Measures During Preventive Maintenance
If the plant and its accessories are not inspected and maintained regularly, they eventually become unsafe for workers working with or around them. Machines may breakdown causing loss of business. Therefore, to curb such mishaps, a periodic maintenance coupled with safety check is essential. Now, gaining the knowledge on periodic maintenance is not sufficient, it is also important to know the safety measures that one should follow while carrying out preventive maintenance at the site.
Safety Measures for Preventive Maintenance
Let us now see the different safety measures for preventive maintenance.
Wear accessories
No safety inspection and maintenance should be carried out without any protective equipment. For example, gloves, masks, eye guards, boots, jackets, etc.
Circulate work permit
If you are going to do an offline maintenance of a crane, issue a work permit and circulate the message amongst the workers beforehand. Otherwise, due to lack of knowledge, the person working on the equipment may encounter a risk.
Conduct risk assessment
Before proceeding with the maintenance activities, a risk assessment must be done and all workers must be involved in this one. It will help workers to gain better understanding about the process and will enable them to conduct their own additional assessment of the risks involved.
Effective and continuous communication
Most of the times, it is the half-broken information chain that causes mishaps during preventive maintenance. As discussed earlier, every employee of the company should be informed about the going-to-be preventive maintenance at least 3 days in advance. In addition, the safety officer must consider letting the workers inform about the same on the day of maintenance as well.
Consider the tools
Preventive maintenance is subjected to test a machine to its maximum capacity. Therefore, it should not be compromised just because you fall short of the right tool. Collect the necessary tools, wires, testers and other equipment required to run the test without exposing yourself to high voltage and current.
Always have someone to watch your back
It is always a good practice to carry out the preventive maintenance work in a group of two or three. When you work as an individual, the risk factor goes up. However, when you have someone to watch your back, the risk factor tends to be low.
