E8 Involvement in Contract Management

E7 Shipping and Receiving

E6 Physical Access Control

E5 Safety

A major concern of Facilities Management is the safety of the people working in the building. Facilities Management is therefore responsible for understanding and enforcing compliance with relevant safety standards and legislation.

Safety is enforced in the following areas:

• Building design and construction
• Layout of the rooms and equipment in the facility
• Education of all personnel about safety standards in force in the facility
• Definition of evacuation procedures and routes and gathering points in the event of a fire or other life-threatening situation
• Posting notices and information regarding any safety information of which personnel need to be aware.

This is a very important part of Facilities Management and has grown into a specialized field. As such, the content is summarized here for convenience, but discussed in detail in Appendix F.

The major components of Physical Access Control (as discussed in Appendix F) are:

• Assistance in defining and maintaining Physical Access Controls as part of the organization’s Security Policies
• Maintenance of floor plans indicating which areas are restricted
• Installation and maintenance of physical access control devices Monitoring and control of access to facilities
• Security staffing
• Installation and maintenance of surveillance equipment
• Protection against social engineering

Large facilities require special areas where delivery can be taken of furniture, computer equipment, racks, etc. This area needs to be secured so that delivery personnel do not gain access to the rest of the facility. There also needs to be a secure store near the receiving area where items can be stored until they can be moved to their final location.

A process needs to be in place to ensure that items to be shipped are accounted for and that only those items are removed by the delivery or dispatch contractor. Wherever possible, these items should be marshalled into the secure store in the shipping and delivery area before being dispatched. This will prevent unauthorized access to the facility.

Delivery and dispatch documentation has to be completed, inspected and signed for each consignment that is delivered or dispatched. A central log of all consignments should also be maintained as a control.

Most facilities are supplied, managed and serviced by a number of entities. Although the actual contracts with these entities would be typically be managed by the appropriate commercial and legal departments, Facilities Management will play a key role in specifying and negotiating these contracts. Typical contracts include:

• Management of leases for leased properties. This is quite rare, as most organizations view their Data Centre as a key asset. Leasing such facilities would be seen as a risk because of the potential that the building is sold, the lessor goes out of business or the lessor does not fulfil the contract in terms of proper maintenance.
• Leasing or maintenance of environmental equipment, such as air-conditioning units, environmental monitoring and alert (e.g. smoke detection and fire-fighting or suppression equipment).
• Building maintenance contracts. These include servicing of elevators, flooring, plumbing and electrical supply.
• Telecommunications facilities. Although telecommunications is usually managed by a dedicated team or department or as part of Wide Area Networking, they are often dependent on third parties to supply and maintain telecommunication equipment located in or just outside the Data Centre. In many countries these are provided by government or para-state telecommunications organizations. Management of these types of contracts requires a special skill set.
• Security services for the provision of physical access control and armed response services.

A very important part of Contract Management is to ensure that all third-party staff are aware of, and comply with, the security policies of the organization. This includes physical access control, confidentiality and unauthorized use of the organization’s facilities or equipment. Regular audits should be held to ensure that this is being enforced.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-23