Preventative Maintenance…Is it Really Necessary?

The main purpose of any type of maintenance is to ensure that when you utilize your equipment it functions properly, while posing the least amount of risk to the operator's health and safety.

While this post is focused on Preventative Maintenance, there are three main types of maintenance or servicing for your safety equipment, of which you should be aware. These are:

1. Predictive Maintenance(PdM)- This is maintenance that is conducted after assessing the data on your equipment, to determine if the requirements are met for servicing to occur. For instance, you may have a pallet truck that has been used continuously for one year, lifting near or at capacity each time. Based on the data garnered from the length of time and frequency of use, the conditions may be met for the pallet truck to require servicing to prevent any major breakdown of the equipment.

2. Corrective Maintenance(CM)- This is maintenance or servicing which occurs after an issue has been discovered with the equipment. An example of this is your pallet truck breaking down and having to fix it afterward.

3. Preventative Maintenance(PM)- This type of maintenance requires routine checks and repairs upon your safety tools or equipment, before encountering a problem. It requires you to be proactive against possible long-term and highly damaging issues, rather than being reactive to solve those issues after they occur.

There are two types of Preventative Maintenance, which guide how often you should be carrying out these checks. These are:

1. Time-based: This is a time-bound series of checks, where the timeframe to check your equipment has been predicted using the life span of the parts or the average usage of the various equipment/tools. This type of PM is usually set by an industry standard or the manufacturer of the equipment. For example, the industry standard or protocols for anyone owning a fire extinguisher is to have it checked (serviced) annually, whether that piece of equipment has been used or not within that year. This ensures that there are no rusty, broken, cracked etc. parts which could hinder the object from functioning when it is needed.

2. Usage-based: This is maintenance that is conducted when the equipment has reached a certain amount of “measurable use,” at which time maintenance would be required. For example-gained x number of miles/hours/etc. and may need servicing because of the wear and tear which is estimated to have occurred up until that point. 

With usage-based preventative maintenance, there is also an aspect that utilizes more of a personal assessment of when to service your equipment. This considers how often and in what way the equipment is used, which may provide a reason to service before the recommended miles, hours, etc. For instance, a pallet truck that must traverse across a gravelled car park to get to the storage bay may need its wheels replacing sooner than the recommended mileage as gravel will wear down the wheel faster than a smooth warehouse floor.

When engaging in Preventative Maintenance, there are four main actions which must be undertaken. These are:

• Inspection- regularly examine the equipment that is being used.
• Detection- identify if there are potential threats to the smooth operation of the equipment.
• Correction- take steps towards fixing the threat before it becomes a major problem.
• Prevention- if you regularly inspect, keep maintenance records and be mindful of the kind of use the equipment endures, you can be proactive in avoiding threats or issues developing.

Of the three types of maintenance or servicing, PM is considered to be the most expensive and inconvenient due to the rate at which it can occur. However, these aspects are manageable through practice of the above 4 actions, an effective maintenance schedule and properly kept records.

While it is considered costly and time consuming to engage in preventative maintenance, it still may not equate to the costs and losses which can occur from fixing or replacing major equipment failure or the potential risks to health and safety from failure to carry out maintenance.

Overall, Preventative Maintenance is a necessary function for any equipment that you use within your business or home to ensure its longevity and safe usage by the operators.

At Safety Supply Co. we have a Service Department, where if you have purchased fire safety equipment, pallet trucks, and/or water pumps from our company, we can professionally service your equipment for you. Contact us today via calling 246.426.4935 or via email to service@safetysupplyco.com.