EXECUTIVE BUILDING MAINTENANCE - News And Updates

Stop Spreading The Germs

11/28/2018

Taken from: www.themuse.com

It’s that time again. You’re sitting at your desk, when a sneeze gusts over from the cubicle to your right. You notice a gentle hum of sniffles hanging in the office air. The undetectable cloud of germs is surely encircling you now as the hopelessness of flu season sets in. But just because your officemates are dropping like flies doesn’t mean you have to follow suit. We’ve got six helpful tips for warding off a cold or flu (and six that’ll help you get better if you do get sick).

1. Keep Your Distance

Sounds pretty basic, right? Stay away from sick people. Before paranoia sets in and you stop shaking everyone’s hands, though, keep in mind that a recent study revealed that those “silent spreaders,” or infected people who are not yet showing symptoms, are unlikely to make you sick. It’s the co-workers who are already coughing and sneezing that you’ll want to avoid.

2. Get a Flu Shot

This is a no-brainer. Flu shots have been known to help prevent not only influenza, but other illnesses as well. And not only are they becoming available at more and more locations (and even workplaces), your options are growing as well. If you typically avoid needles at all costs, try a nasal spray vaccine or the intradermal flu vaccine—administered with a needle that is 90% smaller than the one used for the traditional flu shot.

3. Avoid the Hot Spots

Consider the heavily touched items in your office: fax machines, coffee pots, elevator buttons. Many bacteria and viruses can live on surfaces for hours—if not longer—so try to avoid contact with these hot spots. Grab the coffee pot with a tissue or hit the elevator button with your elbow. And if that’s not possible (or you just don’t want to make a scene while waiting on the 11th floor with your boss), just avoid touching your face afterward and wash your hands as soon as possible.

5 Tips for Fall Facility Maintenance

10/24/2018

Taken from www.hpac.com/galleries/

Maintenance is key to adding longevity and value to your property. Before embracing the harsh winter in Canada, fall is a great time to complete an annual maintenance check for your building. Here are our top 5 tips this Fall:

1. Get the right entrance mats

An entrance mat is the first line of defense in keeping dirt out of a facility. Additionally, it helps to reduce potential slip hazards in wet conditions. Ideally, matting should start outside of entrance doors and continue inside, allowing visitors to step three times with each foot on the mat. Get a mat that does not crush, that can store dirt and water for future removal, and that reduces the possibility of dirt being tracked into your facility. Remember that 80 percent of all dirt in a facility enters from people’s feet, and the cost of removing a pound of dirt once it is in a facility is between $500 and $700. The best way to reduce cleaning costs is to prevent dirt from entering a facility

2. Inspect all exterior doors and windows

Check to ensure caulking is flexible and sealing any gaps between window/door frames and exterior walls. This ensures warm air stays inside the building and keeps water from entering. For added energy savings, check the weather stripping at all exterior door frames to ensure it is in place and serving its intended purpose.

6 lighting hacks for healthier, more productive workplaces

9/27/2018

Taken from luxreview.com/article/2016/04/6-lighting-hacks-for-healthier-more-productive-workplaces

Dark winter months are around the corner. The sheer lack of sunlight can be depressing. Every year we experience this longing for summer, craving those long, bright days when we feel energetic and in a good mood. The sad news is, we’ve again passed the longest day of 2018, but the good news is that the right artificial lighting in your workplace can help you through. Good lighting creates pleasant working conditions in a functional and atmospheric way. Satisfaction and efficiency will improve if you make sure you have enough daylight intake and a well-lit office space. Plus, your productivity will be positively affected by well-designed illumination. Artificial lighting that does not just help you see, but also meets your biological lighting needs, is the future of office lighting. Here are six lighting hacks to keep you healthy and alert through those dark winter days.

1. Create atmospheres where your ideas can develop

In companies with a high standard of interior design, productivity can increase”

We’re all attracted to light, and there isn’t any other medium that has as big an influence on our bodies and minds as light. Both daylight and artificial light play a key role in our health and wellbeing. Increasingly, companies face the question of how they can improve staff wellbeing and create a dynamic, creative and motivating environment. The design of the office space plays a vital role, as evidenced by a study from Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering. The research shows that in companies with a high standard of interior design, productivity can increase by up to 36 per cent. Who wouldn’t like to see their efficiency skyrocket? Additionally, comprehensive research from the Light Right Consortium, came to the conclusion that light increases productivity.

7 Easy Steps You Can Live Healthier in Your Office

8/29/2018

Feeling sleepy and sedentary at your office? It's time to take a few easy steps to make your life healthier at the office.

1. Limit your sitting time

On average, North Americans sit about 8-9 hours a day, compare that to how much you sleep at night. Then calculate all the hours only to find a very unhealthy balance of physical activities. Try trading the traditional office chair for a standing desk. If you're not ready to stand for that long, try an ergonomic chair that requires you to sit with good posture.

2. Breaks from starting at the monitor too long

This one needs a discipline to do, taking a break from your monitor is not only healthy for your eyes, but also for your mental and for your brain. We recommend adding greens all around your working area so you can switch your eyes to look at those plants and avoid restraining your eyes.

Look outside the windows and stretch your body to avoid tensions in your shoulder, back and neck. Another great idea is walking around while answering phone call meetings that don't require you a computer.

3. Take enough liquid and plan your meals

Taking enough liquid throughout the day can easily be achieved by putting a large water bottle filled with water next to you. Avoid eating junk food and plan your meal. Planning your meal or preparing your meal ahead of time can help avoiding an unhealthy food choices. Keep healthy snacks in your desk and/or encourage your office to sign-up for healthier snack options at the vending machine.

