What is an Equipment Maintenance Log?
An equipment maintenance log is a document for recording all the maintenance and repair done on tools or machines used in the workplace. The maintenance log’s main purpose is to keep records and establish accountability to the personnel in charge.
Managers, engineers, safety officers, and supervisors use equipment maintenance logs all the time in the workplace because it is a cheap and effective way to keep equipment records. For example, a building engineer will use maintenance logs in electrical rooms. An assigned technician will be in charge of the logbook, and the documents should contain all the people who entered and all the activity inside the room.
What Information Should be in the Equipment Maintenance Log Book?
Just simply providing a logbook or paper to serve as maintenance logs won’t be effective. So, to create an effective equipment maintenance log, a template is needed.
The template has to indicate all the necessary information that needs to be recorded. This way, all the personnel who’ll use the logs are guided. In effect, making all the equipment logs organized and uniform.
When creating a template for equipment logs, consider the 5 key information below which are referenced from a sample maintenance log from ISO 9001.
1. Date and Time
Maintenance schedules are time-sensitive, especially if it falls under the preventive maintenance category.
Preventive maintenance (PM) is regularly scheduled for equipment maintenance to ensure that a tool or machine will work efficiently and not experience sudden downtime. Schedules of preventive maintenance may vary according to recommendations of the manufacturer or a study.
So, the first critical information that an equipment maintenance log should have is the date and time since it will tell if the maintenance was completed on time.
Another reason why date and time are important is because of contract clauses. Maintenance is not free, and clients need to know if they receive what they are paying for. So, in cases of disputes, the date and time indicated on maintenance logs can be used as evidence.
Last but not least are certifications. Certifications from ISO and other institutions like OHSAS and OSHA will require dates on the equipment maintenance logs.
2. Equipment Information
When an equipment maintenance log is complete, it will be collated with other records. And without proper labeling, the maintenance logs might be mixed up and confused.
To prevent confusion with a similar machine or equipment, having detailed equipment information printed on the logs is a must. Below are some of the specific information that can be included in the log.
- Equipment Number
- Asset Number (for CMMS or something similar)
- Brand and Model
- Date Installed or Date in Service
- Location
3. Equipment Breakdown and Observations
When analyzing the cost for maintenance and repairs, having an accurate record of equipment breakdowns and observations will be helpful. And the breakdown frequency can even lead to justification for replacement.
The equipment breakdown data can also be used to compare the performances of different brands of the same equipment. So, it’s critical to include breakdowns and observations in the record logs. Aside from breakdowns, below are some of the observations that a technician or operator can include:
- Visual irregularities like deformities, rust, or smoke
- Unusual noises like intense vibrations and screeching
- Unusual parameter readings on an equipment’s control panels
4. Maintenance or Repair Description
Many maintenance procedures involve similar tests. For example, both the annual and quarterly motor preventive maintenance might include insulation testing. When solely recorded on the log as insulation testing, it can confuse when collating information.
So, the best way to do this is to name the maintenance or repair description as a whole procedure such as annual motor maintenance or quarterly pump motor maintenance. To achieve this, a supervisor or manager needs to orient his personnel about standardizing this procedure in a heavy equipment machine log.
5. Personnel Involved
For security purposes, a heavy equipment maintenance log book should have a record of all the involved personnel. The document should include the name, contact number, and affiliation.
This should be strictly implemented since not every worker is in-house personnel; many might be hired contractors. So, every person is accounted for and easy to track in case of incidents that need investigation like theft or vandalism.
Benefits of Having Accurate and Well-Kept Equipment Maintenance Logs
Maintaining accurate and organized equipment maintenance logs requires a lot of time and effort. It also requires good cooperation and communication between a manager and the workers. But, it also brings substantial benefits, and below are three of them.
1. Benefit: Provides Data Trends for Maintenance and Repair
Years of accumulated equipment maintenance logs will bring in a lot of data from which a manager or supervisor can learn. One of which is repair or replacement trends.
Repair or replacement trends will tell the average life of the equipment and its components. For example, a company that has been operating an escalator for years can get the average lifespan of comb filters, handrails, chains, and sprockets.
Knowing the average lifespan of these escalator components can help a manager make an annual budget. It can also help in making comparisons between different brands of components, thus helping a company become cost-effective.
2. Benefit: Better Personnel Accountability
Since everything is well documented through heavy equipment maintenance logs and if all the workers are well-oriented about the procedures, the workers in charge of maintaining equipment will feel responsible for their duties.
To illustrate, a manager visits the area of heavy equipment and notices an irregularity in the operation. Then, the manager proceeds to check if it is recorded in the heavy equipment maintenance log, but it isn’t recorded. The manager can hold the person in charge liable.
3. Benefit: Easier Document Presentation for Audits and Certifications
During audits and certifications, auditors will meticulously go through all maintenance logs. They will check for report gaps, long records of outstanding issues, and improvements made.
So, well-documented equipment maintenance logs are easier to present during audits and certifications since it is complete, analyzed for trends, and have been studied to make improvements.
Why Lumiform is the Best Equipment Maintenance Log
Handmade equipment maintenance logs are messy, tedious, and can be lost. And over the years, manual records can become dilapidated and unreadable. Manually analyzing trends from maintenance logs is also time-consuming.
So, why not make the switch to Lumiform, an app that can be the best equipment maintenance log? Additionally, Lumiform provides the following features:
- Automatically provide dates and timestamps to every maintenance log by using the app on-site.
- Record and retrieve all equipment information anytime, anywhere with your mobile device.
- Easily include pictures of equipment and any maintenance activity to make it more descriptive.
- Analyze maintenance trends and breakdown frequency in order to initiate measures in a timely manner.
- Easily present maintenance records during audits and certifications.