Water running a muck though a building, be it an office,
workplace, factory or home, can be a disaster. Sometimes the flow does not need
to be significant. It can be a trickle over a period of time. However,
undetected, it can cause major problems and damage costing thousands and
sometimes even millions of pounds.
This kind of situation will also have ramifications. If the
accident is due to negligence there will likely be an increase in insurance
premiums and, if it is a business, an investigation into the cause. People
could be disciplined or even lose their jobs.
In short, these things are costly and waste resources. The
time spent afterwards to resolve the situation will also lead to waste in a
sense because the focus moves away from other productive activities to dealing
with the aftermath and prevention. In a business or factory environment
services or production may be interrupted, costing even more money.
If you own or manage a business, it is possible that your
organisation has some kind of maintenance plan. There should be a section in
this plan that deals with water leak detection. If this is the case and if there are
processes and procedures in place that focus on this thing, hopefully those
processes and procedures are robust enough to work properly and thoroughly when
there is a real problem.
You may be working for an organisation that does not have a
maintenance plan and therefore you will need to start from scratch and custom
design one for your organisation and its physical infrastructure, as well as
its systems. Leak Detection should be included in that plan.
The third possibility is that you work for an organisation
or own a business that has a maintenance plan but is not addressing this issue.
Ensure that you modify the plan as quickly as possible to get this included. If
you are acquiring properties then that’s a whole different matter. Request the
plan or ensure that one is created as quickly as possible with new bills, work
with the developers and contractors to find out how one can be created and put
in place. Regardless of your own situation or building type you must realise
that a maintenance plan is a live document and then it must be updated
regularly. If you do not do this you are not taking care of your business, your
investments, and also the health and safety of employees clients and
contractors.
Whether you are a homeowner or a business owner these
pointers will help you look for water in places where it shouldn’t be. Firstly,
begin with the most obvious places. Looking kitchens, bathrooms, laundry areas
and work processing areas that have water flowing or tanks that contain water.
Be sure to look in the cistern. Examine hot water systems and also air
conditioning units. Outside, check taps and hoses.
Further afield, you can examine footpaths, landscaped areas,
garden areas and parking lots to check the damp look for tell-tale signs of
water collection or the growth of moss or green areas. If these areas are
darker in colour or greener than they should be then that can be a tell-tale
sign.
If your home, office or factory is on a metered water system
then there are simple steps you can carry out to see if pipes are cracked and
broken and allowing water to seep into hidden areas. The first thing you need
to do is ensure that no water is being used while you are carrying out the
test. This means that you have to turn off all appliances such as the
dishwasher or washing machine or any kind of equipment that uses water.
The
next step requires that you record the numbers on your water meter last thing
at night or before you leave the workplace for the day. If you conducting a
home-based test make sure you’ve communicated to everybody that you are doing
this and that no one runs any kind of appliance that uses water or has a bath
or shower. The following morning check your meter and if the numbers of changed
your test is confirming that water is seeping somewhere and that you must
investigate thoroughly to find out where, what the problem is, and how to
resolve it.
No comments:
Post a Comment