s debt is the level of deferred infrastructure liability the government is facing. For example, in Ontario, the deferred school building renewal liability is currently pegged at $12 billion and is expected to increase to $20 billion over the next 10 years. Their current liability as a percentage of the Current Replacement Value of their 5,000+ schools (commonly referred to as Facility Condition Index or FCI) is estimated at 27 per cent. In B.C., the funding levels for age-related building renewal have historically been higher than other jurisdictions but our FCI is likely in the 12 to 15 per cent range which would put our K-12 deferred liability in the order of $1.5 billion (and climbing). The point at which a deferred renewal liability in a school starts to impact learning outcomes will vary by circumstances, but it is safe to say that continued deferral will not have a positive impact on learning. Therefore, one would hope that self-funded projects that help reduce this liability would be prioritised appropriately within the debt management framework. As most school districts know, there is a significant opportunity to implement facility upgrade projects that simultaneously reduce utility costs while addressing deferred renewal liabilities such as boiler

Ops Talk • Spring 2012

replacements. Despite the fact that these projects can pay for themselves, reduce actual emissions, create jobs, reduce deferred renewal liabilities and can be done in such a way that the risks are transferred to the private sector, the debt prohibition is preventing what should be a high priority from being implemented while taxpayer funds continue to go to the utilities (who would be more than happy to help reduce energy consumption). The level of desperation about the lack of access to capital for school districts is evidenced by the willingness of some districts to entertain contracting with a utility for a regulated, own-operate thermal energy program for boiler replacements and geo-exchange systems. In addition to costing school districts hundreds of thousands of dollars more than their base case maintenance and utility costs each year, these districts would also assume all of the capital cost and efficiency performance risks of these projects and be left with a very large residual liability even after 20 years. This would seem an expensive and risky approach given that the government has already concluded that these types of arrangements constitute debt and do not get around the debt management restrictions. The concept of replacing boilers with geo-exchange in schools is a noble one but also one that works much better on new construction than in existing schools (especially given the trends in the relative costs of gas and electricity). If a number of schools are bundled together as a combined retrofit “package”, it is likely that a limited number of geo-exchange retrofits would be viable within the financial parameters of the project. The carbon neutral mandate does not require school districts to actually reduce emissions but merely to purchase offsets for their emissions. The intent was to factor carbon costs into capital decisions but if a project costs significantly more than merely buying offsets, then it should not be implemented.

The carbon neutral mandate does not require school districts to actually reduce emissions but merely to purchase offsets for their emissions.

If the true net costs of a project (calculated over the analysis period) is divided by the avoided tonnes over that period, the resultant net cost per tonne should not exceed the alternative of purchasing offsets, otherwise tax payer funding will be wasted. Compared to a traditional boiler replacement project, the incremental net cost per tonne of expanding the project to geo-exchange is typically over $200 per tonne and a multi-school project can only absorb so many of these before the entire project becomes nonviable. While B.C. may be leading the way in terms of carbon awareness, we are surrounded by jurisdictions which provide the access to capital that allows school districts to do something about facility renew-

al and actual emissions reductions (as opposed to just purchasing offsets). Alberta amended its School Act Borrowing Regulations to specifically allow school districts to borrow against guarantee utility savings (for up to 20 years) to create capital for facility renewal. Washington State, like most states, not only allows but overtly encourages school districts (through leveraging grants) to create capital for energy efficiency and renewal projects by borrowing against guaranteed utility savings. The province’s capital spending priorities include a number of infrastructure projects that will play an important part in growing our economy in the future. Some of these projects are partially selffunded from an operating budget perspective (through tolls, etc.) and some are not. One would hope that our school building infrastructure is considered to be equally important to our long-term economic growth and competitiveness. Perhaps when the bond rating agencies start demanding data on existing public infrastructure liabilities, we will see the debt associated with self-funded school district efficiency/renewal projects receive the prioritization it deserves within the province’s debt management framework. About the Author Doug Wall is a professional engineer and regional vice president for Ameresco Canada. b

Asset Sustainability starts here… Ameresco can help you achieve your Asset Sustainability objectives by: • • • • • •

Integrating deferred renewal and carbon reduction strategies Developing comprehensive solutions with guaranteed results Providing turn-key implementation with single-source responsibility Having a vendor-neutral approach to equipment selection Leveraging our experience on over $500 million of K-12 upgrades in Canada Optimizing the Quality of the Teaching and Learning Environment

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Educational Facility Managers Association of B.C. www.efmabc.com

CNC Technical Education centres ‘LEED’ the way By Jill Schettler

Quesnel atrium.

British Columbia’s post-secondary community is looking toward a new eco-awareness leader for inspiration – the College of New Caledonia (CNC). With the recent completion of the province’s first colleges certified to LEED® Gold standards, located at both the Prince George and Quesnel campuses, the benchmark has been set and the community is taking note. “This is very exciting and a great honour,” says Randall Heidt, CNC director of communications and development. “We are very proud of it and are happy to give back to the community and the environment. Hopefully we’re leading the way for other businesses and organizations.” For Heidt, one of the most notable features of the new $19.7-million Trades Educational Centre (TEC) build on the Prince George campus is the green roof located on top of the faculty offices. This living vegetative roof uses a hearty plant base as roof covering – an environmentally responsible solution to shingles. Other sustainable developments include onsite storm water management, solar collectors (to heat domestic hot water), radiant heating and cooling, displacement ventilation (reduce fan energy), natural ventilation (condition the space), thermal mass, dual-flush toilets, infloor radiation and the use of natural light (skylights). “It’s a more environmentally friendly alternative and, aesthetically, it’s quite nice,” comments Heidt of CNC’s TEC. “We certainly are making an effort to be green and energy-conscious.” IDL Projects Inc. was the team responsible for constructing the college’s new 75,067-square-foot space, which includes eight trade shops, 11 classrooms and four computer labs, along with a communal student lounge and space for 24 instructors. General contractor Sheldon Boyes and his team started from the ground up on the 22

Ops Talk • Spring 2012

low-bearing masonry structure. Boyes was attracted to this project namely because of the implications it holds for the industry. “I think CNC is showing their commitment to green energy and trying to reduce their footprint. And this building is obviously their first step in carrying that on,” says Boyes. “One of the things that is great about this project is its promotion of industry – bringing youth into the trades. This is a great facility for learning and we hope to hire the graduates of the CNC Centre. We support it 100 per cent.” The TEC will accommodate a total of 792 full-time equivalent (FTE) student spaces, an addition of 360 FTE student-training spaces in Prince George, which is about 10 per cent of the college’s current enrolment, shares Heidt. And, in an effort to expand and diversity technical and trades education, CNC is proud to offer a multitude of Red Seal trades and other technical programs in the new TEC building including welding, machinist, industrial mechanic/millwright, planermill technician, automotive collision repair, plumbing, engineering technology, mining technician, process operations, transportation and logistics, environmental technician, along with future programs. Over at the college’s Quesnel campus, similar progressions are being made. LEED Gold accreditation has been sought for the Quesnel Trades Educational Centre (TEC) expansion in an effort to successfully position the college for the future. The $9.8-million expansion for Quesnel completed Phase 2 of the North Cariboo Community Campus project in 2011. Kelowna-based PCL Constructors WestCoast Inc. was the successful bidder in the 28,675-square-foot building that incorporates four teaching shops, eight classrooms, two computer labs and 10 offices. Courses offered include welding, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, mechanics, power engineer, and horticulture.

Artistic rendering of CNC TEC in Prince George.

“With LEED Gold, we obviously tried to source all of the products locally as much as possible, using local suppliers and subtrades,” says general contractor Rupert Marshall, PCL Constructors West Coast Inc. “Also, we installed 210 geothermal wells in the school field, which we managed to engineer quite significantly to reduce project risk.” The project included the use of concrete with a 20 per cent recycled flyash content to it, shares Marshall, and one of the main features of the building was the exposed aggregate brickwork. The existing centre, which was using a water well system for cooling, has now been replaced with a new geothermal field, explained Patrick Waunch, president and CEO of Rambow Mechanical Ltd. A new natural ventilation system, intended to reduce the electrical load, was also added. Waunch, who expressed a sincere appreciation for the owners and their cooperation during construction, stated that, “There were many challenges that had to be overcome with building the new centre and adapting with the old, but bringing everyone’s expertise to the table helped solve many issues.” “It was good to be a part of the recent construction at CNC, and to be part of the continuing growth in our education system,” says Ray Robertson, general manager of Littler Floors Ltd. “As far as the flooring goes, LEED Gold has many different products that meet the standards. In this case, Prince George was rubber flooring and ceramic flooring; Quesnel was ceramics and vinyl tile.” “The new building in Prince George is considerably more sophisticated than the building it replaced, especially given its mandate to achieve LEED Gold certification,” states Steve McFarlane of McFarlance, Green and Biggar, the team responsible for the design of both the Quesnel and Prince George builds. “The Quesnel building shares a similar mandate, and differs from

the Prince George project not only because it is smaller, but also because it is physically connected to the existing building. Both buildings are designed to enhance their respective campuses while anticipating the opportunities for future expansions to the campuses as needs arise,” McFarlane explains. The expansion will more than double the current spaces in Quesnel for technical and trades training to 276 FTE, from the current 136 being delivered at Maple Drive Junior Secondary School. It will also have capacity for an additional 14 instructor and staff positions. “We’ve really seen a shift in the students at Quesnel since the expansion, and we’re seeing more high school students choosing Quesnel first,” says Heidt. “[The expansion] has been a benefit for the community because it increases the likelihood of young people staying in the Quesnel area.” The two projects represent the largest single capital investment in the college in more than 42 years, Heidt says. As part of the Knowledge Infrastructure Program, CNC received almost $30 million from the federal and provincial governments to construct new buildings at its campuses in Prince George and Quesnel. b Educational Facility Managers Association of B.C. www.efmabc.com

Looking after your roof investment By Rob Harris

not only limited to the actual repair of the Getting a new roof for an existing building roof itself; the potential water damage, and is a large investment that institutional mandisruption to activity within the building, agers will eventually have to face. Many can be more expensive and will likely not decisions of funding, scheduling and probe covered by the guarantee. Unseen water tection of the occupants and contents have from small leaks that is trapped within the to be made before the roofing process can insulation above the vapour barrier will rebe started. There are many types of roof duce the effective insulation value, resultsystems available today due to advances in ing in additional heating and cooling costs. material technology, which can make the The moist areas will spread over time if not specification and tendering of the work diffound immediately, causing increasing exficult for those unfamiliar with the roofing pense both in heating/cooling costs and technologies and materials. To make the eventual repair or early replacement of the best possible decisions regarding the roof roof system. system investment, an independent roof A roof maintenance checklist is essenconsultant should be retained to advise, tial and serves to organize the information specify and tender the work to qualified required. Checklists are used for all types bidders. A good consultant will know all the of inspection work, reminding the inspecavailable materials and installers in the area tor of what to look for when reviewing a in order to acquire a quality roof system. project. A written record of what has been After investing in a new roof, maintedone and items that require repair or mainnance of roof system is the best way to get tenance will be preserved for later referthe full value over time. When maintenance ence. Problems that need work to be done is not done, the roof system will fail premaby professionals can be more easily passed turely and the guarantee – however long – RoyalStewart_Ad.qxp_Layout 1 12-03-29 2:10 PM Page 1 on in a copy of the report. can be voided. The cost of a roof leak is CONSULTANTS SUPPLIERS INSTALLERS www.royalstewart.com

