When it comes to lighting for your facility, there are many things to consider. Everyone has input and will want to make sure it is bright enough, but not too bright, is the right color, doesn’t cause headaches and so much more. As a facility manager or engineer, it is your responsibility to make everyone happy, all while staying in budget. This talk is designed to help you give consideration to the details that are the most important, capitalizing on incentives and ensuring that all of the Goldilocks in the facility are just right with your lighting choices. You’ll leave with the skills and knowledge to make the best choices, whether it be for facility maintenance, improved energy efficiency, or a full scale retrofit of your facility.

Hundreds of worker deaths and thousands of injuries could be prevented each year by following the latest edition of NFPA 70E, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace®. Originally developed at OSHA's request, NFPA 70E provisions are applied to identify electrical safety hazards and reduce employee exposure to those hazards.  This presentation will focus on safety related work practices, safety related maintenance requirements and safety requirements for special equipment. Also learn about additional resources for electrical safety in the workplace. This session will advance the on the job safety for you, your staff members, and contracted people.

The City of Reno is a fast-growing city, with booming economy, but it is also one of the fastest-warming cities in the U.S.  Hear about the City’s sustainability efforts, coordinated through the City Manager’s Office, to improve the efficiency of the buildings, and thus make it a greener city. Among the topics discussed will be solar PV installation and energy storage, EV deployments, LED lighting retrofits, carbon emissions tracking from buildings and fleets, planting of trees, and the USGBC’s LEED for Cities program. Also, resources for local companies that want to make improvements, including Energy Star benchmarking. Gain ideas you can apply at your site.

The arid climate of Northern Nevada (less than 7 inches of precipitation annually), creates challenges for area facilities that want to create attractive grounds, yet place value on water efficiency. This session will examine water-efficient landscaping, often known as xeriscaping, which emphasizes the use of low-water-requiring plants and arrangements, and the grouping of plants with similar needs together within an irrigation zone. The second part of the session will focus on the important topic of firescaping – landscape design that focuses on the wildfire/building interface. This involves creating a landscape design and choice of plants that can prevent fire spread to your building during a wildfire incident. Find out what you need to know to save money on water and protect your buildings.   

Learn about ASHRAE’s new groundbreaking Standard 241, Control of Infectious Aerosols, which establishes minimum requirements to reduce the risk of disease transmission by exposure to infectious aerosols in new buildings, existing buildings, and major renovations. This valuable filmed presentation is by Dr. William Bahnfleth, Professor of Architectural Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, who chairs the project committee for ASHRAE Standard 241. Find out what you need to know to help your facility plan for COVID-19, influenza viruses and other pathogens that cause problems for building occupants. Standard 241 provides requirements for many aspects of air systems design, installation, operation and maintenance. The presentation was given at the 25th Westford Building Science Symposium organized by Building Science Corporation.

This session will describe the four parts of an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspection, and what you can expect if an OSHA inspector visits your workplace for an enforcement/compliance action. Hints on being prepared for the inspection process will be offered. The top most frequently cited OSHA standards will be presented and reviewed, including ways to avoid these citations.

The Facilities Services Department at the University of Nevada-Reno is responsible for the construction, renovation, maintenance, repair and operation of buildings, facilities and utility systems at this extensive site, as well as capital improvement programs. Hear about how UNR Facilities Services effectively meets its wide range of facilities challenges and the department’s work to improve sustainability through energy and water use reduction and a recycling standardization pilot program.

This session will describe guidelines for setting up a comprehensive electrical preventive maintenance program for your electrical distribution system by using infrared and ultrasonic inspections, regular hands-on maintenance (as in cleaning and torquing the switchgear), along with GFI testing and current injection on large circuit breakers. Included in the presentation will be an updated arc flash hazard analysis to get you in compliance with NFPA70B Standards. Learn how to prevent unexpected costly downtime by turning a preventive maintenance program into a predictive maintenance program.

When you hear about active shooter situations in the news, do you wonder “Is my facility prepared?” This presentation, by the Reno Police Department, will provide information you and your facilities staff members need to know. The speaker will describe what type of location shooters are looking for (soft compared to hard in respect to accessibility) – to “harden” your facility means to set things up to limit accessibility, like locked doors, a card system to get in, fences and locked gates, cement planters on a walkway to the front door to limit ability to drive a car through. Find out details about the mindset of shooters, learn signs to look for. Discussed will be the “Run, Hide, Fight” scenario during an active shooter situation.