How to Create a Preventative Maintenance Program

In the workplace, it is crucial for maintenance and safety mangers to remain informed about the condition of the facility, machinery, and equipment. By remaining informed about facilities conditions, managers can detect any deficiencies early on to help avoid injuries, accidents, or the cost of replacing entire equipment and machinery. By implementing a preventative maintenance program, managers are constantly aware of the condition of the facility and any potential problems. This gives the managers an opportunity to immediately address any potential safety issues or hazards.

How to create and execute a preventative maintenance program within facilities:

  1. Create a binder or notebook that will keep record of the condition of the facility for the managers to review.
    • By creating a binder or notebook that will keep record of the condition and by keeping it in a designated location, managers and employees can easily have access to it and review it.
      • By keeping the notebook in a designated location, it ensures that a number of different employees can contribute and review the information provided.
  2.  Survey the current condition of the facility, equipment and machinery.
    • Safety and maintenance managers should inspect the current conditions of the facility, equipment and machinery so they are aware of the current status when the preventative maintenance program is first implemented.
    • By doing so, there is record of the original condition of the facility as well as any potential hazards. This information can be utilized by current and future maintenance and safety managers to fully understand the condition of the facility and any past repairs.
  3. Identify any repairs or hazards.
    • Safety and maintenance managers should arrange a specific time and date to inspect the facility, machinery and equipment. By completing this on a regular basis, safety and maintenance managers ensure that any potential hazards will be recognized.
    • Safety and maintenance managers should also arrange a specific time and date to meet with employees about the condition of the facility. By meeting with employees, managers have the opportunity to learn of any potential hazards or concerns employees have about the facility that they may not have noticed.
  4. If any repairs can be made upon identification, complete the repairs.
    • During the inspection, if safety and maintenance managers come across any small repairs or hazards that can be fixed immediately they should do so.
    • By completing small repairs immediately safety and maintenance managers are ensuring the repairs are fixed and are preventing the repairs from turning into large and expensive repairs that could be hazardous to workers.
  5. Schedule repairs for larger issues that cannot be completed at the time of inspection.
    • Upon noticing any large repairs that need to be addressed, safety and maintenance managers should make note of what needs to be repaired and what steps were taken to resolve the issue.
    • Managers also need to contact the appropriate people to resolve the safety hazard that was discovered.
  6. Follow up with the problem areas to ensure issues are resolved.
    • Safety and maintenance managers should also set a specific time and date to review any hazards that were discovered and needed repair to ensure the repair was completed.
    • By doing so, managers also have the opportunity to make sure the repair was satisfactory and meets the expectations necessary to provide safety to employees.
    • Managers should also make note in the notebook of what steps were taken to repair any issues, the cost, and preventative measures to avoid the repair from happening in the future.

By implementing a preventative maintenance program, managers ensure the safety of their employees within their workplace and avoid the high cost of expensive repairs by constantly being aware of any potential hazards and concerns within their facility.

Reference: 15 FAH-1 H-113.8 Preventive Maintenance (PM) Program. 15 FAH-1 H-113.5 Maintenance Management Inspections.

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