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Ops Talk • Spring 2012

The checklist should have basic identification. The address and roof areas involved, as well as the date, weather and inspector should all be recorded. A roof plan or sketch of the roof area is needed to help locate anything mentioned in the report for future reference. Photographs are handy to identify defects for repair, and also provide a good record to refer back to during future inspections. Changes in the roof condition, such as ridging of membranes or curling of shingles, can be verified with a historic record. The inspections should be performed at least twice a year. A fall inspection should find any damage caused by the heat of the summer changing to the cooler days of the upcoming winter. This change in temperature causes shrinkage and cracking of exposed sealants and older roof materials. A spring inspection can identify any damage caused by winter storms or freezing. Damage caused by snow removal or wind-borne debris can cause leaks that need to be repaired to minimize the damage. Preventative maintenance resulting from regular inspections will help prevent roof leaks and minimise the water that enters the building. Debris from any nearby trees, etc. should be removed before it restricts drainage and causes water to build up on flat roofs or be redirected on steep roofs. A build up of material will impede the drainage on any roof system and is the most common cause of leaks during a heavy rainfall. Small debris such as leaves are carried by water flow to the drains on flat roofs and effectively forms a dam around them, causing

water levels to rise above the waterproofing height and leak or potentially damage the structure of the building. On steep roofs, the water can be diverted by the debris and run under shingles or flashings. Large items, such as old HVAC units, construction materials, or storage from building occupants left on the roof membrane will eventually deform and push through it. Caulking and other exposed seals at curbs and pipes, etc. will need to be replaced several times during the service life of a roof system. An appropriate material that is compatible with all the components it contacts has to be selected, and surfaces prepared as per the printed directions from the manufacturer to extend the time between replacements as long as possible. These and other roof material repairs are best done by qualified professionals. Please refer to the RCABC website [www. rcabc.org] for a free Roof Maintenance Guide with checklist and a list of professional experienced contractors recommended for installing and maintaining your roof to get the maximum value from your investment. The entire Roofing Practices Manual is now freely available, as well. About the Author Rob Harris, RRO, is technical manager for the Roofing Contractors Association of B.C. Guarantee Corporation. RCABC provides five- and 10-year third-party Roof Star guarantees for roof systems installed to Roofing Practices Manual standards, and also provides apprenticeship training for the province.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPORTANCE

OF A COMPREHENSIVE ROOF GUARANTEE

OR THE STUBBORN DETERMINATION OF A SINGLE

RAINDROP TO GO WHERE IT DOESN’T BELONG

All roofing guarantees are not created equal. Case in point: a non-prorated RoofStar Guarantee by RGC is good for five- or ten-years and completely covers all labour and materials. RoofStar is also the only one that includes a comprehensive inspection schedule overseen by independent, third-party inspectors who monitor the installation process and follow-up inspections at pre-determined intervals. All of which is comforting. Because the only thing more determined than a raindrop is our commitment to make sure none of them ever go where they don’t belong. RoofStar: New name. Same great guarantee.

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Visit www.rcabc.org for more details. b Educational Facility Managers Association of B.C.SPOA www.efmabc.com File: 323SPOA_4.625x7_Raindrop-RCABC.indd Client: RoofStar (RCABC)

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Northwest Community College’s Smithers Campus open By Lisa Fattori

NWCC Smithers Campus – main entrance from Columbia Street.

Front entrance on Second Avenue to Northwest Community College’s new Smithers Campus.

Cutting the ribbon to officially open NWCC’s Smithers Campus is (from left): NWCC Rhoda Witherly, Board of Governors chairperson; Vancouver-Fairview MLA Margaret MacDiarmid; Wet’suwet’en Chief Gyologet Darlene Glaim; and NWCC president and CEO, Dr. Denise Henning.

Ops Talk • Spring 2012

In September 2011, students at Northwest Community College’s (NWCC) Smithers Campus began classes in a newly expanded and renovated building that offers state-of-the-art facilities and enhanced programming. The $16.7-million project is a Knowledge Infrastructure Program (KIP) project that was jointly funded by the provincial and federal governments. Construction of the school was completed in June 2011, with an official grand-opening celebration that took place September 23rd. “Northwest B.C. is experiencing a major economic boom right now, with 15 billion dollars in major projects and investment being poured into the region,” says Kristine Kofoed, NWCC director of public relations and communications. “There are several mining, hydro and pipeline projects happening in this area and Northwest Community College is training students for these new job opportunities. The opening of this expanded campus couldn’t have come at a better time – it’s a fantastic time to live and learn in the northwest.” The existing single-storey, 8,000-square-foot Smithers building was renovated and joined seamlessly with a new twostorey, 20,000-square-foot structure. The extra space accommodates additional classrooms, wet and dry science labs, a multi-purpose shop for trades programs, a larger library, a computer lab, an improved student services area and one flexibleuse lab. With the addition of science labs and a shop, there are long-term plans to extend programming to include university credit science courses such as biology, geography and geology, as well as building-trade courses, heavy-equipment operator programs and do-it-yourself courses. Common areas include a two-storey gathering space and a two-storey galleria. The themes of mining, forestry and First Nations culture are represented throughout, via the use of wood elements, rock display and First Nations art, including a 28-foot red cedar totem pole. “The primary structure of the building is heavy timber, which supports the Government of B.C.’s Wood First initiative,” says Curtis Knichel, MAIBC, senior architect with CEI Architecture Planning Interiors. “Wood is also used for the roof deck in the public areas and for a portion of the exterior cladding on the building. The existing building also has a combination of cedar siding, metal siding and glass, for a new building envelope that blends seamlessly with the addition.” Built to achieve a LEED® Gold standard, the college incorporates several green features that not only improve the energy efficiency of the building, but also create a more healthy and

comfortable environment for staff and students. The building has a geothermal heating and cooling system, with 38 geothermal wells located under the college’s parking lot. For domestic water use, solar energy is collected through photovoltaic panels and a reflective roof minimizes heating and cooling. The project also earns LEED credits because of the ample use of glazing for natural light and operable windows for ventilation. “There is a lot of interior glass, including a glass railing for the stairs and a smoke baffle that hangs under the deck,” says Darryl Coles, manager of All-West Glass in Smithers. “We’re seeing a lot more glass used in the interiors of institutional buildings. Glass gives a space an open look, which is a much more pleasing environment.” The building also has lighting sensors that enable interior light fixtures to adjust to the amount of natural light that is provided.

The Wet’suwet’en Pole just prior to being raised on Sept. 23, 2011 at NWCC Smithers Campus.

“In compliance with meeting the LEED Gold standard, there are automated lighting controls throughout,” says Darcy Bryant, coowner of Bryant Electric. “When natural light levels are sufficient, the electric lights shut off so that you are not wasting energy.” Collected and stored rain water is used for flushing toilets and all plumbing fixtures are water efficient. In addition, regional, recycled and low-VOC building materials have been incorporated into the project. Due to the building’s passive design, and its low intensity heating and ventilation systems, the new building is expected to be 51 per cent more energy efficient than a building constructed to the Canadian Model National Energy Code for Buildings. While the college remained operational for most of the construction, the biggest challenge to the project was working to a tight schedule to meet the KIP deadline. The project was a twophase endeavour that took 18 months to complete and entailed working through two winters. “Smithers is located on an aquifer, so soil conditions are poor,” says Wally Mansell, senior project manager for Unitech. “We had to drive steel piles, and form and pour concrete grade beams and an eight-inch suspended reinforced concrete slab. We started piling in the fall of 2009 and were constructing during the winters of 2010 and 2011. In -25 to -30 degree weather, it was a challenge to

Natural light is a key element of NWCC’s new Smithers Campus design.

keep the concrete from curing.” In addition to accommodating a large student body, the NWCC Smithers Campus has improved video-conferencing and distanceeducation capabilities. An integral part of the local community and beyond, the college promises to meet the growing need for post-secondary education opportunities in the province’s northern region and is a new source of pride for Smithers. “The grand opening and raising of the totem pole was a big event, which the community came out in large numbers to celebrate,” Knichel says. “The college is a place for the entire Smithers community. There have already been requests from various groups to use some of the space and facilities of this new building.” b

NWCC Smithers Campus, viewed from Second Avenue. Educational Facility Managers Association of B.C. www.efmabc.com

The science behind restoration By Art Johnson Even to this day, I find my 17-year-old niece asking the proverbial question posed by, it seems, everyone who has ever gone to school: ”What am I going to use all this writing, reading and arithmetic for anyway; ‘they’ say, you will never use it in real life anyway.” As we go through a normal day in the restoration industry, one would not believe how inaccurate that statement is. It all starts with selecting the right people who demonstrate the social and technical skills needed to do restoration in the academic world. Evaluating social skills is a science unto itself and psychology – understanding how and what make people tick – provides the means to perfect this selection process. Employees who are willing to respond 24 hours per day, 365 days a year, and yet demonstrate both a “can do” attitude and a genuine commitment to doing it right for the safety of all those young ones, is hard to find but possible due to the application of this science. The technical abilities needed for the restoration of schools and learning institutions is also a science: look at water losses, for example.

Ops Talk • Spring 2012

Water is an amazing liquid and to this day, we have difficulty understanding its true depth. Even though it is made up of a very basic set of elements (elements that we learned all about in school), how it has the ability to be in all three forms (ice, liquid, and vapour) commands respect from any student of physics. During a typical waterloss event from a broken water line or an activated sprinkler head, at least two of these forms may have to be addressed and at certain times of the year, we may be dealing with all three. The liquid form has to be controlled as expediently as possible, as it has the tendency to spread out and respond to the gravitational pull – thus the 24 hours a day and 365 days a year response is critical. As many people as possible are needed, and as much extraction equipment as is available, all in an effort to limit the damage that this universal solvent can cause while it is out on the loose. Upon capturing the fluid, it then becomes necessary to address the other form water takes; vapour. Unless this aspect of the water damage is addressed, the risk of structural damage associated with warping, crowning, cupping or mould and rot can become a very real problem. Most building materials are negatively impacted by an overabundance of moisture and thus require the science of evaporation, condensation, vapour pressure, energy, dew points, oxidization and all the other aspects that help us understand the value of effective drying utilizing dehumidifiers, airmovers, rescue mats and the many other tools associated with the trade. Now let’s consider for a moment where biology 101 comes into play. One dictionary source describes it as the branch of science concerned with the structure, function, growth, evolution and distribution of living and non-living organisms. Consider all the possible contaminates and risks associated with black or grey water coming out of a toilet or from any other unsanitary source; water from any of these can or may cause significant negative health effects to some who are immune-deficient or prone to asthma attacks – let alone the impact it may have on those who are physically attempting to deal with the clean-up. Being confident that the affected area has been successfully remediated and is sanitized brings us right back around to chemistry that will help us understand the cleaners needed to either deactivate or consume the biohazards in the effluent. Being confident that the hazards have been removed requires a full understanding of what kills what, appropriate dilution ratios, and the dwell time needed for it to be effective; all this and at the same time being confident that the product used is safe for those frequenting these institutions as students. What we learn in school also comes into play as we monitor our progress through the drying process. Once we are confident that ev-

The technical abilities needed for the restoration of schools and learning institutions is also a science: erything is clean and sanitary, ensuring that the material in the structure is drying and is moving back toward the original dry standard for that specific building is imperative. As the building is drying, utilizing our understanding of psychrometrics or psychrometry, to determine the physical and thermodynamic properties of gas-vapour mixtures, comes into play. Specific and relative humidity, temperature, dew points, along with grains per pound of moisture help us along in determining our drying rates and the effectiveness of our drying equipment. The third phase of water – ice – may need to be addressed as we go through our winter season but at the same time, when the school district faces a large water loss in a library, we may want to create our own. Every day that the books remain wet, they deteriorate or are at risk of getting mouldy. Flash-freezing them, and thus moving the water from a liquid state to the solid state of ice, can buy the needed time to determine what should be saved and what can be replaced. Upon determining this, the books that need to be saved can be freeze-dried; thus they transition right from the frozen state to the vapour state, and the moisture be then be removed utilizing a vacuum chamber. Yes; if only these young ones knew what we now know, that most of what we learn in school plays a large part in accomplishing the

activities that we’re involved in on a daily basis. One other aspect that we have to deduce from all of the reading, writing and arithmetic is that effective water loss remediation has to be performed by qualified, educated individuals who truly appreciate the breadth and depth behind the science of restoration. About the Author Art Johnson, CR, WLS, is a member of the senior management team of Canstar Restorations and is operations manager for all Canstar locations in the Greater Vancouver and Whistler areas of Canada. Johnson is certified by the Restoration Industry Association (www.restorationindustry.org) as a Water Loss Specialist (WLS) and a Certified Restorer (CR) and sits on the RIA Board of Directors. Johnson also currently serves on the Executive Committee of the B.C. Association of Restoration Contractors, which is dedicated to improving workplace health and safety in the B.C. restoration industry. Johnson has attained Master’s certification with The CleanTrust in cleaning and restoration and has extensive training in all aspects of the restoration industry. Art Johnson, CR, WLS – Canstar Restorations Head Office art@canstarrestorations.com 78 Fawcett Road, Coquitlam, BC V3K 6V5 Phone: 604.549.0099 Toll Free: 1.866.578.3138 www.canstarrestorations.com b

