What Is Preventive Maintenance?

One of our site supervisors' main roles is carrying out preventive 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 because the cost of repair and replacement is usually much higher than the cost of protection.

It includes activities such as:

• checks of equipment;

• replacing items;

• lubrication of machinery and chemical testing.

Preventive 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 your car's oil depends 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 the frequency and scale of maintenance. For example, gutter cleaning every six months or checking fire alarms once a week.

Why Is It So Important?

Preventive 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 equipment life and reduces the cost of repairing or replacing items.

Preventive maintenance is absolutely necessary when it comes to an appliance such as fire safety equipment, water filters and gas monitors. If such equipment isn’t regularly checked (and repaired or serviced if not working), the safety of people using the area is compromised.

For example, if you failed to check and replace the 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.

In conclusion, preventive maintenance is important to keeping equipment and machinery safe and efficient. It can help reduce the cost of repairing or replacing items and ensure the safety of people using the area.

Oltec Group is a leading provider of Facilities Maintenance Services across the UK, for more information please contact us on : info@oltecgroup.com