28: Equipment Reliability Program Issue
Definition/Typical Issues
This major root cause category addresses issues related to the overall maintenance program, including its design and implementation. It addresses a variety of maintenance types as follows:
- Periodic maintenance
- Event-based maintenance
- Condition-based maintenance
- Fault-finding maintenance and inspection
- Corrective maintenance
- Routine inspection and servicing
Was there a problem related to the design of the maintenance program? Was the wrong type of maintenance specified for the equipment? Are there problems with the analysis process used to determine the appropriate maintenance requirements? Does the repair activity fail to cover the required scope?
Was there a problem related to the implementation of maintenance activities? Was the repair incorrectly performed? Was the troubleshooting less than adequate? Did the monitoring activity fail to detect a failing component? Was there a failure to perform the maintenance activity when it should have been (i.e., following a shutdown, before a startup, when vibration readings reached a trigger point)?
Note 1: Some organizations use the reliability-centered maintenance process as the primary driver of their equipment reliability program.
Note 2: Problems associated with determining what maintenance to perform should be coded under the Equipment Reliability Program Design Issue (#29) node. Problems associated with implementation of the maintenance should be coded under the other Cause Types under this node (#33, #37, #42, #47, #51, and #54).
Note 3: Different terms are sometimes used to refer to the maintenance types specified by the cause types used on the Root Cause Map™. Examples include:
- Periodic maintenance or preventive maintenance
- Event-based maintenance or proactive maintenance
- Condition-based maintenance or predictive maintenance
- Fault-finding maintenance and inspection issues or failure-finding maintenance and inspections
- Corrective maintenance or repair work
- Routine inspection and servicing issue or routine rounds
Examples
Example 1
- A fan system failure resulted in shutting down three paper machines. The failure was the result of a worn-out bearing. The fan system had not been identified as a critical item because no one realized the consequences of its failure.
Example 2
- Periodic maintenance procedures require heavy pieces of rotating equipment that are not in operation to be rotated to prevent the shafts from warping. Equipment that is shut down is scheduled to be rotated once per week. However, equipment in the warehouse is not covered by the procedure. As a result, some heavy rotors failed after installation.
Example 3
- Cranes were supposed to be inspected and lift-tested prior to lifting any item that was greater than 70% of the crane's rated capacity. These inspections and tests were never performed because the crane operators were unaware of this requirement.
Example 4
- A number of pump bearings have failed recently. Condition-based (predictive) maintenance was selected as the appropriate type of maintenance for the pump bearings. However, there is no procedural requirement for performing monitoring of the pump bearings. As a result, the condition-based maintenance activity was never implemented.
Example 5
- A standby diesel generator was installed to provide power to vital components during a loss of power. No testing had been performed on the diesel generator since it was installed, even though testing was required every other month. As a result, when there was a loss of power, the diesel generator did not work.
Example 6
- Mechanics' job performance was judged by how many work requests they completed. As a result, they tried to diagnose the problem as quickly as possible. This led to rework when the original repairs failed to correct the problem.
Example 7
- Operators are supposed to check for leaks in various portions of the plant. However, they usually only toured the part of the plant that was between the control room and the lunch room.
Typical Recommendations
- Assign additional resources to equipment with a demonstrated history of problems.
- Reduce maintenance on equipment that has no significant impact on production or safety and that can be easily repaired or replaced.
- Provide maintenance procedures and training appropriate to the experience level of personnel.
- Ensure that equipment monitoring for predictive maintenance is appropriate for the component.
- Ensure that personnel are provided with sufficient guidance to select appropriate maintenance tasks for different types of equipment.
- Review the frequency of periodic maintenance. If the same activity routinely needs to be performed between scheduled intervals, shorten the periodic maintenance interval.
- Ensure that triggering events for event-based maintenance are appropriate for the component's potential failure mechanisms.
- Provide guidance on the typical parameters that can be monitored to predict failures for different types of components.
- Check fault-finding testing procedures to ensure that they test the entire system and not just a portion of it.
- Perform post-maintenance testing to ensure that the maintenance is properly performed and corrects the problem.
- Ensure that all areas of the plant are covered by periodic rounds.
Cross-References
| Version 10 Element(s) | |
|---|---|
| Node ID | Node Name |
| 21 | Equipment Reliability Program Design LTA |
| 28 | Equipment Reliability Program Implementation LTA |
| PSM Element(s) |
|---|
| 12 |
| RBPS Element(s) |
|---|
| Asset Integrity and Reliability |
| Maritime Element(s) | |
|---|---|
| Node ID | Node Name |
| 7 | Reliability Program Problem |
| 34 | Maintenance Program Design |
| 40 | Maintenance Program Implementation |