Building Operations Weekly

Top Stories

Asset Stewardship

EMMS Project Receives Board Approval To Proceed

We are excited to announce that we are set and ready to move full steam ahead with the implementation plans for our EMMS (Enterprise Maintenance Management System). Last week Thursday the UBC Board of Governors approved our recommendations to enter into contract and proceed with implementation. The software vendor we will be working with to sign a contract is Planon.

Planon is a market leading specialist with over 35 years of Integrated Workplace Management System experience, who will replace PeopleSoft. They are a global software provider that helps organizations to streamline business processes for buildings, people and workplaces. Planon has over 2,500 customers in 40 countries, offices in the United Kingdom, Singapore, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Germany, France, India, Austria, Hong Kong and the United States. Read more about Planon at www.planonsoftware.com.

We look forward to sharing more about the implementation plan over the next few months and working closely with Building Operations, Energy and Water Services and Chemistry ,the first three units who will implement this system to replace PeopleSoft and manage their business more effectively.

Building Operations Takes a Clean Interest in Earth Day

Using Tamas Weidner’s Bright Idea and organizational skills, 31 staff from Building Operations and RMS participated in Earth Day today. The Vancouver Campus was divided into grids and teams of 2 people were given the appropriate personal protective equipment and garbage bags to clean up their defined portion of campus. A safety talk was provided by Tariq Din from RMS and our hosts from Waste Management helped the teams get to the start line. The race was on to see who came back with the most garbage. It was a close race with many bags of “stuff” and when it was all sorted, the Earth won.

Congratulations Building Operations and RMS you all are winners.

Current State Process Mapping 100% Complete! Congratulations EMMS Project Team

In the April 2 newsletter we shared that the EMMS project team is working through 4 steps to understand current business processes in Building Ops, as well as EWS and Chem Stores. We are pleased to update, that first step in now 100% complete. With help from across Building Ops, we completed 36 workshop and established 28 processes. The EMMS team now continues to document and then pass back the drawn up processes to the contributors, to ensure everything was captured correctly. Final validation to be completed by the Business Functional Leads, those named below:

Mike Devolin
Darko Jelic
Peter Mcloughlin
Calvin Cheung (Tamas Weidner as backup)
Kishani Gibbons
Pam Voigt
Wende Kinch (Paul Harris as backup)
Jose Teres
Dan Tieu
Robin Shortt

Employee Engagement

What Would You Like To Have as a Building Ops Summer Event?

In the past years, Building Ops have welcomed the summer with an Ice Cream Social Event. This social event is an opportunity for all Building Ops staff to interact, participate in team or individual games and enjoy a cold treat. It is a great chance to meet those who are new to Building Ops, mingle and beat the heat. For this year’s event, we would like to know how you would like to welcome the summer on June 20th. Will it be an ice cream social, hotdog or burgers? Send your responses to Caroline Soriano at caroline.soriano@ubc.ca by Friday, May 3rd, and have your say.

Practice Safe Ladder Use and Prevent Injuries

Fall from ladders are one of the leading causes of injuries to workers in British Columbia. Yet, when it comes to being careful and staying safe on the jobsite, working with ladders isn’t always seen to be hazardous. After all, it’s a tool that almost anyone can use. Don’t forget, using a ladder at work comes with risks just like any other tool. Here are some safety tips to remember:

Determine if a ladder is the correct device to use for the situation. Your assessment will include the physical condition of both the ground and the area being reached, the height of the work, the type of work being done, and if other hazards are present. If work cannot be done from a ladder without hazard to a worker, a work platform must be used.
Determine which type of ladder will be best.
Inspect the ladder before use and set up the ladder as per the manufacturer’s instructions
If ladder provides access to or egress from an upper landing, ensure ladder projects 1 m (3 ft) above the upper landing and secured in place
Ensure all ladders are secured in place if conditions exist that are likely to cause the ladder to be unstable
Set up warning signs, barricades, etc. as necessary to prevent others from bumping into the ladder
Face the ladder and keep your body centered between side rails
Use a three-point contact climbing method
Do not stand on or above the top two rungs of the ladder
Do not carry up or down a ladder, heavy or bulky objects or any other objects which may make ascent or descent unsafe.

Customer Experience

The Nest Plaza Off University Boulevard Closing Beginning April 23

The Nest Plaza off University Boulevard will be closed beginning April 23 and will open on May 10 potentially.

Once the plaza does open all Building Op’s vehicles will have to use the loading bay at Life Building. There will be no more parking, drop offs, couriers’, etc. permitted at the Sub Plaza. When the underground parking lot opens the Sub Plaza will turn into entrance/exit area for the parking lot.

The Alumni Loading bay will reopen but only for catering, deliveries, garbage-cardboard-recycling pickup and Building Ops’ vehicles working at the Alumni Centre. Building Op’s trades are to register their vehicles at the front desk. Lately the Building Op’s vehicles have been using this space and no one working within the building.

Arrangements have been made with UBC Parking to monitor the area closely using staff and camera’s to issue tickets to ensure deliveries do not create delays or unsafe conditions.

The light blue line is for pedestrian access.

Professor Commends Building Ops for Quick Response to False SRC Alarms

Professor Gregor Kiczales praises Building Operations on how responsive crews were when fire alarms went off in SRC on April 16. His colleagues were running a large exam there that day and were going to run more exams the next day. This kind of disruption isn’t helpful to the students taking the exams. Thanks to Building Ops crews that they were able to figure out quickly which alarm was pulled.

Building Operations and the UBC Community Working Together and Returned 9-Year Old Boy Safely

Last week, at Forestry by the Totem Pole, Project Coordinator Steve Carey and Facilities Manager Mark Donald-Jones noticed a young child having a seizure and helped. As they were tending to the child, the teacher noticed another young child had gone missing. Calling for help through the security channel of the radio, Richard Culzac from Waste Management picked up the transmission and spotted the young child that ran away. With the community working together, the young child was returned to his group safely.

Kudos to Steve, Mark, Richard and Security for their help. This is an example of the community coming together. This is us. This is UBC.

Leadership Development

Kevin Morris Advocates UBC Community Leadership Program

The UBC Community Leadership Program (CLP) is an innovative leadership development opportunity designed for emerging staff, faculty and graduate student leaders. The program provides an opportunity for learners to explore leadership concepts and principles in a cohort learning environment through a series of interactive, participatory workshops and experiential learning.

Kevin Morris, Architectural Trades People and Process Manager, got involved with the program because it was the perfect opportunity to combine three things that are important to his personal growth:

Community Service where he enjoyed learning from and working with other people to enhance the community.
Direct Interaction with student which allowed him to learn from great student leaders.
Improving his leadership skills.

A proponent of the program, Kevin has been an ambassador, encouraging others to hone their leadership skills through the Community Leadership Program.

Interested parties are encouraged to attend information session where you will learn about the program, the time requirements and the program outcomes.

Info Session 1

May 6, 2019

12:00 – 1:00 pm

Info Session 2

May 27, 2019

12:00 – 1:00 pm

Speak with your Manager/Supervisor if you are interested. Apply by June 14, 2019 for the 2019-20 cohort. Visit http://clp.ubc.ca/ to learn more.

Check Out www.hr.ubc.ca/careers for Current Building Ops Job Postings

Know anyone interested in working in Building Operations? Let them know about our current job postings

Job #33530 Trades 3 – Mechanic
Job #33501 Head Refrigeration Mechanic