Educational Facility Managers Association of B.C. www.efmabc.com

Communicating with your heating system

Get ready for the next wave of innovation By Roy Collver Over the last 25 years or so, just about every school district in Canada has made the DDC (Direct Digital Control) system an integral part of their strategy to reduce energy consumption, increase productivity, and monitor the operation of their facilities’ mechanical systems. These things work, but they can be almost completely inscrutable to anyone but the equipment suppliers and the few specialists within a school district who have received the detailed training required to operate and program them. The following excerpt is from a Wikipedia entry, describing one of the very first DDC systems installed back in 1981. “Each remote or Satellite Intelligence Unit (SIU) ran two Z80 microprocessors whilst the front end ran 11 in a Parallel Processing configuration with paged common memory. The Z80 microprocessors shared the load by passing tasks to each other via the common memory and the communications network. This was possibly the first successful implementation of a distributed processing direct digital control system.” Did you all get that? Yes, this was one of the very first systems put together – and the days of job security via “gobbledygook” were born. DDC controls engineers and technicians speak a whole different language than the rest of us, and for awhile, it seemed as if never the twain should meet. Then came “Gooey” – actually GUI (Graphical User Interface), making these systems accessible to the rest of humanity. At first, GUI was disdained by the hard-core control geeks for the same reasons early computer geeks heaped scorn upon the Apple Computer GUI for wasting processing power, memory, and slowing down some key command input functions. But the fact was, the average facilities manager and their techni-

Ops Talk • Spring 2012

cians could finally just turn on a computer and easily scan the operation of their various buildings, without having to refer to a three-inch-thick manual and wade through lines of code language. I remember those early days, and my experience was that the vast majority of facilities operators pretty much ignored the DDC systems in their schools, only using them as elaborate alarm systems to tell them when something went

ly into these BACnet-capable appliances. Most of them can easily produce clear and comprehensible graphic displays, such as the example shown below, so that facilities operators can grab all the information they need in an instant. This screen shot tells you everything you need to know at a glance, and the BACnet capability means the operator can drill down deeper to get even more information.

wrong. The decreasing cost of computer memory and the increasing power of computer processors, however, have changed everything. Open communication protocols such as BACnet, LON and Modbus have allowed equipment manufacturers to offer easy connectivity directly to DDC systems. BACnet, owned by ASHRAE, is clearly the favourite protocol here in Western Canada for school facilities. DDC suppliers can now tie direct-

So what’s next? Most of the newest innovations have actually been around awhile, but the hardware and software needed to take advantage of them is starting to hit us in wave after wave. Smartphones, iPads and other Tablet devices, lightweight laptop computers, Wi-Fi, Internet – all are being stirred up in the pot right now. With web access available through your smartphone, you can gain complete access to your building’s information from anywhere in the

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world. New ideas are being introduced, and some of them might just be game-changers. I have always thought that the cost and complexity of some of these systems for smaller facilities is way over the top. No matter how easy they are to use after they are installed and configured – the install and configure part can be very expensive and painful. Have a look at the next item.

You are looking at my iPhone. The display is an exact duplicate of the thermostat in my house. I was 4,000 miles away when I snapped this shot. Among other functions, I can see what is happening in real time, turn the temperature up and down, and receive email alerts if there is something wrong with my heating system. Made by Ecobee, a Canadian company based in Toronto, this thermostat only costs around $300.00 and installs in about an hour. The really big deal? It connects to your Wi-Fi and takes about 10 minutes to configure. OK, OK, this thing will monitor your heating system only, and has nowhere near the capabilities of a full-blown DDC system. It is definitely not a serious challenge to DDC systems in larger facilities – yet – but what information do you really need from some of your smaller facilities? How fast is this technology going to grow? Many companies, like those in the DDC controls industry, grind away for years competing against others in their sector. They incrementally improve their products when required, but can be taken completely off-guard when something new comes at them sideways. This might be such a thing – or not – but there are lots more ideas out there like it. This thermostat doesn’t use any really radical new ideas; just combines some good ones in a vastly cheaper and easier-to-use package. It is good to occasionally look over your shoulder – someone is always sneaking up behind you. Ask Smith-Corona or Northern Electric – remember them? b

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Ops Talk • Spring 2012

2012 CONFERENCE – Building Excellence

EFMA Conference Accommodations The following hotels have been chosen with block reservations for your benefit. Each hotel is located close to the Penticton Trade & Convention Centre and has issued special discount rates for those attending the Conference. Please ensure you reserve prior to the scheduled deadline date April 30, 2012 and that you quote “EFMA Conference” to receive the special discount rate. RAMADA COURTYARD INN (Host Hotel) 1050 Eckhardt Avenue West, Penticton, B.C. V2A 2C3 Tel: 1-800-665-4966 / 250-492-8926 • Fax: 250-492-2778 Quote Group #4554 Room Rate: Single $117.00 / Business Class $137.00 / Kitchen/fireplace $192.00 THE COAST PENTICTON HOTEL 950 Westminster Avenue, Penticton, B.C. V2A 1L2 Tel: 250-492-0225 • Fax: 250-493-8340 Quote Group #437 Room Rate: Single $109.00 / Premium Suite $129.00 PENTICTON LAKESIDE RESORT 21 Lakeshore Drive West, Penticton, B.C. V2A 7M5 Tel: 1-800-663-9400 / 250-493-8221 • Fax: 250-493-0607 Room Rate: Parkview $139.00 / Beachview $149.00 / Lakeview $159.00 SANDMAN HOTELS & INN 939 Burnaby Avenue West, Penticton, B.C. V2A 1G7 Tel: 250-493-7151 • Fax: 250-493-3767 Room Rate: Twin/Queen $99.00 to King $129.00 DAYS INN 152 Riverside Drive, Penticton, B.C. V2A 5Y4 Tel: 1-888-999-6616 / 250-493-6616 • Fax: 250-493-661 Room Rate: Mountain view $114.00 to Balcony $119.00 Complimentary Continental Breakfast Included

Please quote EFMA conference when making reservations. *** Reservations must be made by April 30, 2012*** Educational Facility Managers Association of B.C. www.efmabc.com

2012 CONFERENCE – Building Excellence

2012 CONFERENCE PROGRAM PENTICTON TRADE & CONVENTION CENTRE JUNE 5 - JUNE 8, 2012

“Building Excellence” Corporate Sponsors: BC Hydro and Fortis BC

8:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

9:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

TUESDAY, JUNE 5 A. Top 10 Most Effective Ways to Reduce Electricity Consumption in Your Schools Speaker: Wayne Cousins, BC Hydro – The step toward improving your school district’s energy management practices. It involves regularly assessing your energy management performance so that you can develop action plans to guide improvement and monitor your progress. By adopting a continuous improvement approach, you can achieve significant and sustainable savings in energy use and cost. ~Cost is $200/person. B. Rapid Damage Assessment for Professionals Speaker: Steven Bibby, Manager, Security and Emergency Services, BC Housing – Trains facility managers and maintenance personnel in safe, effective damage assessment following a disaster such as a flood or an earthquake. The courses teach the basic skills to identify unsafe conditions in wood frame, masonry and concrete construction caused by disasters ~Cost is $200/person.

3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Registration – Members and Exhibitors

3:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Exhibitors’ Set-Up

4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

EMFA 16th Annual Nine-Hole Golf Tournament – Skaha Meadows Golf & Country Club

7:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.

President’s Reception

10:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

Hospitality Suite – Everyone Welcome – Atrium at the Ramada Courtyard Inn

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6 7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

Registration – Members/Exhibitors

7:30 a.m. – 8:00 a.m.

New Member Orientation

7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

Zone Meetings – Continental breakfast, Please come out, support your Zones and elect the new Zone Chair.

8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Opening Ceremonies

9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

New Zone Chair and Executive Meeting

9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Visit Exhibitors’ Booths - Coffee

11:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Delegates, Exhibitors and Partners Luncheon – Team Excellence Keynote Speaker: Brent Gilchrist, President, Jeffco Ventures Inc., JDS Energy & Mining – Brent Gilchrist was a wonderfully versatile forward. He could play comfortably in all three forward spots. He was best utilized on a third-unit checking line but he could easily be moved up to a scoring line in a pinch. In 792 NHL games he scored 135 goals and 170 assists. He also scored 17 goals and 14 assists in 90 playoff games. Brent played in the WHL for four seasons, accumulating 319 points in 239 games. In his rookie season with Montreal in 1988-89, Brent Gilchrist helped the Habs reach the Stanley Cup final. From 1989 to 1992, he took part in at least 50 games every season, playing a primarily defensive role while making key offensive contributions. Best known for his years in Montreal and Dallas, Gilchrist also played in Edmonton, Minnesota, Nashville and Detroit. He won Stanley Cups in Montreal (1993) and Detroit (1998). Injuries started in 1999 and plagued him until he finally retired in 2003.

Ops Talk • Spring 2012

Visit Exhibitors’ Booths - Coffee

3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Concurrent Sessions: 1. Custodial Round Table Chair: Steve Smoroden, Delta School District

2. Report Card on Electricity Savings – How Your Staff Can Track School District Savings Speaker: Wayne F. Cousins, Senior Key Account Manager, BC Hydro – BC Hydro, dedicated to finding new and better ways to decrease energy use and increase the bottom line.

3. School Grounds, Trees Speaker: Mario Lanthier, Crop Health – An introductory session that will cover various aspects of professional horticulture, including: planting trees and shrubs; pruning trees and diagnostic of plant diseases.

4. Workplace Safety Speaker: Tracey Hawthorn, WRAP Coordinator, B.H.Sc. P.T., B. Sc, H. Kin., Reg. P.T. – Bill 14 - Mental Stress in the Workplace. Government recognizes that we need to treat job-related mental stress the same way we treat physical illness and injuries. We know mental stress has a significant impact on workers, their families and their workplace.

5:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Exhibitors Hosted Evening – Costume: Casino Royale

9:30 p.m. – Midnight

Hospitality Suite Hospitality Suite – Everyone Welcome – Atrium at the Ramada Courtyard Inn

THURSDAY, JUNE 7 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m.

Delegates and Exhibitors Buffet Breakfast

8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

EFMA Annual General Meeting

9:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

Exhibitors’ Meeting - Appointing new Exhibitor Representative

10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Visit Exhibitors’ Booths/Exhibitors’ Hosted Luncheon

1:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.

Concurrent Sessions: 5. Recycling Urban Impact Speaker: Nicole Stefenelli, President and CEO Urban Impact Recycling Ltd. – Recycling Education for the Next Generation. There is a huge opportunity to introduce our children to good conservation and recycling habits early! At Urban Impact, we believe that fostering green habits with Grade 4 and Grade 5 students today puts them on a path towards a lifetime environmental sustainability. Nicole Stefenelli believes that recycling education helps change and positively influence our next generation. Urban Impact’s School Tours program was designed for Grades 4 and 5 students to show the students how recycling really works! Showing youth the behind-the-scenes action of our recycling plant during our school tours reinforces that their efforts in diverting waste matters and can make a difference. During the school tours, students learn all about the role of a recycling business in the marketplace, about how a recycling plant works, and why we need to improve waste reduction practices in our businesses, communities, schools and homes.

