For many building owners, it will be many months before their facilities are occupied to their “new normal” levels. In the meantime, every building needs to be operated and maintained for safety, asset protection, and the health and comfort of their current occupants. As addressed in my November and December 2020 columns, it's important to run the buildings in a way that achieves the owner’s current facility requirements (CFR), whatever those may be.
Reduced staffing levels, both in a building’s occupants (office workers, medical staff/patients, hospitality guests/support staff, etc.) and in the building operations team, make this more challenging than usual. Some of the best “monitors” of building system performance are occupants who alert the operations staff when there are problems, such as uncomfortable temperatures, IAQ concerns, odd noises, unusual airflows or pressure relationships, etc. Without these human sensors, the building O&M team may not even realize some of the issues needing attention, which could result in increased energy consumption and costs.