BMS HVAC Operator

Role Purpose

The BMS HVAC Operator is responsible for the continuous monitoring and operation of the Building Management System (BMS), Environmental Monitoring System (EMS) and HVAC plant in a pharmaceutical facility. The role ensures that cleanrooms, warehouses, cold rooms, stability chambers and other controlled areas remain within validated limits for temperature, relative humidity, differential pressure, airflow and air classification. The operator is also the first responder to alarms and HVAC excursions and helps protect product quality, GMP compliance and facility uptime.

Responsibilities

BMS and Alarm Management

• Continuously monitor BMS/EMS screens for GMP and non-GMP areas, including temperature, humidity, differential pressure, airflow, filter status and equipment run status.
• Acknowledge, assess and respond to alarms within the approved response time and escalate critical alarms to the Supervisor, Engineering on-call team and QA.
• Distinguish GMP-critical EMS alarms from ordinary BMS or facility alarms and record the action, time, cause and outcome in the alarm log.
• Prepare trend reports and daily or shift status reports for critical rooms, storage areas and utilities.
• Report sensor drift, communication loss, controller failure and other BMS faults and raise the required work requests.
  
  

• Start, stop and change over AHUs, FCUs, exhaust systems and dust-collection units according to production schedules and approved SOPs.
• Operate chillers, cooling towers, chilled-water and hot-water pumps, boilers, heat exchangers and humidification or dehumidification systems within approved parameters.
• Complete plant rounds and record pressures, temperatures, flow, filter differential pressure, motor current, vibration and abnormal noise observations.
• Adjust setpoints only within approved validated ranges and only when authorised; never bypass interlocks or change control logic.
• Complete room recovery after shutdowns, power failures or maintenance and confirm acceptable room conditions before release to Production.
  
  

• Support preventive maintenance activities such as filter changes, belt checks, coil cleaning, strainer cleaning and drain inspections.
• Isolate and hand over equipment under permit-to-work and LOTO requirements, then verify safe return to service.
• Support BMS/EMS sensor calibration, HEPA filter integrity testing and airflow testing by providing access and stable operating conditions.
• Track filters, belts, chemicals and other consumables and notify the Supervisor of shortages.
  
  

• Follow cGMP, site SOPs, EU GMP including Annex 1 and Annex 15, PIC/S, WHO GMP, US FDA 21 CFR Parts 210 and 211, and applicable UAE MOHAP requirements.
• Maintain logbooks, shift reports and equipment records according to ALCOA+ data-integrity principles, with no backdating, overwriting or shared logins.
• Use BMS/EMS systems in line with 21 CFR Part 11 and EU Annex 11 controls, including individual accounts, audit-trail awareness and password confidentiality.
• Immediately report excursions outside validated temperature, humidity, pressure or classification limits and support deviation investigations, root-cause analysis and CAPA.
• Make no change to setpoints, alarm limits, sequences or equipment without approved change control.
  
  

• Provide structured shift handovers covering open alarms, abnormal conditions, equipment out of service and pending work.
• Coordinate with Production, QA, Warehouse and Maintenance during shutdowns, startups and planned interventions.
• Support qualification and requalification activities such as IQ, OQ and PQ and assist during internal, regulatory and customer audits.
• Follow emergency procedures for fire and smoke control, power failure, gas leaks and refrigerant leaks, and report incidents, near misses and unsafe conditions without delay.
  
  

• Diploma in Mechanical, Electrical, Mechatronics, HVAC or Refrigeration Engineering.
• 3 to 5 years of BMS and HVAC operating experience, including at least two years in a pharmaceutical is must.
• Hands-on experience with AHUs, chillers, cleanroom HVAC and controlled environments.
• Experience with Siemens Desigo CC is preferred; experience with Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Schneider or similar platforms is also relevant.