6. Pacific Carbon Trust (PCT) and LiveSmart BC (CAS) Speaker: Colleen Sparks, Director, Carbon Neutral Government & Outreach, Climate Secretariat, Province of B.C. – The Province of B.C. legislated all public-sector organizations to be carbon neutral starting in 2010. The carbon neutral initiative is a driving force for reducing energy use, costs and the associated carbon emissions in the province with the added benefits of cleaner air, healthier students, demonstration of new technologies, and green economic development. This session will focus on important information for facilities managers about changes to the carbon neutral program, focusing on the main aspects of measurement, energy reduction and emission reduction offset projects.

7. Energy Round Table BC Hydro & Fortis BC - Share Your Energy Successes and Introducing New Energy Saving Programs 8. Student Release in Emergencies Speaker: Wendy Bennett, Coquitlam School District – We will review the steps taken to ensure a successful student release in the event of a major emergency, and will look at communication strategies with staff, parents, city officials and emergency personnel to coordinate efforts for maximum effectiveness. We will discuss the use of social media in emergency communication at secondary schools. Educational Facility Managers Association of B.C. www.efmabc.com

2012 CONFERENCE – Building Excellence

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6 continued

2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

2012 CONFERENCE – Building Excellence

THURSDAY, JUNE continued 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Concurrent Sessions: 9. Care Pest Control Speaker: Peter Steinfort, Pest Care and Wildlife Control – Typical pests found at schools and their harborage areas, food preference, signs of activity, recommended treatment procedures and preventative/proactive measures.

10. Ministry Round Table Speaker: Doug Stewart, Director Capital Management, Ministry of Education Seismic PIR’s Speaker: Ministry of Education, Seismic Program

11. Turning Energy into Therms Speaker: Vladimir Kostka, MBA. Fortis BC, Community Energy Solutions Manager – Delta School District and Kelowna School District’s Heatpump School Conversion Project.

12. BC Safety Authority Speaker: Mike Pilato, Regional Business Leader, BC Safety Authority – School district supervisors and workers who work with or around electrical hazards and HVAC systems, including facilities operations personnel, safety professionals and safety committee members, are welcome.

6:00 p.m. – 12:30 a.m.

Reception, Banquet and Dance

FRIDAY, JUNE 8 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Concurrent Sessions: 13. Maintenance Round Table Chair: Peter A. Orjala, Langley School District

10:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Ministry Update

14. Health & Safety Round Table Chair: Sue Ferguson, BCPSEA – BCSSA and safety managers’ discussions. One of the topics will be the new resource she has been working on, “Principles for Principals”, a health and safety guide for school administrators. 15. BCPSEA Round Table Speaker: Renzo Del Negro, Senior Labour Relations Consultant – A current update on the state of bargaining in the K-12 public sector. We will touch upon the completion of the 2010-2012 round of bargaining, as well as provide an update on where we are at and going in the 2012 round of bargaining.

EFMA 2012 Conference and Trade Show – Registration Form on page 38 EFMA’s 16th Annual Golf Tournament – Registration Form of page 39

Ops Talk • Spring 2012

2012 CONFERENCE – Building Excellence

2012 CONFERENCE PROGRAM PENTICTON TRADE & CONVENTION CENTRE JUNE 5 - JUNE 8, 2012

“Building Excellence” Corporate Sponsors: BC Hydro and Fortis BC

PARTNERS PROGRAM TUESDAY, JUNE 5 3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Registration – South Lobby

4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

EMFA 16th Annual 9 Hole Golf Tournament – Skaha Meadows Golf & Country Club

7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

President’s Reception

10:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

Hospitality Suite – Everyone Welcome – Atrium at the Ramada Courtyard Inn

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6 7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

Registration – South Lobby

8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Opening Ceremonies

9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

Meet & Greet Breakfast

11:30 a.m. – 2:00p.m.

Delegates, Exhibitors and Partners Luncheon – Brent Gilchrist

3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Local History of Penticton

5:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Exhibitors Hosted Evening – Theme: Casino Royale

9:30 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

Hospitality Suite – Everyone Welcome – Atrium at the Ramada Courtyard Inn

THURSDAY, JUNE 7 9:00 a.m. – 11:30 p.m.

Cannery Tour and Insight

12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Lunch at the Cannery

1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

New College Building Tour – “Xeriscape “. Xeriscaping and xerogardening refers to landscaping and gardening in ways that reduce or eliminate the need for supplemental water from irrigation.

6:00 p.m. – 12:30 a.m.

Reception, Banquet and Dance Educational Facility Managers Association of B.C. www.efmabc.com

2012 CONFERENCE – Building Excellence

EFMA 2012 Conference and Trade Show – Registration Form First Name:__________________________________________ Surname:__________________________________________________ Organization:__________________________________________________________________________________________________ Address:_______________________________________________________________ Postal Code_____________________________ Tel:_____________________________ Fax:___________________________ Email__________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Cheques, MasterCard or Visa are accepted, via web site www.efmabc.com. Forward form with payment.__________________________ Educational Facility Managers Association of B.C. PO Box 19032, 1153 – 56th Street, Delta, B.C. V4L 2P8 fax 604-943-3541 Name on the card______________________________________________________________________________________________ Credit Card #___ ___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ ___ Exp Date ____ / ____

Conference Fees Members Full Conference Package (includes banquet) Non-Members Full Conference Package (includes banquet) Members One Day Pass Non-Members One Day Pass Professional Development (Aq Bq) Partners Program Additional Banquet Dinner ticket only Golf Tournament

$385 _______ $485 _______ $175 _______ $225 _______ $200 _______ $100 _______ $ 50 _______ $ 50 _______

Total $ _________

Please indicate your selection of sessions and social events: Tuesday – June 5 Thursday – June 7 Friday – June 8 President’s Reception q Members Breakfast q Concurrent Session 13 q Exhibitors Hosted Luncheon q Concurrent Session 14 q Wednesday – June 6 Concurrent Session 5 q Concurrent Session 15 q Zone Meeting Breakfast q Concurrent Session 6 q Ministry Update q Luncheon q Concurrent Session 7 q Exhibitors Hosted Evening q Concurrent Session 8 q Concurrent Session 1 q Concurrent Session 9 q Concurrent Session 2 q Concurrent Session 10 q Concurrent Session 3 q Concurrent Session 11 q Concurrent Session 4 q Concurrent Session 12 q Banquet and Dance q Cancellation Policy: Cancellation of registration must be received before May 15, 2012 for registration fees to be refunded. A processing fee of $50.00 will be charged on all refunds. 38

Ops Talk • Spring 2012

2012 CONFERENCE – Building Excellence

EFMA’s 16th Annual Golf Tournament SKAHA MEADOWS Golf Course • Tuesday, June 5th, 2012 • 4:00 p.m.

This year’s highlights and information: • Nine-hole Texas scramble - shot gun start • Even out teams for score and fun • Wine Cellar • Prizes for long drive/closest to the pin/hole in one/draw prizes • Trophies for Winning Team • Golf cost $50.00, includes dinner and transportation to and from golf course • There will be a bus available from the Convention Centre leaving at 3:30 p.m. • Exhibitors who are golfing can set up early • Limit to first 60, please reserve now • Golf Cart reserve on your own 250-492-7274 Golf Registration: Name________________________________________________________________________________ Company/School District:________________________________________________________________ Handi-cap:

Under 15

________________

Between 15-25

________________

Rarely golf over 25 ________________

Please try to place me on a team with: ___________________________________________________ Cheques, MasterCard or Visa are accepted, also able to pay via the EFMA website. EFMA Fax: 604-943-3541 PO Box 19032

Email: society@telus.net

1153 – 56th Street

Website: www.efmabc.com

Delta, B.C. V4L 2P8 Name________________________________________________________________________________ Credit Card # ___ ___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ ___ / ___ ___ ___ ___ Expire date: ___ ___ / ___ ___ Are you interested in supplying us with a golf prize?? ________________ Enter early so proper teams, assigned holes etc. can be established well in advance. How would you like to have an instant Wine Cellar? Details to follow.

Educational Facility Managers Association of B.C. www.efmabc.com

Thoughts on: communication By Chuck Morris Now think how delivery of an important

No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they misunderstood others.

piece of information may sound to others

would sound different each time. Would

– Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

when it could be affected by one of the mood-altering changes suggested above. It the message be clear to your audience? It might; but I daresay it could be filled with

Communication is key to everything we do

Look around you and think about the in-

ambiguity – especially if one of these af-

in our life! Be it at home or in the work-

teraction between you and those to whom

fected your train of thought minutes be-

place, transferring ideas from one person

you report; and then evaluate how com-

fore addressing staff.

to another is vital to progress. How that

munication works between you and those

Look around your workplace and you

is accomplished sometimes leaves a lot to

who report to you. Is it open and is it fair?

will discover many forms of communi-

be desired, however. Many of the differ-

Do you involve staff when you communi-

cation taking place on a daily basis. Take

ent methods of delivery are affected by a

cate with them; or is your delivery more

note; how often do we witness non-verbal

number of crucial factors. For example, a

like you are directing them to do some-

communication, a wink, raised eyebrow

person whose demeanour is controlled by

thing? Effective communication, even if it

or grunt; informal communication such as

emotion may try to get a message across

is in the form of directives to staff, can be

idle chatter or whispering to one another;

before they have all the facts themselves;

delivered in a fashion in which staff feel

formal communication such as at a board

they are only responding the way they do

relaxed, as opposed to being on guard for

meeting, a letter written in a style that is

because of passionate feelings about the

the entire duration.

evident it is meant to be formal; commu-

topic. Conversely, there are many people

The way you communicate is affected

nication through body language, crossed

who may be an expert within their field

by a multitude of factors. Has your day

arms.

who have absolutely no skill-set to engage

not gone as well as you had hoped? Did

We need to know the differing styles of

an audience with any type of discourse,

your idea for improvements just get the

communication and we need to know how

let alone the topic they may need to be

nod from the CEO? Do you typically come

it affects others. We must understand the

discussing.

across as a negative or a positive person?

smallest of nuances when communicating because those tiny little voice inflections, the slight grimace, hesitation, hedging on delivering the “real” message can all affect the final outcome. That outcome had better be the one that was planned for. If it is not, you have failed. Usually communication is in response to a series of events. That could be an idea from yourself, senior management, new

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Phone: (604) 872-7521

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#102 – 6375 202nd Street Langley, BC V2Y 1N1 Fax: (604) 539-2295 Email: lansales@rsl.ca

government directives or legislation, or a response to staff. Whatever that communication is, it is absolutely imperative that you understand what it means before you

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no. 5: “Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood” (from The Seven Habits

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of Highly Effective People) screams out at all of us an easy resolution to delivering a great message or response. Understand

Ops Talk • Spring 2012

what it is that is being said. Decipher the

About the Author

need to share information with his peers as

message, clear away any of the other bad

Just over 30 years ago, Chuck Morris en-

some of them were struggling with problems

habits or nervous habits people use to

tered the world of facility management in

for which others already had developed so-

cloud what they are trying to say. Then

the K-12 education public sector. With his

lutions. Morris was invited to run as a direc-

deliver your piece of communication in a

trades background and certification in some

tor with the provincial association formerly

killer fashion. You would be surprised how

specialty areas, he already had a good grasp

called the School Plant Officials Association

effective this is and it allows you to build

on what makes a building ‘tick’. Identifying

of British Columbia (SPOA B.C.) and now re-

even a better relationship with those who

opportunities to expand his knowledge al-

branded as the Educational Facility Managers

are the recipients of your message. But

most immediately, Morris firmly entrenched

Association of British Columbia (EFMA B.C.).

wait; there is more.

his work life with continuing education,

He spent seven years on the executive and

Sometimes, in certain circumstances,

building upon his ability to understand new

was the president for the 2007-2008 term.

communication to engage others should

systems and how to incorporate these into

Always pushing to share information,

be done on a regular basis. Even if there is

the life of a facility.