First aid stain treatment for your carpet

7/12/2018

Maintaining the carpet at your office can be a nightmare. While you can hire us to keep your carpets clean and sanitary, there are a few first aid steps you can encourage your workers to do if anything spills. We do believe that regular carpet cleaning from our experts will prolong the life of your rugs and carpets, significantly longer than just vacuuming.

Take a prompt action to prevent staining. Depending on what spills, there are different solutions for each stains. You will need some clean white absorbent cloth or tissue and the four basic solutions listed below. (Please check that your carpet is colourfast and safe to clean, by testing all solutions in an inconspicuous area before application).

Tackle stains as follow:

1. Coffee, tea or Liquid food

Dry the liquid excess using an absorbent cloth or tissue. Make a solution of one tablespoon white vinegar, one tablespoon liquid hand dishwashing detergent and two cups (473 milliliters) of warm water. Sponge any remaining stain alternately with a little rubbing alcohol and small amounts of warm water. Blot it dry after each time you wet it. Moisten the stained areas with three percent hydrogen peroxide. Let the hydrogen peroxide stand for about an hour. Blot and repeat as necessary. Pile a bunch of paper towels over the area when the stain is finally gone. Weigh down the paper towels with something heavy, like a stack of books. This will absorb all the moisture in about an hour.

What Distinguishes Us from The Others

6/14/2018

Finding a company that does what they say they will do, is easy. Finding a trust-worthy company that will do a mile or two more than what they say they will do, is the challenge. In this blog post, we'd like to highlight how we approach our business and how we're different than the others!

Environmental Commitment

Executive Building Maintenance is based on ethical practices and customer-focused solutions. The very nature of our business allows us to impact our stakeholders in a positive way through our environmental commitment. It is no longer sufficient for Executive Building Maintenance to simply comply with environmental laws and standards. As an ethical organization, we are proactive in our commitment to the environment through our choice of suppliers and through our self-imposed, continuous pursuit of practices that eliminate or reduce the use (and disposal) of hazardous materials. We take steps to minimize our own waste production.

Our Certifications

We have attained these certifications over the years and we keep making sure that we exceed our customers' expectations. We thrive to make our facility better and better to ensure the health of our workers, customers and everyone involved.

We are members in good standing with the following organizations:

Why Spring Cleaning May Hold the Key to Productivity

5/9/2018

By: Lisa Evans - Guest Writer on www.entrepreneur.com

Want to get more done? You may need to clear your desk. June Saruwatari, author of the new book Behind the Clutter, says clutter makes you less productive. It's a claim backed up by research. A 2011 study published in the Journal of Neuroscience showed multiple stimuli present in the visual field compete for our attention, making it harder to focus on the task at hand. The study also showed a cluttered environment led to difficulty processing information and has a negative impact on working memory.

Physical clutter turns into mental clutter. When your environment is littered with paperwork, photos, tchotchkes, and other things that distract you from the task at hand, your brain’s ability to process information is blocked, causing your focus to waver and your energy to decline. All this clutter weighs down on your mental resources throughout the day, much like having a screaming toddler standing next to you while you try to get work done.

Clutter can also take a toll on your emotional state. Saruwatari used to hang onto old contracts and paystubs from her time as an actress, a reminder of the success she once had. She realized all of those items, in addition to taking up space in her home, were weighing her down emotionally. For Saruwatari, decluttering isn’t simply about getting your desk in order, it’s about relieving you of the baggage we hang onto from the past – past careers, relationships and incomplete projects.

Why is Carpet Cleaning So Important?

4/3/2018

Most people don’t have the carpet cleaning equipment needed to perform DIY cleaning that meets our standards. It is almost impossible to replicate the results we provide even with all the cleaning tips available. When you hire the professionals of Executive Building Maintenance to do your carpet cleaning for you, we will take care of every aspect of the cleaning process, including choosing the right carpet cleaning products and using professional truck-mounted carpet cleaning equipment.

Clearing The Air

Proper carpet maintenance improves indoor environments by removing debris, microscopic particles and allergens from carpet fibers and backing. The cleaner the carpet, the cleaner the air, the healthier the indoor environment. Carpet cleaning equipment needs to be in good working order and used by trained personnel to ensure that dirt taken out of carpet is not released into the building interior. We perform complete Lower Mainland carpet cleaning that cleans every single fibre, right down to the padding. Our professionally trained team of cleaners use a combination of modern, high-efficiency machinery and traditional cleaning methods to give you the best clean possible.

Office Spring Cleaning Checklist

3/15/2018

If you can't tell by now that we love checklist, let us tell you, we love checklist! It gets us focused and consistency is key. Spring cleaning is good for more than just the house - these tasks can be done at your office to get a fresh start and rejuvenate for the new season!

Allocate a particular day for everyone to join. Fridays work great, get people to dress casually and provide some food during Lunch time. Food incentives work great. Some pizza, chicken wings or maybe if your office workers are vegan, cauliflower with hummus dipping?

Here's some basic check-list for you to follow:

Get ready for spring and summer with a revitalized workplace — and if you find you need some more thorough cleaning janitorial services, we'd love to chat with you! Come connect with one of our cleaning specialist and get a quote.

7 Simple Steps for Your Office to Go Green

2/15/2018

Spread these words around the office, you will be impressed with how simple it is just to do your part, here are some simple ways you can get started right today…

1. Unplug

Look around the office, with all the business activities going on, do you really need all those office equipmets at all times? Take a second or two to turn off the computer in the lunch room, or the printers that are not in use. It will not only cut down on the energy usage but it will also prevent the computers from overheating.

2. Aim for Paper-less Office

Technology allows us to send all kind of business transaction proof, billing, etc via online. Read on-screen and only print documents when absolutely necessary.