Post-pandemic, the workplace will not be the same. One outcome of the pandemic is that it has accelerated changes that were creeping along the adoption curve; however, many businesses are sleepwalking into a very risky return to the office. Due to COVID, businesses must now be more aware of their workplace safety, reception efficiency, productivity, and visitor experience – to avoid several organisational risks.
In today’s blog, we will cover:
- Types of risks in facilities management
- The office facilities management checklist
- Download our FREE Facilities Management Checklist pdf
NHS England has provided a useful set of recommendations for organisations planning to reopen their offices which are relevant to your reception space. These include:
- Conducting the compulsory HSE COVID working environment risk assessment
- Ensuring that adequate social distancing is in place
- Re-deploying staff to lower-risk areas (e.g. in a back office rather than at the reception desk)
- More frequent cleaning of all areas
- Ensuring PPE government guidelines are adhered to
Types of Risks in Facilities Management
Facilities Managers must be aware of the types of risks that the pandemic has created, and in turn consider:
- Not relying on manual processes to get right
- Not burdening your Front-of-House team unnecessarily
- Not keeping you or your legal team awake
Below, you’ll find a simple facilities management compliance checklist with steps which we think would be wise to consider with mitigations in place as you start to bring workers back to the office.
Use this office facilities management checklist while planning your return to office, and understand how a visitor management system can help you reduce or remove common challenges. We list the types of risks you might encounter in facilities management while planning to return to work. Some of these items will need the support of other departments, such as Legal, Finance, HR or IT.
1. Compliance Risks
- GDPR risks – ensuring existing visitor management systems are fully GDPR compliant
- You set your visitor data with automatic purging to ensure compliance
- Regular visitors opt-in to facial recognition
- Fines – social distancing, PPE, and other COVID enforcements
- Health and safety enforcement orders and spot checks
- Employer ‘Duty of Care’
- NHS Track and Trace self-isolation (encouraging an employee to come into the workplace and not self-isolate means an employer can be fined over £1000)
- Remove these risks by using digital visitor management
Read more about how visitor management systems can help you stay GDPR Compliant
2. Risk Assessments
- Visitor data security
- Auto purge visitor data after X days
- Congested reception contamination risk
- ‘COVID-Safe’ workplace risk assessment
- Health and safety executive risk assessment
- Review existing risk assessments if changing office layout / furniture to allow for social distancing, and to minimise hazards around the workplace
- Remove risks by adding Vgreet capacity
Read more about risk assessments.
3. Technical Risks
- Visitor blacklist management
- GDPR
- Auto delete visitor emails so you do not have GDPR issues, standard within Vgreet
4. Employee Risks
- Visitor Self Health checks
- Customise your pre-registration invite
- Visitor Track and Trace
- Track visitors in the building on days when “now isolating staff were in”
- Remove the whole risk of a congested reception by adding rapid check-in Vgreet Kiosks with the capacity to check-in 2,500 visitors a day!
5. Reputational Risks
- Avoid relying on tape, screens, and signs
- Avoid Turning the reception into an emergency zone
- Avoid creating the opposite of psychological safety for your returning employees
- Whistleblower risk; you’re the one the tabloids will get a photo of in your reception with staff or visitors queuing
A simple set of useful calculators are below:
Download our office facilities management checklist template here
More Resources
- The Ultimate Guide – What is a visitor management system and how can it benefit my business?
- Download a free visitor management guide for your persona free visitor management guide for your persona
Want to find out more about how we can help facilities managers? Contact us
