IFMA Foundation Provides Pandemic Planning and Response Guide for Facilities

The document, sponsored by by ABM, IFMA, Planon, Global Workplace Analytics, and others, offers facility management professionals guidance on pandemic planning, response, and recovery.

Businesses are hoping to re-open their doors to employees and customers, but their buildings must be safe before they can be occupied. The IFMA Foundation has published a new pandemic survival guide for companies planning to open their facilities and resume operations.IFMA Foundation

The manual was authored by Dr. Steven B. Goldman, an internationally recognized expert in Business Continuity, Crisis Management, Risk/Crisis Communications, Pandemic Preparation/Response and Crisis Leadership. He is senior lecturer of crisis courses at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). “There are three foundations in any organization: people, connectivity and facilities. I consider facility professionals among the unsung heroes in the recovery from a pandemic,” said Dr. Goldman. “They ensure that individuals come back in confidence to a healthy and safe facility. This guide will help building professionals get back on track as companies need to know that you can’t just open the doors without proper preparedness.”

Free to download, the new 100+-page guide includes:

  • COVID-19 case studies from the built environment
  • Pandemic response checklists
  • Facility measures for pandemic control and mitigation
  • Using technology and working from home
  • Getting back to business
  • Preparing for the next one

A US $1 trillion global industry, there are over 25-million facility professionals worldwide who are managing and maintaining buildings. As the world stays home to help prevent the spread of the pandemic, the facility professional is working behind the scenes to ensure that buildings are operating properly and well maintained.

“During COVID-19, facility managers face heightened demand for demonstrating to their tenants that they are providing a clean, healthy, sustainable and safe building. Unprecedented times require agility plus the ability to call in extra resources: experts, trained frontline teams, supplies and equipment,” said ABM President and CEO, Scott Salmirs, a key sponsor of the manual. “This easy-to-use resource provides the information needed for business resumption.”

This publication was sponsored by ABM, IFMA, Planon, Global Workplace Analytics, and other organizations. Access the document by visiting the IFMA Foundation website, and completing the form.

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