Morris is a big advocate of building confi-

little new information to pass on, it shows

Morris worked his way through the ranks

dence in his staff by teaching and coaching

you are trying to keep them engaged. That

and was soon managing departments; then

them as part of succession planning. Morris

in itself will cause some of those listening

he moved into a director of operations posi-

believes in sharing as much information as he

or reading to take on more, to become a

tion. During those years, he recognized the

can with his peers around the province. b

little more involved. Why? Because they can see you are trying and you are sharing with them; relevant information that pertains to them. This works not only within the workplace but also within associations or other groups with which you may be involved. Keep everyone informed on a regular basis; this keeps them engaged and committed. Some people are a little shyer and may

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facts can make them more comfortable. Certainly when one is well-versed with a topic, he or she should feel much more comfortable addressing others. Don’t forget a great tool to use if you are asked a question you cannot answer: “I’m sorry I don’t have an answer for that right now, but I will obtain it and get back to you later today (or tomorrow).” As leaders, it behooves us to keep information flowing to those who need it

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and to those who need to remain engaged. You can do it and you can do it effectively. Though it helps, you don’t need to belong to the Toastmasters or Dale Carnegie clubs to learn how to deliver your information. All you need to do is practise, watch how others do it, read up on methods that may assist you. But: remember to communicate on a very regular basis. It will help you and

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it will help your target audience! Educational Facility Managers Association of B.C. www.efmabc.com

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RJC low VOC Moisture Cured Urethane

Main gym at Van Gladstone High School in School District No. 29 before treatment.

BC Hardwood Floor Co. Ltd.’s new product, RJC Moisture Cured Urethane Floor Finish, meets the Canadian government’s new AIM regulations – with only 345 grams per litre of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) – while still providing an attractive, hard-wearing floor coating. BC Hardwood Floor has been a leader in the flooring industry since 1904. Many of the earliest sports floor installations in the province were done by the company and more than a century later, it continues to serve institutional and commercial clients throughout British Columbia and the Yukon. We are very proud to be working with Rudd Company Inc. to launch this new urethane finish. Rudd has been producing wood finishes since 1912, and the two companies have been working together since the 1970s to supply the B.C.-Yukon construction industry with fine residential and commercial floor finishes. RJC Moisture Cured Urethane is compatible with, and is as durable as, the original higher VOC content moisture-cured finishes previously used on sports floors. The original moisture-cured urethane has been used successfully for more than 30 years. Based on decades of experience and hundreds of successful projects, it is BC Hardwood’s opinion that moisture-cured urethane is the most durable sports floor finish on the market today. It requires little care other than daily sweeping or dry mopping. Over time, the coating will gradually lose its glossy sheen but it will continue to provide an excellent sports surface. Under normal usage and care, the floor will not need be to be recoated for up to five years. There is a common misconception that water-based finishes contain fewer VOCs than moisture-cured urethane. RJC Moisture Cured 42

Ops Talk • Spring 2012

Urethane has approximately 345 grams per litre of VOCs, whereas water-based floor finishes contain approximately 275 to 325 grams per litre. At first glance, it would appear that the water-based finish would have the advantage. In practice, however, recoating with moisture cure requires only one coat while water-based requires two. The use of moisture-cured urethane, therefore, not only reduces VOCs but also provides significant labour savings because of the one-coat procedure. In short, RJC Moisture Cured Urethane is an environmentally friendly, high-quality and cost-effective sports floor finish. For any further information, please contact BC Hardwood Floor Co. at 604-255-7375, email info@bchardwood.com or visit us at www.bchardwood.com. b

Committed to sustainable design for over 100 years. As the premiere flooring contractor of sustainable wood products, BC Hardwood continues to work with FSC products that meet CaGBC standards for LEEDÂŽ certification.

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604-255-7375

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School floors ‘learn their lessons’ with Ultrabond ECO® 711 adhesive The Renaissance Charter School is a tuition-free public charter school serving students in kindergarten through the eighth grade. The school provides students with the tools and skills to develop superior levels of achievement by providing a quality and challenging curriculum. The new school needed to be opened in time for the 2009-2010 school year and there was a big need for speed as summer ended and fall approached. Part of getting the new school ready for opening day was the installation of 86,000 square feet of Armstrong Standard Excelon vinyl composition tile (VCT). Acousti Engineering did much of the interior work on the school; and Jason Whitney led the Acousti team that installed the VCT, using MAPEI’s Ultrabond ECO 711 thin-spread VCT adhesive. The crew completed the entire area in just 15 days, keeping the school opening right on schedule. Ultrabond ECO 711, which provides fast drying times, enhanced grab and greater slip resistance, helped contribute to the fast pace. The adhesive’s low odour and ultra-low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) made it an ideal choice for use in the school environment. “We began the work by skimcoating about 80,000 square feet of the surface with MAPEI’s Planiprep™ FF to produce a durable, smooth surface for the installation of the VCT,” Whitney says. “The school owners asked us to create designs in the predominantly beige-coloured tile to give added dimension to the spaces. We made patterns in the hallways with a green tile and in the classrooms with a darker tan tile.” One of the major issues with meeting the construction deadlines was the need for other trades to access the floors with heavy ladders and scissor-lifts almost immediately after the installation was complete in a given area. “By using the ECO 711, we were able to test the tiles for slippage a half hour after installation, and they couldn’t be budged,” Whitney explains. “When we came to the final inspection, we were handed a zero punch list – we didn’t have to fix a single tile. Our MAPEI representative was on site the day we arrived and followed our work throughout the installation, ready to give us any support we needed. At Acousti, we are proud of the work we do, and each job done well helps us to acquire the next project. We really enjoyed using the ECO 711, and we’ll use it again.” b 44

Ops Talk • Spring 2012

Vermiculite removal done cheaper and safer Celebrating its 30th anniversary as the Okanagan’s premier restoration company, Stutters is growing stronger each day. How do they do it? By investing dollars wisely into professionally trained staff and the newest technology in the industry, says Troy Fehr, manager of Stutters emergency mitigation division and the “R.I.S.K.” division (Remediation In Specialized Kleenup). “Let’s take our latest large purchase for example – the all-new Vector Loader, also known as the Hurricane trailer-mounted vacuum system. We just purchased this system for asbestos abatement,” Fehr says. “This large vacuum is powered by a John Deere motor and climbs 12 feet into the air. It is powerful enough to suck fivepound rocks 100 feet in the air if needed. (We won’t be doing that, of course.) However, we had a special HEPA filtration system installed in it and we can now suck asbestos-containing vermiculite insulation out of home attics and cinderblock walls quicker and safer than ever before.” Vermiculite is a highly friable form of asbestos, meaning its pieces can become airborne and breathable quite easily. It lodges in the lungs and will cause serious health issues such as asbestosis and cancer of the lungs. For the most part, vermiculite was used in the past to insulate cinderblock walls and home attics. “We find vermiculite all the time when we are mitigating after a flood or a fire,” says Fehr.

This regulated removal of vermiculite is classified as high risk by WorkSafeBC and needs to be done safely and carefully to ensure it all gets captured. “With our new Vector Loader, we need not worry as it will suck out all the vermiculite and then some. The successful use of this equipment has seen our time and supplies on site drop substantially. This means that we can drop our bottom-line cost for this type of remediation. In return, we can give that saving back to the consumer. Further, we make sure safety is the prime concern when we are on the job. It is a win-win for all parties involved,” Fehr says. There are serious consequences for not following safety regulations, whether it be removing hazardous waste or transporting it to a licensed facility. Recently, one demolition contractor in British Columbia was sentenced to 60 days in jail for repeatedly exposing unprotected workers to deadly asbestos fibers. Don’t leave your next asbestos remediation job to chance. Call Stutters Disaster Kleenup and put your mind and safety at ease: 1-877-763-1540. b

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Educational Facility Managers Association of B.C. www.efmabc.com

How to reduce playground vandalism

Offensive graffiti. Plastic slides set on fire.

ground,” says Verna Scott with Blue Imp.

Whole playgrounds burned to the ground.

Scott, who has more than 30 years of ex-

Playground vandalism is unsightly, danger-

perience in the playground industry, adds

ous and costly. But it’s a reality.

that vandalism is not only dangerous but

A principal from Delta, B.C. recently re-

very costly to school districts.

ported in The Province that her school’s

Can anything be done to prevent it?

playground had been struck by vandals

“Absolutely,” says Scott. “There are sev-

three times in one month causing serious

eral precautions that schools and commu-

damage, disruption for the children who use

nities can take to help prevent and reduce

the structure and costly repairs. In one case,

incidents of vandalism.”

the plastic slide was burned right down. At

Scott cites playground design as well as

another school, vandals set fire to a plastic

choice of materials and location as key fac-

play structure, completely destroying it.

tors in helping prevent vandalism in the first

“A broken playground is an unsafe play-

place.

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Ops Talk • Spring 2012

Location Matters One of the first factors to consider in discouraging playground vandalism is location. “Try to choose a site that is well lit and easily visible from neighbouring homes,” explains Scott. Unwanted activity may be prevented by the very fact that potential vandals may fear being seen. Of course, location alone will not be enough to deter all vandals. That’s where design and materials come in. Playground Design Deters Graffiti Since taggers prefer solid surfaces on which to make their mark, one way to discourage them is to reduce the use of such components in the playground design. For example, says Scott, climbers made of steel rungs are much less likely to be tagged than climbers made of solid plastic. Similarly, vertical steel rails are not nearly as attractive to taggers as are solid plastic panels. Another bonus: steel rail fences are much more transparent than plastic panels, which

eases playground supervision and discourages loitering. “Because steel rails are more see-through, it is easier for supervisors to ensure children are playing safely,” states Scott. Steel Components Deter Arson When it comes to arson, the best deterrent is to reduce the number of plastic components such as slides or crawl tubes. In fact, says Scott, some school districts and municipalities have banned plastic slides for exactly that reason. “We have seen first-hand the kind of damage that fire can do to plastic components,” comments Scott. “That’s why we continue to develop and promote steel options.” A case in point: Balmoral School in Calgary. Because the school is located in an area prone to vandalism, Blue Imp proposed a design that was highly transparent and virtually all steel. Teacher Nick Basi says the design has worked extremely well. “Vagrants who used to loiter in and around the school yard are not seen as frequently as a result of the increased public usage,” comments Basi. He adds: “Its visible lines also offer a deterrent for these individuals because they can be seen so easily.” While some may consider choosing plastic for its recycled content, Scott points out that steel itself is the most recycled material on the planet. “Two-thirds of all new steel comes from old steel, which makes steel the green choice,” states Scott. Another advantage: steel slides do not cause static electricity, which makes them friendlier for deaf children using cochlear implants. Best of all, says Scott, playgrounds designed with steel offer just as much (if not more!) action-packed fun for children of all ages and abilities. “At Blue Imp, we have plenty of ideas on how you can make your next playground more vandal-resistant,” concludes Scott. “Feel free to contact us. Our expertise is free-of-charge!” b

At Balmoral School in Calgary, Blue Imp proposed a playground design that was highly transparent and virtually all steel.

Built for kids that play tough.

1-800-661-1462

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At Blue Imp we design and build play systems for durability, low maintenance, vandal-resistance and safety.

Educational Facility Managers Association of B.C. www.efmabc.com

TRANSPORTATION SECTION

The Association of School Transportation Services of British Columbia

“Your Child’s Safety Is Our Business”

School bus drivers – it’s not just a job!! By Dennis V. Powell Throughout B.C., approximately 1,700 buses transport about 210,000 students to and from school each and every school day. Multiply that number by the number of school days, and it adds up to roughly 38 million students who get to and from school on a school bus. And, these numbers do not include the hundreds of field trips that students take throughout the year. All of this transportation is being done with an exceptional safety record that this industry works hard to maintain and is extremely proud of. Just think of the challenge… the risk… the responsibility that school bus drivers across B.C. accept every working day. In my

district, alone, each of my drivers transports between 100 to 300 students to/from school. My 15 buses stop to either pick up or drop off students over 700 times each and every school day. What a challenge; what risks; what responsibility that is! A classroom teacher may have a class of 30 students facing them, and has help just next door if needed. A school bus driver might have as many as 84 elementary, 65 middle or 56 secondary students on board his/her school bus. Their back is to the students, with only a six-inch by 36-inch mirror to see what the students are doing; they are operating a 30,000-pound bus in today’s traffic – and all of this by themselves. It is definitely not a job for everybody! I have had lots of people apply to be a bus driver; and many have said how much they love kids. When somebody who hasn’t driven a school bus applies with me, we tell them to ride with our driver coach for the day and after the day on the bus, to then let me know if this is a career they want to enter. I had a six-foot, four-inch 56-year-old retired RCMP officer who after a day riding with our coach, called me up and told me that life was too short and he would pass. He continued driving a school bus on field trips for a private school, taking children where they wanted to go; but when it came to driving children to/from school, he soon learned that a day-to-day school bus operator’s job was not for everyone.

