July 15, 2024

How To Handle Emergency Maintenance

While preventive maintenance tries to reduce the number of unplanned breakdowns, failures will happen. Some of these include emergency issues. This week, we’ll explore various aspects of how to handle emergency maintenance.

What constitutes an emergency?

What constitutes an emergency? You might discover that the cause behind a piece of equipment is not necessarily a major issue. Maybe your strategy constitutes a run-to-fail mindset. In this case, the expectation of eventual failure exists.

Also, you can't completely blame the reactive mindset. This practice has no plan for stabilizing the reliability of assets. Yes, the repairs and replacement parts might prove costly. However, leaving a machine until it does have a problem does not automatically mean an emergency.

What should you consider in determining whether you require emergency maintenance? Answer: The timing and urgency of repairs. Also known as breakdown maintenance, you face a crucial problem of facility management.

For example, an asset or piece of equipment suddenly experiences an unexpected breakdown. If not a breakdown, it undergoes a significant change in condition. This poses an immediate threat to health and safety. It requires immediate attention.

Types of Emergency Maintenance

• Safety Threats. For instance, water spills near electrical systems. A protective guard failure means a risk of exposure to hazardous moving parts. Ice or snow on walkways or weighing heavily on a roof pose a danger. Storm damage to buildings and trees risks worker safety.
• Critical Asset Failures. This refers to an important piece of machinery or other asset. Complete breakdown means delaying or halting production, or, as mentioned above, safety issues.
• Preventive Shutdown. Example – A supervisor decides to shut down sections of a power grid to prevent cascade failures across the larger grid. This temporary shutdown saves time. It's better to have a minor emergency than a widespread problem.

How To Prevent Emergency Maintenance

As mentioned above, preventive maintenance plays a part. This means that every employee plays a part. You will create strategies to conduct PMs effectively, condition-based maintenance, and predictive maintenance.

In addition, take note of the reason for failures. If the asset doesn’t have failure codes, establish a set to track and review.

Take steps to train personnel when the fault lies with "direct human error."

For instance, you won’t blame the designer for the faulty replacement part (you can deal with that issue later). The responsibility lies with the operator who tried to force the equipment to perform above or beyond capacity.

Furthermore, maintenance workers need to understand the distinction between urgent and emergency maintenance. You'll make decisions based on the availability of a backup option for a failed asset. If an alternative is available, you can schedule the maintenance as urgent. If the asset's failure threatens worker safety or is critical to production, emergency maintenance is the appropriate response.

What To Do When Emergency Maintenance Situations Arise

You follow first aid steps for injuries. Similarly, you should follow checklist steps when handling emergency maintenance.

1. Safety. Ensure the immediate safety of personnel and the work environment. Evacuate or clear the immediate area.
2. Clean. Remove any contaminants or hazards from the area. Never attempt any repairs before cleaning spills or debris. This is a good follow-up to the safety point.
3. Determine Cause. As discussed above, record why the breakdown/failure happened. This gives you a better opportunity to prevent further similar incidents.
4. Repair. Conduct the appropriate repairs to return the asset to a baseline condition.
5. Replenish. Refill any depleted resources or materials. For instance, replace lubricants and other fluids.
6. Inspect. Examine the affected asset for any additional issues or damage.
7. Run a preliminary operational test to ensure the asset is performing as needed.
8. Safety (again). Reconfirm safety measures before concluding the emergency maintenance.

Conclusion

You can't completely negate unplanned breakdowns and failures. How you handle emergency maintenance determines how soon production can be up to speed. You might determine that further training/safety measures need to be in place and the effect on future expenses.

Have an emergency maintenance plan in place, ready for those unexpected times. Make sure every employee—not just the maintenance department personnel—understands the importance of emergency maintenance and its procedures.

MAPCON / 800-922-4336