In these days of COVID-19 uncertainty, everyone in the industry is scrambling to make our buildings as safe as possible for their occupants. The greatest pressure is on the operations and maintenance (O&M) personnel responsible for each building. This is a current issue that needs immediate attention, but O&M responsibilities are really no different than they have always been.
The most effective O&M is actually maintenance, operation, and optimization (MO&O). I like to think of building systems MO&O as an orchestra.
Maintenance is analogous to caring for and tuning the instruments. Those instruments will not have a prayer of making music if they are not properly stored, handled, and maintained. This is true for pumps, fans, chillers, cooling towers, boilers, heat exchangers, control system devices, etc., in buildings. In addition, the musicians will not be able to successfully play together unless the instruments are tuned, similar to an HVAC system needing all of its sensors calibrated.