Page 24 - Occupational Health & Safety, October 2018

FACILITY SAFETY
Regular maintenance is going to lead to loading dock equipment and in-plant equipment that performs better and helps keep energy costs low.
a rushed, emergency situation. Even companies with contingency funds can’t absorb unplanned spending long term.
Regular Maintenance Minimizes Emergencies
Luckily, there is a way to avoid many of those emergency costs and unplanned downtime. Planned, or preventative, maintenance programs offer a relatively inexpensive way to reduce an organiza- tion’s dependence on internal maintenance staff providing quick fixes to problems they aren’t qualified to solve. It also reduces the company’s exposure to costs associated with emergency repairs or worker’s compensation claims.
The key is to identify wear and tear on equipment before it suffers a catastrophic breakdown. Certified professionals whose full-time job it is to diagnose and repair dock equipment as part of a planned maintenance program (PMP) can provide services that internal maintenance workers just don’t have the exper- tise for. Maintenance costs can actually be cut by 12-18 percent through a preventative maintenance plan. If equipment isn’t working properly, trained technicians on a PMP visit not only
will be able to fix the problem in less time than internal staff, but also they’ll be able to get to the root cause and offer solutions to prevent a similar failure in the future.
Prevention is critical in limiting potentially dangerous situ- ations, such as a broken vehicle restraint or damaged door. Small fixes and basic maintenance to these valuable pieces of equipment can keep them running effectively and minimize the chances of a major failure.
If an emergency does take place, a certified technician can tend to the situation quickly and more affordably than a technician who is seeing the facility for the first time.
Just like a primary care physician learns all about his or her pa- tients, a technician as part of a maintenance plan quickly learns all the nooks and crannies in a facility after several visits. Most PMPs begin with a free facility survey so the provider and the facility manager can accurately determine the state of the facility and de- cide what type of program is needed. Depending on the needs of the facility, PMP inspections can be scheduled monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or yearly. A quarterly inspection is typical with most PMPs. Over time, the familiarity of the facility improves schedul- ing and increases the efficiency of maintenance inspections.
Regular maintenance maximizes the efficiency of the equip- ment. In some cases, it can even cut energy bills by 5 to 20 percent. Similar to what exercise and a healthy diet will do for a person, a
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24 Occupational Health & Safety | OCTOBER 2018 www.ohsonline.com