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Session 2: The Building and Environment

 

additional activities


This section gives examples of more in-depth activities that you may wish to undertake to assess your building and environment, and to improve conditions. These activities will require additional time, research, and information-gathering on your part, and are completely optional.

Building Maintenance

Design a customized building maintenance schedule for your institution, assigning responsibilities for periodic inspection and maintenance of building components (roof, drainage, plumbing, electrical, etc.) and building systems (HVAC, fire detection, etc.).

Environmental Monitoring

Design an environmental monitoring program for your institution. Indicate what types of monitors you would use, where they would be located, and who would be responsible for maintaining them, recording the data, and analyzing the data.

Managing Your Building and Systems

Collect detailed information about your building and systems. Get a copy of your building plans, or prepare drawings of the layout of each floor. Use these to make notes about building or space problems. Indicate on the plans all areas where collections are stored within the building. Indicate the locations of water pipes, bathrooms, climate control equipment, any other sources of water in relation to collections storage, fire extinguishers, fire detection and suppression equipment, and water shut-offs (you may want to include copies of these plans in your disaster plan). Also collect mechanical drawings that show your existing heating/cooling systems and equipment. Make a list of the existing equipment, its capacities, and the spaces it covers.