Benchmarking Your Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) Costs
EH&S Services are an important service component for many facility managers. Even if these services are provided by a sister department you should understand the cost structure to assure that is being delivered in a competitive manner.
Facility Managers can have significant impacts on their EH&S costs by understanding how they are performing relative to others and what opportunities exist to reduce or control these costs. The information you need to benchmark is the:
- Cost of your EH&S services activities
- Facility areas and occupancy counts
Step 1—Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) Services DefinitionsÂ
Environmental Health and Safety Costs—includes routine EH&S services provided at the site.
EH&S Costs for Total Site…
| Function | Internal Costs ($000) | Contractual Costs ($000) |
| EH & S Costs | ||
| Employee compensation | ||
| Consultants | ||
| Testing laboratories | ||
| Materials and supplies | ||
| Service contracts | ||
| Routine cleanup | ||
| Ergonomic evaluations in the workplace | ||
| Other | ||
| K2. Total Site EH&S costs. |
Step 2—How Do I Compare With OthersÂ
Once this information is collected it is easy to normalize the data on a unit cost basis to determine how efficiently your EH&S services are provided. For all of our benchmarking studies we use EH&S cost per gross square foot and EH&S cost per occupant to compare costs with others.
- Each bar on the chart represents a site’s annual cost per gsf for EH&S services
- The median cost for EH&S services is $0.66 per gross square foot
- Note how the costs can be divided into three quadrantsÂ
- Less than $0.25 / SF
- Between $0.25 and $1.00 / SF
- Greater than $1.00 / SF
It is interesting to note that some of the lower cost sites are more complex manufacturing facilities while some of the higher cost sites include office only type facilities.
Step 3—Using This InformationÂ
You’ve completed your EH&S services data collection and performed the calculations. Here are a few questions you should ask yourselfÂ
- Where do you stand on these charts? Are you above the median or below it?
- Could you explain to management why your positions on the charts is just right or needs to be changed?
- What are some of the reasons that explain your positions on the charts?
Step 4—Some Best PracticesÂ
- Develop a plan to integrate EH&S programs with your Strategic Facilities Plan to gain economies of scale and reduce the impacts on users.
- Utilize consultants where appropriate for project related work and use internal staff for ongoing workload.
- Communicate the programs you are implementing with your occupants in a regular and routine way. EH&S enhancements will be very visible and your occupants need to understand why these programs are being implemented.
Metrics from the Facility Managers Round Table (FMRT)
In 2005 there were 92 unique sites in the FMRT with a median size of about 1,450,000 square feet. See the chart below to see how the group looked by industry type.
Space Metrics
- Space Utilization 430 Gross Square Feet per Occupant
- Cost Metrics
- Utilities $2.17 / GSF
- Custodial $1.33 / Cleanable SF
- Maintenance $1.69 / GSF
- Parking and Paving $1529 / Acre
- Groundskeeping $3405 / Acre
- EH&S $0.73 / GSF
- Mail Services $0.22 / GSF
- Environmental Health and Safety $0.35 / GSF
- Fixed Costs (Includes: Building, Leasehold Improvements, Furniture/Equipment) $ 3.71 / GSF
Move / Churn Cost Metrics
- Box Move Costs $317 / Person Moved
Customer Satisfaction
- Satisfaction With Overall Facilities Services 3.80 on a 1 to 5 scale