Deborah Hensel,
Editor,
Communications
Manager

Donald Young,
Vice President,
Communications

David J. Brady,
IFMA President
and CEO

Contributing Editors
Chablis Jokinen,
Product Marketing Manager

Katie Davenport,
Public Relations Specialist

Amber Smigiel,
Product Marketing Specialist

"Too cold" and "Too hot" rank at top of workplace complaints

Temperatures are still the most common complaint in the workplace, according to the 2003 Corporate Facility Monitor survey conducted in early May by the International Facility Management Association (IFMA). "It's too cold" was the overwhelming first-place complaint reported by facility managers, followed by "it's too hot," poor janitorial service, not enough conference rooms and not enough storage/filing space in the workstation. Poor indoor air quality ranked sixth, followed by no privacy in the workstation/office, inadequate parking, computer problems and noise level (too noisy).

Workplace accidents may increase in 2004, and the cost is high

As people change jobs in a growing economy, unfamiliar work may lead to a greater risk of accidents, futurist Roger Herman predicted in his May 7 Herman Trend Alert. While workplace injuries and illnesses declined in 2001—the last year for available statistics—4.8 million injuries were reported by private industry, and half of those caused at least one day of work lost. Since the National Safety Council research says an employer's cost is $29,000 per case of disabling injury (resulting in missed work), that comes to a whopping $69.8 billion for the year 2001, Herman said.

New Clean Air Act rules affect facility emissions

U.S. companies who produce emissions will be affected by new rules under the Clean Air Act's New Source Review (NSR) provisions, published in the Federal Register by the U.S. EPA on Dec. 31, 2002. The new provisions particularly concern electric utilities, the petroleum refining, iron and steel, and pulp and paper industries, and chemical plants. Approximately 17,000 sources nationwide are potentially affected by EPA's NSR requirements originally promulgated in 1980. Facilities that expand or change operations in a way that increases emissions significantly are required under NSR to install modern pollution controls and assess the impact of their changes on ambient air quality.

"Secret" radiation detectors in place across the nation

Since Sept. 11, 2001, law enforcement agencies across the United States have been quietly installing radiation detectors around highways, subway systems and seaports, creating an antiterrorist nuclear wall, according to an article by Charles Graeber in Wired magazine's April 2003 issue. State and federal officials are keeping silent, but manufacturers report a spike in sales in the past year, especially of the larger portal units, which are allegedly being bought in huge quantities by the federal government. While the detectors are intended to ferret out nuclear weapons, truckloads of broccoli and ceramic tiles and even cancer patients emit enough trace amounts of radiation to trigger them, the article says.

Foundation recommends banning asbestos products

Asbestos should be banned from all new products sold in the Untied States, according to a study conducted by the Global Environment and Technology Foundation, a non-profit environmental group funded by a grant from the U.S. EPA. The European Union has already mandated that its members must ban asbestos by 2005. The study showed more than 26 million pounds of asbestos was added to brakes, roofing materials and other products in the United States in 2001, down from 1.5 billion pounds in 1972. Prolonged exposure to asbestos has been proven to cause cancer, and scientists say even low levels can cause mesothelioma, a fatal cancer that takes 20-40 years to develop.

Homeland Security Undersecretary says CEOs set low priority on security

"Too many CEOs and entrepreneurs still believe security is a low priority," Asa Hutchinson told attendees at the Economic Development Administration's annual conference May 7 in Washington, D.C. Hutchinson, the Undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said a recent survey found that almost half of all businesses are still not conducting emergency drills, backing up files at distant locations or tightening background checks on employees. "We cannot get away with the old ways of ignoring security. It will take a unified national effort, a cooperative, public-private partnership beyond any we've seen since World War II."

New ASTM standard covers property management

ASTM International has released a new standard, ASTM E 2279 Standard Practice for Establishing the Guiding Principles of Property Management, which will help property managers stop overly detailed and costly practices in the management and oversight of property assets from being represented as best practices. Stephen Michelsen, ASTM committee chairman and executive vice president of the National Property Management Association, said the standard will give managers the means to examine the quality, quantity and substance of current and proposed systems and the context to determine how each element furthers efficient and cost effective operation.