If your company’s attitude toward inspecting equipment is that it’s a necessary evil, then your inspections probably are a waste of time, other than providing documentation to cover legal and regulatory requirements.

It’s a shame when companies don’t think of anything but compliance when it comes to inspections. It’s a missed opportunity, because inspecting equipment—when done properly—reduces costs.

The key tool in doing inspections the right way is an inspection checklist that has all the detail necessary for the specific type of equipment being inspected. The checklist needs to be designed for easy use in the field, but it can’t be generic. Otherwise, all the critical items on equipment won’t get inspected.

Inspection checklists can be done on paper or digitally, using mobile devices in the field connected to cloud-based computer software. Either way, if the inspection checklist is equipment-specific and detailed, you have assurance that equipment is being adequately inspected before beginning operations.

How does this save money?

The power of good checklists is that they provide guidance on the correct way to do inspections at the same time as they’re recording them—all the while reinforcing a company emphasis on doing inspections the way they should be done.

This saves money because doing inspections properly results in numerous cost-saving benefits, including:

  • Reduced project delays and labor unproductivity caused by equipment breaking down during a job.
  • Lowered maintenance costs due to small problems being identified and corrected before they become large, substantially more-expensive problems.
  • Identification of equipment-operation issues resulting in recurring equipment problems.
  • Prevention of unsafe equipment from being used, thereby reducing the threat of employee injury and accident-related costs, including fines and litigation.
  • Discouragement of equipment abuse, because the time of the damage can usually be pinpointed.
  • Creation of a culture where operators respect the equipment they use—knowing from the insistence on checklists that the organization places a value on supplying them with equipment that’s in ideal operating shape.
  • Inspection data that can be used to determine ideal maintenance schedules, maximize scheduling productivity, more accurately budget for equipment downtime, and evaluate equipment quality.

Conclusion

Without emphasis through all ranks of management and buy-in from operators, even the best checklist won’t turn equipment inspections from a disliked “chore” into a competitive advantage. But a quality checklist is essential to any significant equipment-inspection improvement.

Tags: why inspect?, checklist design, inspection management

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