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very property manager will have a whole raft of regular maintenance tasks which are not only beneficial for the health of the building
and its occupants, but are also legal requirements. Increasingly there is a legal onus to achieve and maintain compliance with a range of specifications aimed at ensuring health & safety for staff, visitors and residents of a wide range of properties. Other than single domestic dwellings, most properties are required to comply; and increasingly significant, is that their compliance must be demonstrated. Some of these require a specialist service
provider, and you may be tempted to shop around for the lowest cost on each service. However, there are also savings to be made in packaged services, and not only on cost. Using a package of services, such as ventilation hygiene combined with water hygiene, can save not only money but also valuable time and resources – and reduced stress. It isn’t only a case of dealing with a single contact, and potentially a single portal, for a raft of services, although this does undoubtedly save time and therefore money. Property managers often find that when they
take up their new role, some of the paperwork, particularly lists of assets, are not complete. The property manager has two choices, try to complete these in-house, or allow the outsourced provider to complete them with a thorough investigation of the various systems. The competent provider will be able to create an accurate record for future use on their first clean. In a package, this can be completed across several essential compliances. On a first visit to perform a service, the technicians may discover that remedial work is required, especially in accessing the ductwork system. If you purchase a service package, this remedial work may be included in the package. Using a specialist provider with all the necessary
competencies and certifications is essential. For Legionella control, this should, of course, be a member of the Legionella Control Association, as LCA members are regularly assessed and vetted to ensure their competence and reliability. Ventilation hygiene and kitchen extract cleaning
providers who are members of the BESA (Building Engineering Services Association) Vent Hygiene Register, overseen by the certification arm, BESCA are regularly vetted. Membership of the Vent Hygiene Register can be viewed in much the same way as Gas Safe or LCA membership. Technicians who carry out your kitchen extract clean should also hold the BESA Grease Hygiene Technician qualification. Some ventilation services, such as fire damper testing are also essential fire safety measures, so it is vital that they are not neglected. Buying a package of services helps to build compliance into maintenance schedules, as a packaged services provider will help you to plan and schedule the required work. Obviously, they will want to make the most efficient use of each technicians’ time, and this means that they will also schedule your work to ensure that meet your legal obligations in a timely manner. If you already have experts on site to carry out one
Ductwork & ductwork cleaning
Packaged services – are they good value?
Property managers have a lot of assets to manage and compliances to keep current. Several of these can be packaged and effectively managed by outsourcing a number of services to one expert provider, says Gary Nicholls, managing director of ductwork hygiene and legionella risk experts Swiftclean
Left: Gary Nicholls, managing director of ductwork hygiene and legionella risk experts Swiftclean
service, it can be cost-effective to have them provide others. Technicians will often specialise in either air or water services, but, as there are more than one of each type of service, careful planning can save you time and money. As an added bonus, record keeping – and therefore
the collation of evidence of your compliance – may be simpler and more robust with a package of services. With a single provider for several services, you will receive reports for each service in a similar, easy to understand format. This provides robust evidence of your compliance, usually containing before and after photography, or at the very least, a record of your efforts to comply with legal requirements.
This evidence is increasingly important as property managers shoulder more legal responsibilities. While some tasks have a set timetable which must be observed, others simply carry an obligation not to be out of date – as with a legionella risk assessment – so having an expert keeping track of your essential maintenance and compliance can be very helpful. An expert provider will help to prompt you to update your risk assessment if you have a change of personnel, or make any changes to the system. They will suggest scheduling water tank cleaning at the most convenient times – often during a summer break – and they will often also provide training for the ongoing flushing routines that your team can carry out in-house. The reports of work completed provided by an LCA member will form evidence of compliance which may protect you in a court of law. Of course, you can choose to take individual
services from a range of providers, provided they are competent and compliant, however, it is well worth exploring how much time, resources and money a package of expert services could save you.
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