How Are Maintenance Frequencies Determined?

One asset can have several tasks with different intervals. Checking a filter, servicing a motor and carrying out an inspection are separate activities even when some happen during the same visit.

Identify the equipment, its duty and the work being scheduled. Gather the applicable instructions, assessments, previous records and specialist advice. Clarify whether the task is maintenance, inspection, testing or a further investigation; these descriptions are not interchangeable.

HSE's work-equipment maintenance guidance explains the importance of manufacturer instructions, competence and safely planned maintenance. For inspections, HSE says the need and frequency should be determined through risk assessment, considering conditions and manufacturer recommendations: inspection guidance.

Some activities have specific legal or technical timing requirements. Identify those separately rather than applying a convenient general servicing interval to everything.

A calendar interval is not always the whole instruction. A task may depend on operating hours, cycles or a defined condition. Record the relevant trigger and how it will be tracked.

Compare the conditions in which similar assets operate. Dust, weather exposure, high usage and repeated faults can change the maintenance question. Equipment in a rarely occupied area should not automatically inherit the programme for equipment running continuously elsewhere.

For each task, retain:

1. The asset reference and task description.
2. The instruction, assessment or requirement behind the timing.
3. The last reliable completion record.
4. The next due date or operating trigger.
5. The person responsible for arranging and reviewing the work.

Allow for parts, access, permits, shutdowns and the people affected. Preparation has to happen early enough for the task to meet its requirement.

Grouping several activities into one visit can be practical, but each retains its own due point and completion record. A contractor attending the building does not prove every scheduled task was completed.

Review affected tasks after repeated defects, changed use, equipment replacement or revised technical information. Inspection history may support a change to an inspection interval, but the decision needs an appropriate assessment and recorded basis.

A missed task does not become on time because its date is moved. Retain the original due point, explain the delay and establish recovery and future timing through the relevant technical decision. If a work-equipment inspection is required, HSE states that the equipment should not be used unless the inspection is known to have taken place.

Only where that timing is appropriate for each task. An annual visit can coordinate work, but it is not a universal maintenance requirement.

Cost alone does not establish an appropriate interval. Review the applicable requirements and evidence with the person competent to assess the task before changing the schedule.

Record the gap, seek the earlier evidence and obtain the technical input needed to establish the starting position. Do not invent a completion date to populate the calendar.

Explore Planned Preventative Maintenance, Asset Maintenance and Statutory Maintenance. Read what a PPM schedule should include, or discuss your maintenance requirement.