A Guide to PPM (Planned Preventive Maintenance) Plans An organisation’s premises may well be the most valuable asset that you own. So, it stands to reason that you’d like to keep your property in good shape. The solution? Planned preventive maintenance! Without effective PPM measures, your maintenance schedule will likely be more reactive. While reactive maintenance is often necessary, being proactive in your approach helps to stop things from going wrong in the first place, allowing your organisation to operate safely and effectively for extended periods of time. WHAT IS PPM (PLANNED PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE)? PPM (planned preventive maintenance), or scheduled maintenance, is a proactive approach to the maintenance of electrical, gas, water, heating and fire safety systems. Key maintenance jobs are scheduled to regularly take place, with detailed notes taken once it’s finished to ensure consistency. This is done to ensure that your systems are in optimum condition at all times. Fail to do this, and you’ll find yourself rushing around trying to fix issues that could have been spotted and sorted months ago. Types of PPM PPM covers the whole spectrum of property management: Electrical safety standards Boiler servicing Gas safety certificate Roof inspections Network maintenance Energy performance certificate (EPC) Fire risk assessments Lifting operations and lifting equipment regulations AOV servicing Emergency light testing Cold water storage tank chlorination Regular PPM will likely require the input from a variety of specialists, which might seem like a large investment at the time, but the costs of regular PPM are dwarfed by the costs of a disaster caused by a lack of PPM. It’s always more expensive to fix a major error, versus paying to prevent it. Take electrical PPM, for example. Example of PPM Business A choose not to implement a PPM plan, while Business B have a comprehensive, regular maintenance schedule. Business A suffer from a mild electrical fire. Their sprinkler system dealt with the blaze, but damaged many of their systems in the process. Business A now have to spend a lot of money rebuilding their electrical systems, and carrying out further surveys in their building to ensure nothing else is going to imminently go wrong. Business B, on the other hand, spotted a small fault during their regular PPM. This fault would have eventually caused the same fire, but their maintenance team spotted the fault and have rectified it before it has a chance to become an issue. Business A spends thousands replacing their systems and endure a lot of downtime, Business B spends a little, and remain safely in business. 5 KEY BENEFITS OF PLANNED PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE In addition to the above, there are a whole host of great benefits of PPM. Electrical, gas and water failures can all result in severe harm. By maintaining your systems, you’re proactively ensuring that you’re fully compliant and in adherence with the law. Regular maintenance spreads costs over the course of the year, rather than being lumped with a sudden, unexpected (and often large) sum. Many manufacturers require PPM in order to maintain warranties. Should you fail to maintain your systems, manufacturers may void your warranty. A well-maintained property will always be far more desirable to potential buyers over one that’s in disrepair. By showing a clear history of PPM, you’re demonstrating that the building has been properly cared for. Unplanned repairs are frustrating, and can take a fair while to rectify. It could take days for an engineer to finally get around to seeing you, and (as mentioned above) can cost an arm and a leg. WHAT SECTORS BENEFIT FROM PPM? Most organisations who have permanent premises should implement a PPM plan. However, more specifically: Preventive maintenance plan for schools PPM is crucial for schools and other education buildings, especially ones who rely heavily on their IT systems and network(s). Schools should conduct regular electrical, data cabling, water, fire risk & gas safety checks. Protecting your staff and students should be the utmost priority, and regular PPM is the best way to do so. Preventive maintenance plan for shared office space owners Unplanned errors often result in downtime in any organisation, which can prove catastrophic for businesses working in shared office spaces. By conducting regular, comprehensive PPM (or encouraging your landlord to do so), you’re working to ensure that your company remains in business at all times, positively impacting your bottom line by preventing all downtime. Preventive maintenance plan for retail Retail businesses need to be agile and able to react to trends, and should be 100% sure that their customers are safe while shopping. By keeping your systems maintained, your retail business is allowed the confidence to alter displays, welcome customers and ensure that your stock remains safe from unnecessary damage. Preventive maintenance plan for hospitals & medical buildings System errors can mean the difference between life and death in hospitals. It can be easy to presume that everything is working well, especially when there aren’t any obvious faults or issues. This is why PPM is essential in hospitals – it will identify underlying issues and rectify them before they cause harm. HOW TO CREATE A PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE PLAN Before you create a PPM plan, you’ll need to know what type of maintenance you’re after. Time based PPM – This is where you get your systems checked every X months (this will vary depending on the equipment/systems). Engineers might recommend that they give your systems a once over every 6 months, for example. Usage based PPM – This is best when you’re using a system/piece of equipment regularly. This can be something like usage hours (how many hours a network is at full capacity, for example), or distance/other benchmark, such as mileage or production cycles. Condition based PPM – This is the process of looking out for specific conditions in your system before conducting maintenance. Some systems feature key indicators that can be used to determine when maintenance is required (excessive vibrations, rattling, etc.). You’ll want to talk to industry specialists before making this decision, as every