The importance of preventative maintenance

What is preventative maintenance?
One of the main roles of our site supervisors have is carrying out preventative maintenance. This is a form of maintenance where work is done to prevent damage from occurring instead of fixing it. In terms of costs and efficiency, it is more advantageous over reactive maintenance. This is as cost of repair and replacement is usually much higher than cost of protection. It includes activities such as: checks of equipment; replacing items; lubrication of machinery and chemical testing.
Preventative maintenance requires thorough planning which can be split into two systems. The first is usage-based maintenance. This means that planning maintenance relies on how often you use the product. For example, changing oil in your car dependent on the miles travelled (such as oil change every 4000 miles travelled).
The other system is time-based maintenance. As the name suggests- this type of maintenance relies on time when determining frequency and scale of maintenance. For example, gutter cleaning every six months or checking fire alarms once a week.
Why is it so important?
Preventative maintenance of important tools and machinery – that is regularly checking, servicing and repairing – is essential to remove the need for costly maintenance, safety risks and inefficiency. It ensures a longer life of equipment and reduces cost of repair or replacement of items.
When it comes to apparatus such as fire safety equipment, water filters and gas monitors preventative maintenance is an absolute necessity. If such equipment isn’t regularly checked (and repaired or serviced if not working) then the safety of people using the area is compromised. For example, if you failed to check and replace batteries of your fire alarms and a fire started in the building, people may be unaware and will not evacuate the building, which can put them at a serious safety risk. Click here to access information on when fire equipment tests should be performed.
Examples of preventative maintenance from our site supervisors at Your Castle Caretakers Ltd.
Time – based maintenance
- Inspection of fire extinguishers – every six months.
- Lubrication of pumps and machinery – every six months.
- Internal inspection of walls, ceilings and floors – every year.
- Emergency lighting checks – every month.
- Computer system maintenance – every 3 months.