63: Operational and Maintenance History Issue
Definition/Typical Issues
Was the history for the equipment incomplete? Would more complete knowledge of the equipment history have prevented the incident or lessened its severity? Was the information difficult to obtain or analyze?
Were logs, work requests, work orders, or other formal documentation not complete or up to date?
Did an error in a work request or work order cause the incident?
Do logs, work requests, work orders, and other work control documents contain insufficient detail?
Are personnel unaware of threats and hazards to operations? Were personnel unaware of the relevant aspects of the immediate situation and expectations for the near future? Was there a failure to have all the required information at hand to form a realistic assessment of the risks of the current situation?
Examples of documents that are addressed by this node include:
- Operator Logs
- Computer Logs
- Work Requests
- Batch Sheets
- Work Orders
Examples
Example 1
- A tank overflowed because of a faulty liquid level instrument. A nonroutine mode of operation cause the device to fail. Previous problems had occurred with the instrumentation under these conditions. Current personnel were unaware of the problem because no equipment history was available.
Example 2
- A flow meter in a product line failed, resulting in the wrong amount of material being sent to a customer. Records indicated that calibration of the flow sensor had been performed three times in the last month, but did not indicate how much of an adjustment was made during calibration. A large adjustment, or larger adjustments each time the maintenance was performed, might have indicated an impending failure.
Example 3
- Operators routinely performed rounds twice each shift. However, there were no guidelines provided on what to look for or what data to document. Following a number of pump failures, the equipment logs were reviewed to determine what was causing the failures, but nothing could be identified. Although the operators had looked at the pumps each shift, they had not collected any operating history on them.
Example 4
- Although the plant had undergone several mode changes and a number of other significant operations, most of these were not reflected in the operations logs. This violated company requirements.
Typical Recommendations
- Improve equipment operational and maintenance records to enable selection of the proper type of maintenance.
- Collect available information from other sources (e.g., vendors) to help complete existing equipment histories.
- Improve the system for tracking equipment histories to help ensure that all pertinent information is retained.
- Assign responsibility for maintaining and analyzing equipment repair and maintenance records.
- Periodically audit the equipment history files to help ensure that the records system is being followed.
- Assess adequacy of operator rounds and the information collected on rounds.
- Assess the adequacy of maintenance tasks that collect information on the status of equipment.
- Ensure that information collected on rounds is analyzed to determine whether problems exist with equipment.
- Develop a system for tracking equipment histories.
Cross-References
| Version 10 Element(s) | |
|---|---|
| Node ID | Node Name |
| 20 | Equipment/Operating/Maintenance History LTA |
| Maritime Element(s) | |
|---|---|
| Node ID | Node Name |
| 71 | Equipment Operating/Maintenance History |