HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – For those who have questions and may not know where to find answers, Straight Talk may be the solution. In this Straight Talk, I will answer several questions we received about base facilities.
Q. Facilities: Is it possible for all employees, to include contractors, to have access to all buildings during regular working hours?
A. The 66th Security Forces Squadron oversees the building access system. Employees can send a request through their facility manager to modify entry control or turn off the card access to buildings during duty hours; some building facility managers have already done this for their building.
Q. Facilities: Is it possible to vacuum buildings more often? Doing it every few months is not adequate.
A. The cleaning contractors vacuum facilities every two weeks. Please contact your facility manager if you feel the custodial contractor is not satisfactorily cleaning, who will notify the Civil Engineering Division.
Q. Facilities: Is it possible to install electric hand dryers in the bathrooms of Building 1607? The paper towel dispensers often run out of towels.
A. Base officials have grappled with this suggestion for several years. The bottom line is that the cost of installation is high, resulting in negligible long-term savings to the government. In addition, there have been some recent studies indicating hand dryers are unsanitary. The Air Force has a number of requirements for High Performance and Sustainable Buildings (UFC 1-2000-02); electric hand dryers detract from our ability to meet some of these requirements.
Q. Facilities: Is it possible to control indoor climate?
A. Most buildings at Hanscom are on the Energy Management and Control System. The set points for these facilities are in accordance with the Air Force requirement. If you feel too hot or too cold, please contact your facility manager, who can call the problem into the Civil Engineering Division.
Q. Facilities: Is it possible to update the water bubblers with filtered ones that fill bottles or offer water bottles in common areas?
A. Public Health officials test the water at Hanscom regularly to ensure it is safe to drink. Officials cannot support filtered filling stations because qualified personnel must change filters, which is a workload that detracts from more pressing issues. The other rationale is that, as the public water supplier, we are required to expend significant amounts of taxpayer resources to sample and test the water. This ensures it is safe to drink without filtering.
Q. Facilities: Is it possible to add three-walled covered spaces at designated smoking areas?
A. Per Air Force Instruction, the use of facility sustainment, facility restoration and modernization, or military construction funds, restricts the installation or repair of shelters or other facilities for tobacco use.
Q. Facilities: Can we add more outlets in cubes that can support electric heaters?
A. Per AFI, space heaters need to be plugged directly into a wall receptacle and cannot be plugged into a multiple outlet strip. Cubicles are considered furniture and cubicle outlets could be considered similar to an outlet strip. In addition, space heaters are a large fire hazard if not UL certified. They are also are inefficient and a costly way to heat space. If there is a problem with your heat, again please contact your building manager.
Again, thank you for sharing your questions. I encourage you to funnel comments through your chain of command or send to my team directly at hanscom.straighttalk@us.af.mil.