Healthcare: Facilities Management

Argent is experienced in managing mechanical and electrical infrastructures and critical operations – including lighting, heating, cooling, ventilation, air conditioning and air/water hygiene. Our facilities management frequently incorporates an integrated services package, including lifts, security/alarms, cleaning, grounds and general maintenance.

Asset surveys
Argent’s comprehensive surveys identify all M&E assets, which are recorded on detailed asset registers which can be accessed and updated on a web enabled system. Each asset is data tagged or bar-coded and classified using a traffic light system.

The benefits of asset surveys in mission critical environments:

  • Provide a detailed life expectancy report to allow for forward planning for capital expenditure.
  • Helps identify and compile and cost a critical spares, which reduces down time of vital services.

Health and Safety We are proud of our excellent Health and Safety record and have recently gained OHSAS 18001. We work with our clients to ensure that all on site operatives are working safely and in a compliant manner.

We do this through:

  • Undertaking a full health and safety audit to ensure the client’s operatives are not only working in a safe environment, but also performing their duties safely and according to best practice guidelines.
  • Producing a report outlining the findings of the health and safety audit.
  • Compiling risk assessments for each maintenance activity.
  • Compiling method statements to mitigate each identified risk.

Planned Preventative Maintenance Our PPM programmes for healthcare and public facilities have not only reduced maintenance costs, but also minimised incidents of breakdowns, ward closures and risks for building users. We have also supported management teams in their business cases to replace plant, demonstrating best value solutions as services become uneconomic and expensive to maintain.

A typical PPM includes:

  • Classification of assets, with a traffic light system.
  • Evaluating performance against manufacturers’ recommendations
  • Evaluating performance against industry standards (HVCA SFG20)
  • Evaluating performance against environment in which the asset is being used Method statements for each maintenance activity
  • Performance monitoring systems* Paper audit system or a Computer Aided Facilities Maintenance system (CAFM). If a CAFM system is employed, audits can be completed via a web portal.

Implementation and training
Argent routinely operate alongside dedicated building services teams, ensuring that we work effectively together to deliver optimum levels of comfort, environmental performance and efficiency in terms of the building services. Our training programme includes an initial period where we evaluate the incumbent team’s effectiveness through:

Initial skills level assessment of operatives by providing our own highly skilled operatives to work hand in hand with the client’s proposed team as part of an implementation programme. Ongoing improvements ensure teams work effectively and in a compliant manner through:

  • Identifying skills shortfalls and providing person to person and if necessary formal training to overcome identified shortfalls.
  • Providing training at a supervisory level to implement rigorous monitoring systems.
  • Carrying out periodic audits at intervals agreed by the client and providing further training if required.