Sammy Tong Western Region Sales Manager Mississauga Office Tel: 866-805-7089 Sparks, NV 800-987-9042

Ops Talk • Spring 2012

Belimo Americas 219-6279 Eagles Drive Vancouver, BC V6T 2K7 Tel: 604-221-6105 Cell: 778-772-6273 sammy.tong@ca.belimo.com www.belimo.ca

many times that prospective drivers have applied for work, telling

of young people both at summer camps, youth groups and rallies.

me how much they love children, only to find out, once they experi-

Professionally, I had driven over one million miles, operating dif-

ence the job, how difficult it is. School bus drivers have an extremely

ferent configurations of tractor trailers weighing anywhere from

difficult job with extreme challenges, exceptional risks and huge re-

80,000-pounds to 130,000-pounds; but nothing I had done prepared

sponsibilities.

me for driving a school bus. For the first three weeks that I drove

I have met drivers who have transported Kindergarten students

children to/from school, I ended the day with a migraine.

on their first day of school, bused them all through their school-

Drivers arrive early each morning to their very cold and lonely

ing years, right up until they graduate, and then have been invited

bus, spend 15 minutes doing a thorough pre-trip inspection and then

to these students’ graduation ceremonies. Think about the school

off they go, picking up students on the side of the road. The school

bus drivers you might know. Do you know drivers who make a dif-

day begins for children as they talk amongst their friends and get

ference? If you do, then let them know. Let them know that you

warm on the bus. In the afternoon, the same students who were

appreciate what they do because… to be a school bus driver, “it’s not

transported in the morning have somehow now become these very

just a job.”

busy children. The ride home is so different than the morning. Now the bigger challenge begins! After being in school for the day, stu-

About the Author

dents are usually pretty excited about being let out and that shows

Dennis V. Powell is president of the Association of School Trans-

on the bus ride home.

portation Services of B.C. Powell has spent 18 years driving tractor

Bus routes around B.C. involve some very deserted rural areas,

trailers; 26 years a coordinator of services at School District No. 63

and some really busy urban areas, but all drivers have one thing in

(Saanich); and 26 years on the executive of the ASTSBC. He has spent

common: they believe that they are picking up their own children.

four years as president and Chair of the Canadian Pupil Transporta-

Throughout my 26 years in this industry, I have never met a school bus

tion Conferences (2002 & 2008), and was previously a member of

driver who is only doing a job. They transport their own children –

the provincial committee to update the Commercial Drivers license.

not just a youth wanting a ride, but one of their own. That is what

Powell has been married 40 years, and has three children and three

makes them different from other bus drivers. I can’t tell you how

grandchildren. b

Educational Facility Managers Association of B.C. www.efmabc.com

TRANSPORTATION SECTION

Before I started driving a school bus, I had worked with hundreds

TRANSPORTATION SECTION

Let Western Bus help you with your school bus repairs Vehicle in repair bay and the damaged parts begin to be removed.

Western Bus Parts & Service Ltd. has been repairing and servicing buses in Vancouver for over 30 years. Our 40,000-square-foot

Engine is removed and sent to Caterpillar for dyno-testing.

state-of-the-art facility includes 22 repair bays, three paint booths and a complete mechanical service centre. During the summer of 2010, our facility accommodated more than 30 school buses; several were repairs as a result of major motor-vehicle accident damage. Many buses were brought in for minor exterior and interior work, including custom seat upholstery. Provincial safety inspections, federal import inspections and all types of mechanical repairs were completed on numerous school buses. Because most highway and transit coaches are rear-engine equipped, front-end accident damage to a Blue Bird front-engine school bus can be an interesting repair. The following is an example of a front end hit and the different stages of the repair: 1) Vehicle in repair bay and the damaged parts begin to be removed. 2) Engine is removed and sent to Caterpillar for dyno-testing. 3) Entire front-end of coach is removed and framing repairs are done. 4) New body parts are installed, fabricated and modified as required. 5) Final stage of repair: all painting and de-

Entire front-end of coach is removed and framing repairs are done.

cal work are completed. Whether your school bus has been in a major motor-vehicle accident, engine fire, vandalized, needs updating or simply a provincial safety inspection, Western Bus Parts & Serviceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team of 25 experienced technicians, specialized equipment and extensive stock of new, used and custom-fabricated parts will meet any repair requirement.

New body parts are installed, fabricated and modified as required.

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Ops Talk â&#x20AC;˘ Spring 2012

Final stage of repair: all painting and decal work are completed.

Keeping the heat on is elementary A boiler or furnace breakdown in the mid-

Niven was tasked with implementing

dle of winter is never pleasant. But in an el-

projects that would have the greatest im-

ementary school, it could become a critical

pact. “We started with the low-lying fruit,

problem, even an emergency. Ken Niven’s

and after that, we made decisions based on

job is to make sure this never happens.

where we are going to find the most energy

In 2010, it was identified that four el-

savings.”

ementary schools in the Coquitlam district

When the project was put out to ten-

had boilers beyond their useful lives and

der, Niven analyzed many factors to make

Niven, the school district’s assistant direc-

his decision. An important one was the in-

tor of operations, put a plan in place to up-

centives offer by FortisBC’s Light Commer-

grade them.

cial ENERGY STAR® Boiler Program. He had

“We were looking at major costs to main-

first heard about the program at an energy

tain the systems,” stated Niven. “It was time

seminar and when the school’s consultant,

to replace the equipment for that very rea-

Rocky Point Engineering, suggested it, Niven

son. We also wanted to reduce our carbon

recognized it as a good option.

footprint and lower our energy costs.”

Most of the work took place during the

summer when the schools were closed. All four upgrades were completed by December 2011. “It was an extremely easy process for us,” adds Niven. “Our contractor submitted all the necessary documentation to FortisBC to ensure we’d meet the criteria for the rebates. Essentially, the process was painless!” Twelve 96 per cent efficient Viessman WB2B-60/80 boilers were installed (four each in two schools, and two each in two schools) and the projected energy savings are approximately 1,000 gigajoules of natural gas per year. As well as the savings over the life of the systems, the Coquitlam School District received a rebate of $14,180 from FortisBC for selecting high-efficiency models. Another school district reaping the benefits of retrofitting is School District No. 72 in Campbell River. In 2011, they replaced two aging boilers at Georgia Park Elementary with two high-efficiency condensing models, qualifying for a $12,625 rebate from FortisBC’s Efficient Boiler Program. In both schools, the money received from the rebate was reinvested into other school maintenance projects. FortisBC commercial rebates, like all our other energy efficiency incentives, are about helping customers save energy and money, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. To learn more, talk to one our energy solutions managers or visit fortisbc.com/businessoffers. b

Ops Talk • Spring 2012

12-069_Ops_Talk_School_Ad_4.625x3.375-PRESS.indd 1

Wednesday12-02-29 10:49 AM

Thoughts on: career changes By Chuck Morris For a number of years now, we have heard experts advising young people leaving school and trying to get into the workforce that they will have a multitude of different jobs throughout their working life. That is, if they can find work. I believe that with proper education and some good direction from parents, most of them should be able to find work, though maybe not in the field in which they wanted to begin. So after obtaining training and field experience over a number of years, one will then need to ‘jump ship’ and begin to acquire other traits and experiences in order to provide for themselves and by now, their young families. Or at least that is what the experts would have us believe. This may be true for those who entered their working life unprepared. What about those people already working hard and doing a good job and planning for the future? There may come a time when the organization for which they are working needs to downsize or re-organize. Someone may be out of a job and it just might be the junior person. Time to look at what else is available and if that person is lucky, a similar opportunity may exist somewhere else. Otherwise it may well be a career change. A wise man I once worked for suggested that a career move approximately every five years was a very good way to obtain experience in your field of work, and would usually translate into advancement. This advice works quite well, providing you have the ability to deal with the respective additional responsibilities. It also offers up your now-vacant position to someone else, preferably prolonging that person’s work life within the organization. Another challenge is after you have spent twenty-five or more years working for an organization and though still capable of the work, a lot of the work may be mundane because of solutions to problems long since discovered. A move may be

a good thing! Who wants to continue in a job that has become boring? (Though I do believe we each have the ability to create challenges within our jobs so that boredom does not become a factor.) Plan wisely. If near the point in your life when a move out of the hard political arena and ever-increasing workload suggests it might be the moment to make a change, take the time to think about the potential impacts. Financially, it can affect family, and it may affect your current lifestyle one way or the other. Don’t move into something just for the sake of moving – unless you are a daring individual and feel a move like this

will not go south on you (or you don’t care if it does!). Speaking from experience, after a great many years providing my passion for the work I was tasked to do, I moved from the public sector and went to work for a private company. The timing was right and the move turned out as expected – it’s great! With my senior position now vacant, an opportunity was provided for someone else to move into that spot. Career changes are not taboo and they may well be a fact of life for many people today and into the future. However, as the old boy scout motto says: “Always Be Prepared.” b

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A case for high performance By Joe Mellott Selecting products and services can be a difficult proposition. This couldn’t be truer than when selecting your new roof solution. Currently, there are hundreds of possible solutions, from traditional long-standing products, like built-up asphalt roofing, to novel newmarket solutions such as TPOs and vegetative roofing. Making the best decision could be the difference between long-term success and short-term failure. Roof installation is an expensive proposition and customers need to balance initial cost versus life cycle cost; performance versus economics.

High-Performance roofing provides long-term solutions.

When selecting your new roof, it’s important to consider a number of factors including: • Environmental conditions of the roof, extreme weather conditions, excessive precipitation, chemical exposure or roof top. • Desired service life of the system. • Energy expectations of the solution as a contributing factor to energy savings. It is important to have detailed discussions with manufacturers and installers while making these decisions. The correct decision could mean 30 years of successful performance. The two most critical factors involved in roof material design are: • Tensile strength. ARCHITECTURE & LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

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Ops Talk • Spring 2012

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• Elasticity (rubber modification). Roofs can begin to fail from man-made and natural occurrences such as dropped equipment, the impact of hail and extreme foot Roofing systems have additional environmental and application demands.

traffic. The use of high-strength tensile reinforcement helps roofs to resist damage caused by these natural occurrences. Tensile and tear-strength properties are two of the most important factors in determining roof life expectancy. Roof tops expand and contract due to roof top temperature changes from day to night, summer to winter and during rain and snow. These movements can be well managed through the use of rubber-modified compounds (specifically SBS modified bitumen in the case of modified bitumen membranes). The sheets are welded together with heat, adhesives or hot asphalt. The roof becomes a continuous waterproofing layer of the modified compound. The more flexible the compound, the more thermal movement it can handle. A good way to determine the level of rubber modification is to examine the low temperature flexibility (LTF) of the membrane. The higher the rubber content, the lower the passing LTF. Below the LTF

installing and selecting a roof. Think of your roof as a continuous composite. The high tensile reinforcement resists impact and tear, the rubber-modified compound provides flexibility and resistance to temperature driven movements. Designing the roof for long-term performance requires the use of membranes with high tensile and tear strengths and very low LTF. Make a wise choice, not a short-term choice. It is your facility; they are your employees; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s your equipment and your business.

Roof split occurring due to movement in TPO leads to water penetration.

