A survey and white paper sponsored by HSS Hire, a leading U.K. rental company, in association with the Facilities Management Association, has discovered that almost one third of facilities managers are spending almost a day a week on management of their equipment.

The survey, conducted among a sample of 330 managers, found that almost 30 percent of managers spent between 10 and 20 percent of their time on equipment matters. Forty percent of the managers reported that equipment problems are responsible for service-related issues in more than one in five cases. More than half of the respondents said they were keeping equipment beyond its useful life as a result of the economic environment, with a quarter admitting losing productivity as a result of fleet age.

More than 30 percent said they were worried about prosecution for non-compliance with health and safety legislation and a quarter reported they could not prove their compliance with regulations. While 90 percent reported their operatives had been trained to use the equipment but only 70 percent thought they could prove it through paperwork.