Running out of steam

Alan Millin.

We go to the doctor and listen as he tells us “at your age these things happen”. At the dentist we’re told that “you can expect this at your age” while at the optician we’re told that our eye muscles start to relax and lose their grip when we reach 40. Our hearing also starts to deteriorate along with everything else that’s falling apart.

And just why is 40 the magical age we ask, why not 42? We do know that 42 is the answer to everything don’t we? Consider how you, and the increasingly ageing population, spend your leisure time.

Maybe you go to the mall and window shop. Perhaps you visit the gym to try to keep fit and roll back the effects of the aging process. In the gym you’re surrounded by a wide range of people.

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Some are young, you know them, they’re the ones who still have working metabolisms and zoom around like puppies in a television commercial with a few rolls of toilet tissue. There are those who still have a few years to go until life really begins. Then there are the rest of us.

And just what, you might be asking yourselves, has this got to do with facilities management? A lot more than you might think.

The gym I use has recently been “upgrading” some of its facilities. Sadly this exercise seems to have been undertaken without any consideration for the clients or for facilities management.

What could they possibly do wrong in a gym which, let’s face it, is not exactly a place at the cutting edge of building services technology is it?

They provide us with machines designed to force our aging bodies through strange ranges and positions. They install treadmills, cross-trainers and bicycles that have electronic displays with large, easy to see numbers.

They provide us with showers that, if we’re lucky, provide water to wash with. But the best is the most recent “upgrade”. They have changed the locks on the lockers in the changing rooms from key locks to combination locks.

This might seem like a good move at first glance; the gym management does not have to worry about lost keys. Customers can choose their own memorable numbers. So what’s the problem?

Many of us on the high side of 40 are likely to wear spectacles. I have it on extremely good authority that this happens at this age.

So, whereas we used to leave our spectacles in the lockers while we tortured ourselves on equipment with easy-to-read displays, returning to open our lockers with our keys, we now have combination locks to contend with.

We have to wear our windows-on-the-world spectacles to set the combination locks. Then we have to take our glasses into the gym as we won’t be able to open the locks without them when we’ve finished. Then we have to put our glasses where the incredible hulk won’t stand on them as we move round the gym.

And it gets worse…

Having worked out for an hour or so, arms and legs wobbly from trying to impress the puppies on the next treadmill, we then have to shower. I confess, I don’t normally shower with my glasses on but at the gym I now have to take my glasses with me to the shower as I won’t be able to reopen my locker without them afterwards.

And just where are we supposed to put our designer eyewear in the shower? There are no hooks, loops, shelves, hidden pockets or anywhere else that might be suitable. I suppose the soap dispenser might come in handy as the tops are usually missing and there is usually a shortage of soap too.

Interesting, I hear you saying, but just how would facilities management input have helped?

Simple! An FM consultant or a facilities manager would have advised the gym owners to maximise the return on their investment by providing solutions that benefit clients, those very people who provide the business with its lifeblood.

Providing value to clients is what we in facilities management do for a living and we are good at it. In fact we are very good at it. So the next time you go to a gym or health centre and find yourself asking a young whippersnapper with good eyesight to help you open your locker, think FM.

Alan Millin is head of technical services, Mace Macro. He is a chartered engineer and certified member of BIFM.