Asking the right questions is essential to the proper maintenance of your facility. By staying on top of asphalt and concrete pavement maintenance, understanding the life cycles of each pavement area, and keeping an eye out for potential safety hazards, you can ensure that your facility is in good condition and meets the needs of those who use it. A pavement tech-enabled pavement consultant can help facility managers catalog answers to these questions so your organization can take action.
Facility managers have a responsibility to ensure that the facilities under their purview are performing well and meet the needs of those who use them. This involves a multitude of tasks from routine maintenance to major repairs and upgrades for myriad building systems. To effectively stay on top of these tasks requires asking the right questions. This blog contains important questions you should be asking your facility managers and some ideas on how to help them know the answers.
Asphalt paved parking lots and access roads have a lot of components. They are also a lot of responsibility from safety to aesthetics, to litigation risk.
These questions will help you and your Facility Manager begin to paint a picture of any problems and their resolutions at your facility:
In the case of sidewalks at your facility, safety is paramount. It’s important to know the answers to these questions:
Concrete structures and surfaces are subject to wear and tear from weathering, chemicals, and daily use. Furthermore, regulations around chemical use are always evolving. For example, you may need to change the type of deicer you’re using based on new regulations from your facility’s jurisdiction.
If left unchecked, small cracks and defects in the concrete can grow over time leading to bigger problems and costly repairs. Regular maintenance can help extend the life of concrete surfaces to improve, improve their appearance and ensure their safety and functionality.
Additionally, proper maintenance can also prevent potential liabilities issues that may arise from damaged or poorly maintained concrete surfaces. Of course, it’s helpful to have accurate, up-to-date lists of each facility and pavement section with the date paved, the thickness of the asphalt and base, and any work history. This can help you plan and budget for future repairs and upgrades.
Ask your facility managers about any other issues that need to be addressed. This could include utility issues that need to be fixed before pavement repairs, upgrades like installing charging systems, or ADA fixes that are needed.
Finally, but most importantly, the safety of the people who use your facilities should always be your top priority. When talking to your facility managers, ask them about any potential life safety issues that need to be addressed. This can include things like potholes, heaving, or other trip hazards.
Leveraging technology to help facility managers store and access these kinds of data points can save time, avoid miscommunication, and better inform your budget forecasting discussions.
A platform like Mantis Perform, captures and stores vital pavement assessment data and makes it available across your organization on demand, even geolocated Life Safety Issues (LSI). If your pavement assessments are being done regularly, your data is up-to-date and will give you the best chance at an accurate budget and the lowest total cost of ownership.
By better understanding what issues may exist at your facilities, you can begin to prioritize corrective actions to preserve and improve the performance of your pavements.