Tear propagation in commodity roofing can lead to water penetration.

About the Author Joe Mellott holds several patents for roof-related innovations and received the 2006 Industry Statesman Award from the Roof Coatings Manufacturers Association (RCMA) for his work in advancing roof coatings industry technology. A graduate of Case Western Reserve University, Joe holds a BS in Engineering, is a frequent contributor of technical articles to industrial publications, and is a participant in innumerable roofing-related organizations. He has served as the technical chair, and formally the president of the Roof Coatings Manufacturers Association (RCMA); on the board of the Cool Roofs Rating Council (CRRC); and as a member of the Roof Consultant Institute (RCI), the National Roof Contractors Association (NRCA), and the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association (ARMA). For a free roof inspection or for more information, visit www.garlandcanada.com or call Marisa Rea at 1 800 387 5991. b

the roof may be too stiff. Over time, modified roofing systems become stiffer (due to exposure to UV light, heat, etc.) By designing products to have lower than normal LTF performance initially, down the road the roof will continue to perform at more normal low temperature conditions. Products age at different rates; designers should understand the properties and the aging of these properties when

High-tensile reinforcements eliminate splitting issues. Educational Facility Managers Association of B.C. www.efmabc.com

Douglas Park School, exterior view. The building’s exterior concept is based on the theme of Douglas Park Elementary School as “The School in the Park”; a playful composition of colourful wall panels, brick and windows give the school a light, natural feeling. Prime consultant: Number TEN Architectural Group.

As an architect, I am often asked how a school should be designed to meet the ever-changing world of technology. This is a big question. Technology is no longer a curious and separate aspect of our lives; it is now part of us. It is as fluid as a conversation, and as complex as our relationships. Buildings are only part of the equation for meeting the educational needs of children if they are to succeed in our exponentially changing times. As Thomas Friedman tells us, the world truly is flat. Asia’s fastgrowing population, rise in wealth, and increasing access to education and technology has created a genuinely global world. Traditional careers in western society that generated wealth and stature are no longer guaranteed to do so. “Information Age” careers such as accounting, law, engineering and even medicine are now being challenged by a cheaper workforce from across the globe. China will soon be the largest English-speaking country in the world, with India not far behind. New skills are needed for our children to succeed, and they need to be taught and inspired in our schools. In his book A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink tells us that we have entered the “Creative Age” and that thinking from the right side of the brain is the key to realizing these new skills. Like never before, students must learn to think about the big picture, to see trends and understand the world around them. Future success will depend on one’s ability to artfully express ideas and understand the means 56

Ops Talk • Spring 2012

to tap into people’s emotions with empathy and passion. In today’s world, it is not enough to have a good idea or a highly practical product; successful ideas and products are the ones that provide meaning to people, and which identify a way to stand out from the world of plenty. Children are already doing this on their own. Social networking sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter give students a chance to express their opinions, and build their own personal “brand” by posting images, videos, and writing that reinforces their point of view to the world. Video games allow individuals to customize their “avatars” (a character that represents yourself). Virtual digital worlds such as Second Life provide opportunities for learning, commerce and recreation. A large and active educational community with hundreds of K-12 and higher education members is engaged in Second Life. The Open University, Harvard, Texas State and Stanford are just a few of the many universities that have set up virtual campuses where students can meet, attend classes, and create content together. Second Life has also proven a valuable professional development medium for educators. It is now possible to share an idea with millions of people, and to receive a good idea from a million places in exponential ways. An example of this is a simple PowerPoint slideshow1 made by Karl Fisch. Fisch is a high school teacher in Colorado who wanted to inspire his staff with a thought-provoking presentation on the ever-changing

Douglas Park School main floor plan. The design of this K-8 school incorporates three “Personal Learning Communities” (PLCs) that function as clusters of approximately 125 students: PLC 1 (Pre-K to grade 2); PLC 2 (grades three to five); and PLC 3 (grades six to eight). Each PLC contains instructional spaces adjacent to its own open learning commons and includes washrooms, kitchen, professional teacher collaboration space and smaller “break-out” rooms. Each PLC connects to the central all-school commons which function as a multi-functional space, equally suited for uses ranging from community events and formal presentations to a gathering or instructional space. Large overhead doors allow educators to open up adjacent learning spaces for increased flexibility. Minimal built-in millwork allows educators and students to adjust their environments to a greater degree with movable furnishings. Glazing between learning environments allows for students and staff to feel connected to each other, and fosters a sense of community. Planning and schematic design by Fielding Nair International; design development by Number TEN Architectural Group.

world; it was later remixed with music and video, and eventually made it to YouTube, where it has now been viewed by more than nine million people around the world. Some of the facts in his presentation are: • According to former Secretary of Education Richard Riley, the top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 didn’t exist in 2004. • We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist, using technologies that haven’t been invented, in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet. • The number of text messages sent and received every day exceeds the population of the planet. • There are about 540,000 words in the English language – about five times as many words than during Shakespeare’s time. • It’s estimated that a week’s worth of New York Times contain more information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th century. • It’s estimated that 40 exabytes (that’s 4.0 x 1019) of unique, new information will be generated worldwide this year. That’s estimated to be more than in the previous 5,000 years.

• The amount of new technical information is doubling every two years. • Predictions are that by 2013, a supercomputer will be built that exceeds the computation capability of the human brain. By 2023, this supercomputer will cost $1,000. So, considering all of the uncertainty about our future, how

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The Randy Bachman Student Commons at West Kildonan Collegiate (Winnipeg, Manitoba). The Commons is a space that gives all students a shared “living room”. Visitors enter directly into the Commons and are immediately oriented in the school. Student/teacher collaboration and teamwork is encouraged and fostered. Accessible technology is available for interactive learning throughout the school. Similarly to town squares, all corridors feed into the Commons, the main orientation point for the school; it contains a built-in stage as well as food services and student food preparation areas. Prime consultant: Number TEN Architectural Group.

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should we design our schools today? It goes without saying that schools should provide plentiful natural daylight, fresh air, access to views and non-toxic materials; these are proven ways to improve student learning outcomes. But just as importantly, good school design removes obstacles for students and staff to collaborate, share, connect and innovate. High-performance schools are integrated into their communities and provide flexible learning environments, multi-use community activity and effortless access to the digital sea of information. Exemplary schools provide teachers with a workplace that supports cross-disciplinary and peer-to-peer collaboration. Teachers that build on each others’ strengths will be better able to help guide young minds through an ocean of information. It is also important to create flexible and interconnected spaces that give educators the ability to customize their teaching approach to suit the individual. This can be done by including small, shared break-out rooms that are available for teachers to use as “quiet” rooms for individual work, “project” rooms for small team work, or “resource” rooms for a variety of activities. Proper furniture selection, adequate lighting levels, proper lecture and presentation locations, and easy access to technology are all important factors in effective learning spaces. Other factors to consider include: • Incorporate student work into the classroom and provide opportunities for display. • Create learning environments that encourage a sense of ownership, pride, and responsibility. Give students and staff the opportunity to personalize their respective spaces. • Make technology accessible, seamless and integrated. • Create welcoming, integrated spaces that connect students to their school. Foster a deep, personal connection outside of the classroom with the school and staff, such that life-long memories are positive and contribute to the student’s overall well-being.

A “Creative Age” school provides active places for students to meet, interact and build a sense of community within their school. For the same reasons that people still line up at big-screen movie theatres, schools should provide students a place of social interaction, digital interaction and intellectual stimulation – experiences they can’t get at home, alone, in front of their computer screen and cell phone. Footnote 1 http://thefischbowl.blogspot.co and http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY&feature=fvw Greg Hasiuk, Partner, Number TEN Architectural Group Number TEN Architectural Group Victoria 1619 Store Street, Victoria, B.C. V8W 3K3 Tel: 250-360-2106 www.numberten.com b

The “Kiva” at Arviat School (Arviat, Nunavut). Arviat School contains a welcoming gathering, performance and instructional space called the Kiva, a stepped, amphitheatre-style space that forms the heart of the school. The double-sided stage can open to the gymnasium for larger community events. The informality of the space and its total integration into the daily life and flow of the school gives the Kiva vibrancy at any time of day; between classes, students linger. During spares, students read, socialize and relax. There are a variety of spaces for active socializing, passive observation or contemplative thought. Directly visible from the main entry, the Kiva encourages Elders, children and parents to feel comfortable visiting at any time. Prime consultant: Accutech Engineering. Design architect: Number TEN Architectural Group.

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A balanced approach to capital asset planning

FAM3: Facility Asset Management Maturity Model Facility managers have seen an exponential increase in demand for accountability; they operate under a level of scrutiny never before seen as stakeholders are dealing with stringent economic conditions. At the same time, emerging technology and new service delivery techniques have provided innovative opportunities to evolve and grow to meet these challenges. The key for facility managers is to understand the relative ‘maturity’ of their facility asset management delivery systems/processes and be able to compare them against global best practices. Maturity is not measured in years but is measured in terms of service delivery/process value. Measurement tools are needed to help analyze, understand, and take action in a planned, valued and strategic manner. The breadth and scope of the information that is available to us needs to be defined and managed; not measuring (or doing nothing) is not an option and will result in system/process failure.

The level of maturity for every organization is different, and it is important to step away from day-to-day operations and assess where your own organization is. The FAME team has developed a ‘FM Balanced Scorecard’ that can assist facility managers in understanding their facility’s maturity and plan their journey toward a best-practice, best-managed organization. The accompanying chart conceptually illustrates the FAME process: there are four silos of knowledge that must be evident in every FM organization, and each of these silos must contribute to the overall FM organization ‘maturity’. By going through a strategic planning process utilizing KPIs (key performance indicators) and KRAs (key result areas), the objectives, measures, targets, and initiatives can be defined, measured and managed. Facility Management Silo: Examines facility condition, preventative maintenance, maintenance management, operations management, asset management and energy management. Maturity ranges

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Ops Talk • Spring 2012

Maturity is not measured in years but is measured in terms of service delivery/process value. from reactive dedicated resources reliant on hands-on knowledge to cost-effective, pooled and shared technology resources leveraging knowledge-based full-facility life cycle management. Knowledge Management Silo: Examines FM resources used to plan, manage, and improve delivery of facility services. Maturity ranges from project-based tools and information to strategic, integrated tools, processes and information collection for end-to-end management aligned to organization goals and objectives. Culture and Staff Silo: Examines FM organizational structure, roles, responsibilities, competencies and work environments. Maturity ranges from a handyman generalist environment to a more proactive service oriented, FM business-centric environment. Demand, Supply and Facility Governance Silo: Examines corporate demand for facility management services and the supply of those services. Maturity ranges from facility management as a cost centre to a facility management governance model that provides real-time alignment of facilities, to corporate demand with funding aligned to total cost of ownership. Across the four domains, the FAME team gathers information that can be analyzed and plotted to demonstrate the relative maturity level of a FM organization. Five stages are utilized after the data has been analyzed:

• Stage 1 (tactical): Individualized/compartmentalized. • Stage 2 (tactical): Standardized across organization/internally focused. • Stage 3 (strategic): Optimized, benchmarked/externally focused. • Stage 4 (strategic): Automated/technology-enhanced. • Stage 5 (strategic): Full organizational alignment. With this new understanding, a facility manager would have a plan that guides them through a maturity journey. Leveraging the benefit of prior experience, a common language and shared vision, the facility manager has a measurable management framework for tactical and strategic initiatives. This will allow them to move to an environment where services are delivered within a mutually agreed framework with users; where agile processes propel improved quality, and where organization alignment engages the highest level of staff commitment and morale. Prepared by: Steve Cripps, President/Managing Principal www.fameassets.com b

