As a property manager, no matter whether you oversee a shopping plaza, office complex, warehouse site, hotel, apartment complex, or industrial or manufacturing facility, you have to watch out for a variety of environmental, health and safety (EH&S) issues.

Of all the environmental issues surrounding facility management, one of the most important to keep an eye on is the indoor air quality of places where people live, work, and otherwise stay for long periods of time.

Since we are knee-deep in the winter months, we are thinking a lot about heating oil. Although this is becoming less and less common these days, as most heat now is generated by electricity, propane or natural gas, there are still major environmental hazards related to heating oil, specifically the storage tanks, underground and aboveground.

I always love the beginning of the year. On a personal level, it’s a chance to work towards a new you by getting in shape, ditching a bad habit, or whatever your goal may be. It’s a fresh start, a clean slate.

But I’m going to recommend that you, as a facility manager, also take this opportunity to get your site’s environmental, health and safety situation in shape, too.

As a property or facility manager, you have to take care of your own operations from an environmental, health and safety standpoint but you also have to keep an eye on what your tenants are doing.

As the property manager of a strip mall or shopping plaza, you might not think you have much to worry about when it comes to environmental, health and safety issues. After all, you’re not in charge of a manufacturing facility, storing and using large amounts of hazardous materials.