| Emergency Services: Behind the Scenes

What happens when you request emergency services from a commercial facility services company? When you’re in the middle of an urgent situation, you probably aren’t thinking about just how many people are involved and what they’re responsible for. In situations like this, however, it truly takes a village. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how emergencies are handled, using a leaking pipe as an example.

| Discovery

In the middle of the night, your security patrol notices water pooling on the floor in one of the bathrooms. They inspect further, but don’t find any obvious signs of a leak coming from the fixtures. What they do see is water damage on the wall and a small but steady flow of water coming through the ceiling tiles. Upon removing one soggy tile to see what’s going on, they see that one of the pipes in the building’s extensive plumbing system has a crack and has been pumping water into the ceiling substructure – probably for a while. It needs to be fixed now before it causes further damage.

| Notifying the FM

As the Facilities Manager, you’re the first person that security calls. They fill you in on the situation and wait for your instructions. As you gather your thoughts and begin to process the situation, you snap into action. Being the savvy professional that you are, you’ve already got a reliable vendor to call for emergency situations. You ask your security patrol to standby while you contact your vendor and request emergency services.

| Alerting the Vendor

It’s a good thing you made sure to have a vendor in your extensive list that offers 24-hour emergency services. The customer service representative monitoring the emergency line answers your call right away. You relay the situation to them, and their team begins to mobilize. This is where the network of people working to help resolve the issue really expands. It’s all hands on deck. Plumbers are dispatched to your facility, customer service monitors the situation from the office, supervisors are notified, and on-site security prepares to direct the team toward the problem area.

| Emergency Abatement

As the plumbers arrive, the first thing they’re going to do is end the emergency. In this case, that means stopping water flow and giving themselves time to make repairs. For other types of emergencies, the first step will be similar. The goal here is to put a stop to whatever is causing the emergency. Depending on the severity of the problem, this could mean anything from cutting off water to one room to disconnecting the entire facility. The answer will depend on how isolated the situation is and the extent of the damage.

| Repair Scheduling and Next Steps

Once the emergency has ended, the customer service team steps back in. They will reach back out to you to let you know the storm has passed and provide the plumbers’ recommendations for what to do next. From this point forward, things return to normal. It’s back in your hands to schedule repairs and get your plumbing system back in order. While you’re at it, it might be a good idea to ask your vendor about preventative maintenance for the future to see if this situation could have been avoided.

AAA Facility Services is a fully licensed construction, plumbing, electrical, and R&M service provider with in-house technicians who have years of experience in dealing with emergencies. Contact us today to ask how we can help.