building

By Eileen O’Shanassy

As an owner or manager, maintaining your place up to safety standards is essential not only to protect your building from the substantial penalties and fees that the city may slap you with but, more importantly, to protect the public from structural flaws that could result in injuries. Here are four ways to get your building up to code.

Perform Preventive Maintenance

Preventative maintenance essentially means work is carried out to minimize the probability of structural decay. This is the opposite of what corrective maintenance achieves, whereby decayed parts of the building are completely replaced. Preventative maintenance is important in that it restrains the need for more expensive and extensive repairs later on. Be sure to keep up with these codes and rules as they apply to your building and city.

Check Wiring

Faulty wiring can start fires and/or electrocute people. Not only is maintaining your electrical wiring mandated by law, it’s also a cost-effective measure to avoid high energy bills. However, before investigation of electrical systems are made, safety procedures must be done, specifically by a certified electrician. Working with energized circuits or wires is prohibited and so all systems must be switched off first. Things to check for include any exposed wiring that could be touching the electrical box, broken light switches, loose connections between the wiring and switch, and so forth.

Maintain the Building’s Surroundings

Maintaining the surroundings of your building is equally important as maintaining its internal structures. Inspect your parking spaces, trees and shrubbery, and pathways leading to and from your building. Are the parking spaces impacting traffic? Is a tree obstructing response vehicles to your building in an emergency situation? Is the concrete covering the paths and divisions of your property in need of repaving? Do you need better snow removal? All of these questions should be considered as well as some others to make sure your building is following code and keeping you and any visitors safe.

Have Emergency Supplies Ready

From first aid kits to fire extinguishers, you’ll want to stock your building with the necessary equipment and supplies that tenants and first responders may need to put out a fire or to resuscitate someone. You’ll need to perform regular inspections of your emergency supplies to make sure they haven’t expired yet.

Being responsible and doing regular inspections and repairs of your building not only prolongs its structural integrity, but also helps lower costs by avoiding costly future repairs and personal injuries that could end up in lawsuits.

Eileen O’Shanassy is a freelance writer and blogger based out of Flagstaff, AZ. She writes on a variety of topics and loves to research and write. She enjoys baking, biking, and kayaking. Check out her Twitter @eileenoshanassy.