5 steps to preventive maintenance: is your preventive maintenance a vicious circle, getting you into budgetary trouble, or a virtuous cycle, keeping costs under control?

Nursing Homes, Jan, 2003 by Jo-Anne Kempe

Gearing Up

Here are five steps to get you started:

1. Brainstorm resources of preventive maintenance guidelines. Obvious sources include:

* Government-legislated requirements for the seniors living industry

* Requirements of accreditation bodies

* Health and safety regulations; fire and building codes

* Recommendations of equipment manufacturers

* Your own quality standards

2. Document required tasks centrally. Pull together in one place key information on what needs to be done and when. Capture enough detail to ensure that current staff thoroughly understand how to maintain your quality standards--and that staff you hire in the future will be clear on their accountability.

3. Choose your reminder system. This can range from automatic pop-up reminders built into software, to a manual calendar with recurring tasks noted. The ideal system is easy to update, can handle tasks scheduled for two or three years from now, and reliably prevents items from falling through the cracks.

4. Agree on priorities. Clarify with all staff--and write down for future reference--what type of tasks take precedence over preventive maintenance (e.g., responding to fire and flood emergencies, neutralizing safety risks, conducting move-ins/-outs) and what tasks fall behind preventive maintenance on the priority list (e.g., non-mission-critical corrective repair, minor repair of equipment that has a back-up, "batch" jobs that are more effectively saved for a contractor to perform all at once).

5. Update regularly. Be aware of events such as asset purchase, contract renewal, or release of new government guidelines that should trigger a review and update of your preventive maintenance template.

Conclusion

There are significant cost-reduction and productivity-improvement opportunities available with a streamlined, proactive approach to physical plant management--opportunities that, for several reasons, are largely untapped. Sound preventive maintenance is one way that leaders can start to take control and provide a better living and working environment in their facilities at lower cost. Turn a vicious circle into a virtuous cycle, and the investment will pay for itself over and over again.

Jo-Anne Kempe is president of Windmill Software, a provider of physical plant management software (PM Worx) for the seniors Living industry, training, and expert advice. She can be reached at (416) 201-7624, (877) 363-9679 (toll free), or jkempe@ windmill-software.com. Ta comment on this article, please send e-mail to kempe0103@nursinghomesmagazine.com.

Windmill Software has created two checklists and a sample template to help facilities build effective preventive maintenance programs. These reflect best practices in the industry and are available at no cost. Call the toll-free number above or e-mail jkempe@windmill-software.com.