Operator-
Responsibility :

Basics of operator responsibility

The fire at a chemical plant in Braunschweig and the fire at a kiosk in Düsseldorf in 2024 are examples of this: Operator responsibility is about life and limb and a high level of property protection. Real estate operators have a special responsibility and the sector is highly regulated.

Operator responsibility comprises the legal duties and responsibilities that a building operator and owner must ensure in order to guarantee the safety of building users and the operational safety of the systems.

Facility manager Peter Schmidt supports you in systematically complying with regulations and proactively taking care of user safety.

Facility manager Peter Schmidt supports you in systematically complying with regulations and proactively taking care of user safety.

He knows the complex requirements and can implement operator responsibility in a legally secure, economical and competent manner.
With his experience and know-how, he minimizes the liability risk for you and your company and ensures continuous compliance with all legal requirements, taking into account the economic requirements
You save yourself the effort of having to train your own staff in a time-consuming and possibly non-specialist manner
Only an experienced expert knows all the important laws and regulations (e.g. Occupational Health and Safety Act, Industrial Safety Ordinance, building legislation of the federal states, etc.) and shows how you as the operator can ensure that your buildings and systems always comply with the legal requirements.

In detail

Tasks in operator responsibility:
The GEFMA guideline

In the field of real estate and facility management, operator responsibility encompasses all responsibilities and duties that an operator of a property, real estate or building has towards various stakeholders (owners, legislators, employees, property insurers, users, employers’ liability insurance associations, residents, the environment, etc.), laws and regulations. A large number of tasks are designed to ensure that buildings and properties are operated safely, in compliance with the law, efficiently, sustainably and in accordance with the prescribed standards.

The German Society for Facility Management (GEFMA) created a standard for Germany for the first time in 2004 with the guideline “GEFMA 190 Operator Responsibility in Facility Management”. Facility manager Peter Schmidt is one of the few facility managers in Germany who has worked intensively with this GEFMA guideline from the outset and can therefore demonstrate a large number of successful projects for implementing operator responsibility.

Rules and
regulations

Legislators, trade associations and all building insurance companies have drawn up a comprehensive set of regulations for this purpose and have continuously adapted them in recent years, demanding strict compliance even beyond the event of damage.

Building operation and maintenance

The operator is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the properties and buildings, including maintenance, servicing, inspections, expert inspections, cleaning and security. This also includes ensuring the smooth technical operation of building systems such as ventilation, drinking water systems, heating, air conditioning and elevators.

Security management

The operator is responsible for implementing safety measures to ensure the safety of people on properties and in buildings. This includes fire protection, occupational health and safety, emergency plans, access control, evacuation drills and other safety-related aspects. For example, the operator must also ensure that outdoor traffic areas are safe to walk on, without hazards such as falling branches from trees, tripping hazards or ice in winter.

Energy efficiency and environmental protection

Operator responsibility also includes the optimization of energy consumption and the implementation of sustainable measures in property operations. This includes the implementation of energy management systems, recycling programs, proper disposal and energy-efficient technical management in property operations. For example, the Energy Efficiency Act (EnEfG) requires all companies with an annual average total energy consumption of more than 7.5 gigawatt hours (GWh) to set up an energy or environmental management system in accordance with ISO 50001 or EMAS. A software implementation can support this.

Compliance

The operator must ensure that the properties and buildings comply with the applicable laws and regulations. This includes building regulations, fire safety requirements, occupational health and safety regulations, environmental legislation and other relevant, sometimes very property-specific, legislation. For example, the operator requires a valid building permit and is well advised to operate the building in accordance with the building permit, i.e. no changes of use have been made without permits and all necessary recurring expert inspections are known or carried out.

Cost management

Operator responsibility also includes the efficient management of operating costs. This includes budgeting, procurement, contract management and the identification of cost-saving opportunities. For example, appropriate data and software are also available for operating cost management.

Customer and tenant relationships

In the case of commercial real estate, the operator is often also responsible for maintaining relationships with tenants or customers. This includes communication, fulfilling service requests and implementing a positive user experience. For example, the operator can also implement the requirements of its tenants at any time on the basis of all contracts and has the corresponding (human) resources at its disposal.

Organization of operator responsibility: What you cannot delegate.

Some tasks relating to operator responsibility can be transferred in writing (e.g. by employment contract, service contract, service agreement, service instructions, job description, etc.) to internal and external persons. Many operators wish to transfer at least part of the operator responsibility to service providers and service companies. However, there are also responsibilities that always remain with the operator:

Responsibility of the operator

Duty to organize. The operator is always responsible for organizing and regulating business operations. The regulation is comprehensive and can never be delegated to a third party. Examples of this are the definition of the structural and procedural organization, the regulation of the implementation of occupational health and safety, first aid and compliance with operational and structural fire protection.
Selection obligation. When selecting and deploying managers, external service providers and executing parties, the operator or owner is obliged to comply with certain criteria and to document this. When selecting and appointing personnel, care must be taken to ensure that only suitable persons are assigned the respective tasks. Care must also be taken to ensure that the obligated parties are also provided with sufficient (financial and human) resources.
Duty of control and supervision. The operator who delegates tasks to third parties is always obliged to monitor the quality and scope of task implementation. Only by supervising the tasks delegated to other parties does the operator adequately fulfill its operator responsibility. The duty to monitor therefore always remains with the person who delegates responsibility and cannot be delegated to a third party.

Customized for your requirements: step by step to a safe and economical solution .

Every company, every organization is different and every implementation has its own particular challenges in practice. For this reason, the objective of every introduction should be defined in advance in a constructive dialog between projects. The second step is then to define an individual approach for the next steps.

A generic goal is always to create the possibility of exculpation in the event of damage. Exculpation means exoneration from the accusation of a culpable breach of duty or justification to defend against an accusation. The easier it is to exculpate, the better a documented situation can be created from which it can be unequivocally demonstrated that the operator has fulfilled its obligations and done everything necessary to avert a case of damage. Software can also provide support here, for example.

After defining the objectives of the project and the basic approach, all stakeholders should be involved and, if necessary, the status quo of the organization should be assessed for each project team. This involves analyzing all properties, buildings, technical systems and processes for inspection, maintenance, servicing and repair based on a target/actual comparison of the actual and desired degree of fulfillment. Once the results have been compiled, the task list can be created and processed on the basis of a prioritization.

Use the advantages of an external facility manager in the documentation:

Inventory of the (facility management) organization in the company with regard to operator responsibility
Recording of all specific trades and technical systems in the building
Creation of a list of all legal and normative requirements (per trade)
Comparison and evaluation of compliance with the obligations (ACTUAL-TARGET comparison)
Concept development for optimization measures
Integration into a software project (e.g. CAFM solution) if necessary
Implementation in practice (incl. training)
Documentation of all measures
Auditing the effectiveness of the measures
Integration of further measures in the event of changes to regulations