Facilities And Infrastructure Maintenance Personnel are usually adept at different trades. They repair and maintain mechanical equipment, machines and building infrastructure.
They can be found doing plumbing repair works, maintaining and repairing air conditioning and heating systems, fixing and painting roofs, doors, floors and windows and other structures within the facility. They can also be assigned to repair and maintain specialized machineries and equipment in different buildings and structures.
Nature of Work
Facilities and infrastructure maintenance personnel are generally responsible for troubleshooting and repairing defective air conditioning motors, faulty electrical systems, and malfunctioning mechanical equipment. In new buildings equipped with computer controls, they use computers to adjust building systems settings and to monitor for possible problems and issues from the computer room. Facilities and infrastructure maintenance personnel are also responsible for inspecting and diagnosing problems. They check repair manuals, read blueprints and consult parts catalogs to repair and correct the defects they find using power and hand tools. When needed, they can also use electronic testing instruments, and other specialized equipment and tools to adjust and repair malfunctioning and defective machines and equipment. They are in charge of getting the supplies needed from the storeroom or from outside sources such as distributors or contractors. Facilities and infrastructure maintenance personnel are involved in regular preventive maintenance work, making sure that equipment and machines are running efficiently and smoothly. They help in making all building systems go fully operational without downtime as much as possible. They are responsible for maintaining the physical state of facilities and infrastructure making sure that everything is in top working condition.
Qualifications
Many companies prefer that their facilities and infrastructure maintenance personnel are high school graduates. Those who have formal high school classes in electricity, mechanical drawing, wood working and computers have an advantage. However, they usually learn their specific skills from on the job training, working as apprentices or helpers to electricians, carpenters and other experienced maintenance personnel. They start by doing simple tasks and progress to more complex and difficult jobs. Before becoming fully qualified, some companies require that new maintenance personnel undergo from several months to one year of on the job training. Some may have to have computer skills if the buildings they will work on have computer control systems. They don’t need licenses to perform their basic tasks but they are required to have extensive knowledge in doing repair and maintenance tasks and have high level of aptitude for technical and mechanical jobs.