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Taking stock

Using the BEPI to organize your energy management plan By Matthew Redekopp, P.Eng., CEM, LEED AP Getting started with an energy management program in your district or across your campuses can be a daunting task. Of your many buildings, on which do you begin focusing your efforts? What improvements do you make and which do you start with? The simple and straightforward starting point is to organize your efforts and benchmark your facilities using a metric called the Building Energy Performance Index (BEPI), a.k.a. the Energy Utilization value (EU). The BEPI uses the units of energy divided by area and is commonly seen in the form ekWh/m2, ekWh/ft2, and eGJ/m2. Provincially you can expect to see the first, and federally the last. The “e” prefix identifies the energy unit as encompassing many energy types including electricity and fuels (e.g., natural gas). It is shorthand for “equivalent” and it tells the reader that one energy type’s units of measure has been converted into that of another for the purpose of comparison. By this approach you can speak of kilowatts of propane without ofDGMAd_D.G. MacLachlan Ltd_ad.qxd 12-03-30 9:44 Page fending the convention of measuring propane in litres orAM cubic feet.1

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There are two types of information embodied in the BEPI – total energy and total size. The recipe is simple: for each building under your care, gather all the energy records for a sample year, convert all units to a common equivalent unit, combine them, and divide the result by the total conditioned floor area. The result is a number that is rendered independent of building size and therefore useful for comparison. Thus your largest and smallest buildings now share common ground. Building a BEPI chart is a simple task if you are a fluent in spreadsheets. You first order the data, then sort it, and lastly combine the sorted data into a graphic. Recognizing that spreadsheets are foreign to some readers, I will provide a brief overview of the process and have gone so far as to host a sample file for download at tinyurl.com/8xxvcm9. Step 1 - Open your earliest SMART tool Excel file and save it as a new file. Open each successive SMART file and copy/paste the rows from below the header down into this new file. Once complete, you should have a spreadsheet listing every building for two to three years of monthly records. Step 2 - Highlight the building name column and copy/paste it to a blank column. Highlight this new column and select the function “Remove Duplicates” from the data ribbon menu. Sort the remaining list of building names alphabetically with the “A-Z” button. Step 3 - Create a table on the same sheet as the data from the list of names. Add, as headers to the table, the number of years for which data

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Ops Talk • Spring 2012

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Figure 1: Absolute Energy Use per Campus

Figure 2: BEPI per Campus

Figure 3: Header for Table

Area

Building Name

m2 KWH GJ eKWH KWH GJ eKWH eKWH eKWH/m2

2010

Figure 4: Conversion Toolbox

Step 5 - Add up all the kWhs and ekWhs and divide by the total floor area. Chart using the Bar Chart option. Step 6 - Show the final chart to someone you want to impress. In my relatively new role as the energy manager for Northern Lights College, I recently benchmarked our seven campuses for presentation to the executive. Coming in as a total stranger to the college, I had to make heads from tails of the building stock before I could make any

2010

2011

2011 Average BEPI

son Creek campus (the largest campus) was the obvious starting point for our energy management efforts. This is an accurate assessment from a total energy perspective, but not so from one of performance. The next slide (Figure 2) revealed what the first could not: the effect of size on energy use. What took everyone by surprise is that the Tumbler Ridge campus, the second smallest campus, is the largest energy user per floor area, followed by Fort St. John (the second largest), and then Dawson Creek. With this entirely different perspective, we turned our attention to Tumbler Ridge and are in the process of discovering the reasons for the inexplicably high energy intensity. The lesson is self-evident: the BEPI is a powerful equalizing tool that puts energy performance in perspective. Compiling a BEPI chart is one of the first steps required by BC Hydro-sponsored energy manager and it should be the first consideration for you, too. When it comes to using a consultant for energy auditing services or allocating limited resources towards energy-related projects you should consult your BEPI chart first and target the facility with the largest BEPI. Start with the highest user and work backwards.

plans. Taking the SMART utility records for three years, I averaged the total equivalent energy to get some sense of magnitude. Figure 1 is the by-product of that effort. My audience responded with gratitude for this first perspective as it succinctly summarized an important aspect of the college that had hitherto been hidden. All concluded that the Daw-

About the Author Matthew A. Redekopp, P.Eng., CEM, LEED AP, is owner of Rede Energy Solutions, Ltd. and energy manager for School District 59 and Northern Lights College. b Educational Facility Managers Association of B.C. www.efmabc.com

The role of HVAC air filtration and LEED certification Building project managers pursuing LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification need to evaluate many things relating to energy efficiency, water efficiency, indoor environmental quality and related materials and resource selection. But did you know that choosing the right air filter also can be an integral part of a building’s environmental sustainability strategy? In fact, implementing the right HVAC strategy could net you up to 11 LEED credits. Air Filtration for IAQ and Energy Efficiency A building’s HVAC air filtration system provides tangible ways to improve indoor air quality (IAQ) and energy efficiency – two main tenets of the LEED program. In addition to contributing to the completion of LEED credits and prerequisites, careful selection of the right HVAC filter and filter media can actually save money in the long run – answering critics’ charges that green buildings always have to cost more. Effective air filtration provides the primary defense for building occupants and HVAC equipment against particulate and gaseous pollution generated within a building, as well as pollutants from air drawn into a building by the HVAC system. At the same time, air fil-

ters play a significant role in the energy consumed to operate the HVAC system. The higher the filter’s resistance to air passing through it, the more energy is consumed to operate the HVAC system. But even though we speak of air filters, it’s really the filter media that has the biggest effect on providing clean air, protecting HVAC equipment and minimizing energy consumption. That’s why the right filter media strategy can help buildings become more environmentally sustainable and meet LEED and other green building rating system criteria. Select the Right Filter To understand how the right filter can help to achieve LEED prerequisites and credits, it’s important to understand how filters should be selected to meet IAQ and energy-efficiency requirements. One of the biggest factors is filtration efficiency, which defines how well the filter will remove contaminants from air passing through the HVAC system. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has an HVAC filter test standard to quantify the efficiency of filters. The ASHRAE 52.2 test standard measures the fractional particle size efficiency (PSE) of an HVAC filter. This indi-

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Ops Talk • Spring 2012

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cates the filter’s ability to remove airborne particles of differing sizes between 0.3 and 10 microns in diameter. A minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) is assigned to the filter media depending on the PSE in three different particle size ranges: E1 (very fine particles in the 0.3 to 1 micron range); E2 (fine particles in the one to three micron range); and E3 (coarse particles in the three to 10 micron range). A MERV rating of five is least efficient, while a rating of 16 is most efficient. For the best and most complete way to compare the filtration efficiencies of different air filters, review the efficiency values that are included in the ASHRAE 52.2 test report. The E1, E2 and E3 efficiencies represent the true measure of filter performance and give users a more complete picture of what the filter will actually do. Filters and Energy Efficiency Commercial and residential buildings account for 70 per cent of all electricity consumption and 40 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions. A third of the energy used by commercial buildings goes to ventilation and space heating/cooling. The energy used by HVAC systems is based on the resistance of the air passing through the filter. The lower the filter’s resistance, the lower the energy consumption will be. Switching to a filter with a lower resistance to airflow is one of the easiest changes building professionals can make in an effort to reduce energy usage and cost. That’s because the HVAC system fan motor needs to overcome less resistance to deliver the required airflow, thus reducing the motor’s energy consumption.

Fortunately, modern filter media has given the industry the capability to produce filters that provide a lower resistance to airflow while maintaining high-particle capture efficiencies, thereby providing the ability to improve IAQ and reduce energy costs simultaneously. Reduce Waste and Greenhouse Gas Emissions In addition to providing for superior IAQ and reducing energy consumption, HVAC filter selection has a direct effect on a number of environmental sustainability issues. Greenhouse gas emissions – A 0.05-inch WG reduction in a filter’s initial resistance to airflow may reduce CO2 emissions up to four per cent or 120 pounds per filter. A 0.20-inch WG reduction in a filter’s initial resistance to airflow may reduce CO2 emissions by up to nine per cent or 480 pounds per filter. Raw material use – Some filters provide superior performance while using less media than other filters. In addition, filter media can be made with recycled polymer from manufacturing waste streams. Waste output – Choosing high-capacity pleated filters can extend filter life and reduce changeouts and associated waste streams. Once a robust air filtration system has been implemented, it’s important to pay attention to proper filter maintenance. Delaying filter maintenance increases energy consumption and increases CO2 emissions. Reducing HVAC energy consumption therefore helps conserve natural resources – a wise sustainability strategy. b

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Index to Advertisers Ameresco Inc..............................................................................................................21

MAPEI................................................................................................................................5

Armstrong World Industries...............................................................................46

McGregor Hardware Distribution....................................................................64

B.C. Hardwood Floor Co. Ltd............................................................................. 43

Metal Supermarkets...............................................................................................58

B.G.E. Service & Supply Ltd................................................................................. 53

National Air Technologies................................................................................... 53

Barclay Restorations...............................................................................................60

Norspec Filtration Ltd...........................................................................................65

Belimo Americas......................................................................................................48

Number TEN Architectural Group.................................................................. 57

Blue Imp Recreational Products....................................................................... 47

On Side Restoration................................................................................................. 9

Busy Bee Sanitary Supplies...................................................................................61

Pacific Controls Ltd.................................................................................................10

Canstar Restorations.................................................................................................3

Poly-Mor Canada..................................................................................................... 59

Caster Town................................................................................................................20

Precision Air Quality Corporation................................................................... 62

Centaur Products Inc...............................................................................................32

Preferred Consulting & Roof Management................................................... 6

CHPA............................................................................................................................... 54

Progressive Services Ltd........................................................................................60

Clean Spot Inc...........................................................................................................48

Refrigerative Supply...............................................................................................40

D.G. MacLachlan Limited..................................................................................... 62

Reliable Controls Corporation........................................................................IBC

Dafco Filtration Group........................................................................................... 15

Roofing Contractors Association of British Columbia.......................... 25

ERV Parent Group....................................................................................................... 8

Royal Stewart Ltd.....................................................................................................24

ESC Automation & Delta Controls............................................................OBC

Schoolhouse Products Inc..................................................................................... 6

Fame Asset Management Solutions................................................................61

Shanahan’s......................................................................................................................11

Fortis BC Energy Inc................................................................................................ 52

Shelter Industries..................................................................................................... 45

Frost Products Ltd...................................................................................................49

Shutters & Shade....................................................................................................... 15

Garaventa Lift BC.....................................................................................................58

SK Sanitary Specialties Mfg. Ltd.........................................................................11

Garland Canada Inc................................................................................................. 55

Smith Energy.................................................................................................................7

Hy-Line Sales/EMCO/Aquatherm................................................................... 13

Spears Sales & Service Ltd...................................................................................28

IBC Technologies Inc............................................................................................... 31

Stutters Disaster Kleenup.....................................................................................41

ICS Clean...................................................................................................................... 59

Talius............................................................................................................................ IFC

Interior Turf Equipment Ltd.................................................................................14

Wesco Distribution / Philips Lighting............................................................ 17

IRC Building Sciences Group Inc......................................................................29

Western Bus Parts & Service Ltd........................................................................ 51

JM Bean & Co. Ltd.................................................................................................... 54

Winmar..........................................................................................................................19

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Ops Talk • Spring 2012

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Ops Talk Magazine Spring 2012

Articles inside

The role of HVAC air filtration and LEED® certification

A case for high performance

School design for an ever-changing world

Taking stock: using the BEPI to organize your energy management plan

Thoughts on: career changes

Keeping the heat on is elementary

Let Western Bus help you with your school bus repairs

How to reduce playground vandalism

School bus drivers – it’s not just a job

The new sports floor finish: RJC low VOC Moisture Cured Urethane

Communicating with your heating system –get ready for the next wave of innovation

School floors ‘learn their lessons’ with Ultrabond ECO® 711 adhesive

Vermiculite removal done cheaper and safer

Thoughts on: communication

The science behind restoration

Looking after your roof investment

LEDs: partnering savings with sustainability – without sacrifice

Northwest Community College’s Smithers Campus now open

Creating capital for asset sustainability

CNC Technical Education centres ‘LEED’ the way

Safety in numbers – Robert Lawrence retires after 36 years of safety service

EFMA President’s Message – Ken Janzen, CEFOP

Considerations for overcoming the scheduling dilemma