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From Facilities and IT Technician to Critical Facilities Technician

A sideways move on the ladder.

Skills to build

What a Critical Facilities Technician needs beyond a Facilities and IT Technician.

Site safety

  • Assess risk and plan safe work Up to Independent
  • Electrical safety awareness Up to Independent
  • Work under a permit to work Up to Independent

Procedures and documents

  • Carry out a method of procedure (MOP) Up to Independent
  • Complete work orders and maintenance records Up to Independent
  • Keep the shift log and hand over Up to Independent
  • Follow an emergency operating procedure (EOP) Assisted
  • Work within change management Assisted

Power transfer and generation

  • Check the generator fuel system Independent
  • Prime and behind-the-meter power Assisted
  • Respond to a utility failure Up to Assisted
  • Start, load-test and stop a generator Assisted
  • Transfer and retransfer at an ATS by hand Assisted

LV distribution

  • Connect rack power and busway Up to Independent
  • Trace the power path and its redundancy Up to Independent
  • Operate LV switchboards and breakers Assisted
  • Survey electrical plant with a thermal imager Assisted

Monitoring and response

  • Escalate to the right people Independent
  • Keep incident tickets Independent
  • Triage DCIM and BMS alarms Up to Independent
  • Read trends and capacity Assisted

Safe isolation

  • Isolate and lock out a single energy source Up to Independent
  • Isolate mechanical and stored energy Independent
  • Prove dead before touching Up to Independent
  • Remove isolations and restore plant Up to Independent
  • Isolate plant with several energy sources Assisted

Cooling plant

  • Operate air handlers and respond to their faults Independent
  • Psychrometrics and the thermal envelope Up to Independent
  • Operate chilled water pumps and valves Assisted
  • Respond to rising temperatures Assisted
  • Start, stop and change over chillers Assisted

Emergency response

  • Rescue from a live electrical incident Up to Independent

BMS and fire

  • Respond to a fire alarm Up to Independent
  • Fire system cause and effect Assisted
  • Operate the BMS Assisted

Commissioning

  • Work in a site that is part live and part under construction Up to Independent
  • Run functional performance tests Assisted
  • Take part in integrated systems testing Assisted

UPS and batteries

  • Inspect and test batteries Assisted
  • Put a UPS into bypass and return it Assisted
  • Respond to a UPS alarm Assisted

Liquid cooling

  • Connect and disconnect a rack’s liquid loop Up to Independent, desirable
  • Liquid-cooled IT and its loops Up to Independent, desirable
  • Maintain filtration Independent, desirable
  • Operate and monitor a CDU Independent, desirable
  • Respond to a coolant leak or a CDU failure Up to Independent, desirable
  • Sample and test coolant Independent, desirable
About the Critical Facilities Technician role

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Sources and licences