What do employers have to consider regarding maintenance?

Introduction

Maintenance can be seen as either reactive or proactive^[1]. Reactive means engaging in maintenance activity to resolve equipment and machinery which are not functioning properly. Proactive maintenance occurs when steps are taken to maintain, clean and ensure optimum functioning of machinery and equipment to prevent lack of optimum functioning. Employers need to ensure that both proactive and reactive maintenance be considered within part of the worker’s daily routine to maintain smooth running of the production process. This means that the necessary maintenance operations must be carefully planned and that the maintenance personnel must be highly qualified and able to safely carry out all maintenance interventions. Of special importance is a comprehensive risk assessment, involving the maintenance workers themselves and the resulting implementation of preventive measures. An effective monitoring system has to be in place and a continuous improvement process should be installed.

Importance of maintenance

The understanding of the word “maintenance" varies slightly between European member states. There is nevertheless a common European standard - EN 13306:2017 – defining maintenance as a "combination of all technical, administrative and managerial actions during the life cycle of an item intended to retain it in, or restore it to, a state in which it can perform the required function"^[2]. It implies a differentiation between preventive maintenance and corrective maintenance.

Maintenance plays an important role in the social and economic development of our society. Figures are difficult to establish, due to maintenance being a cross-sector activity. It is estimated that 6% of the working population in Spain and France are involved in maintenance work^[3]. This figure is higher in Germany, where more than 15% of all working persons are involved in the maintenance of machines and plants^[4].

At the organisational level, maintenance costs make up between 15%-40% of the overall operating costs^{[5] [6] [7]}, while in petrochemical, electrical power, and mining industries, manufacturing costs can surpass that of operational costs. Yet the costs caused by insufficient or omitted maintenance are considered to be four to five times as much^[8], showing an enormous potential for savings through carefully planned maintenance.

Therefore, companies that adopt a simple cost-cutting strategy with regards to maintenance may experience serious backfire in the form of increased downtime.

Furthermore, workers doing maintenance tasks are at risk, because they perform difficult jobs, often within tight time frames and in difficult, sometimes unfamiliar places. They are at risk, because they may encounter complex and sometimes faulty machines and structures. Europe-wide it is estimated that around 15-20% (depending on the country) of all accidents and 10-15% of all fatal accidents are related to maintenance operations^[3].

Adjusted management strategies establish the necessary maintenance steps to ensure the smooth running of production. Structures, machines and plants are becoming increasingly complex and need farsighted planning of maintenance. On the other hand, more sophisticated appliances like RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification), which indicate the timely exchange of parts, can support an effective form of preventive maintenance. This development obviously requires specially qualified staff. This aspect has surely contributed to the increased outsourcing of maintenance^[8]. Outsourcing may make highly specialised personnel available; however, it leads to additional risks, because the service workers are usually less familiar with the company-specific layout and construction of machinery and plants.

OSH management

Employers have to safeguard the smooth running of production by avoiding or at least minimising any down time. This requires careful planning of maintenance tasks and the quality and safety assurance of all maintenance operations. Maintenance should be an issue in its own right when formulating the company objectives^[9]. 

Organisational and operational structure

Employers have to provide the necessary organisation and resources for effective OSH management. This includes the allocation of responsibilities. Management needs to be aware of how safe maintenance can improve staff motivation and company performance. The responsible persons have to have the knowledge to carry out a risk assessment for maintenance operations and to draw the right conclusions (see also below).

When defining processes, maintenance should be considered at the design phase. Structures, machines and plants should be designed to allow easy access and safe working for maintenance personnel. Operations should be carefully planned to allow maintenance to be carried out safely, taking into account unforeseeable situations. Workers should also be consulted so that all important aspects are taken into account.

Qualification

Ensuring the qualification and further education of the workers performing maintenance tasks is another important managerial issue. As buildings and machines become more and more sophisticated maintenance staffs need to keep up with this development. Employees should be given the opportunity not only to develop their knowledge but also their experience. This is all the more important because maintenance tasks can always involve unplanned and unpredictable circumstances. This is evident from studies on maintenance work, whereby lack of qualifications were found to be contributing factors towards reduced safety in the railway maintenance^[10] [11]or across different industries^[12]. Workers need to rely on all their knowledge and skills in order to manage these situations safely. Training and coaching also play an important role in promoting safe behaviour among all workers. Team leaders and managers should lead by example and always follow the rules that have been established.

Monitoring and continuous improvement

Good management should also seek advice from outside experts where necessary, provide for effective monitoring, allow opportunities to learn from experience and thus create continuous improvement processes. Finally, all relevant aspects should be documented for further reference. In order to develop a systematic and comprehensive approach, employers should consider implementing an OSH management system, which could be integrated with a quality and environmental management system to take advantage of synergies. 

Outsourcing

Maintenance tasks are often outsourced or contracted out, as specialists are needed to carry out the often complex tasks. Similarly, the use of temporary or migrant workers to conduct maintenance tasks is prevalent across sectors^[12]. However, seen from the OSH vantage point, this means that new issues arise that have to be tackled carefully:

• Contractor workers are usually less familiar with the company-specific layout and construction of machinery and plants.
• Communication between staff and contractor workers can be problematic in terms of time, language and organisation.
• Coordination of production and maintenance work becomes more difficult.

It may be necessary to put a permission system in place, only giving specifically trained people access to high-risk areas. Coordination involving the service company has to be established while means and ways of communication between all stakeholders need to be set up accordingly. The situation in small and medium enterprises can be quite different from that of larger firms. They often have the opposite perspective, because they may be service companies doing the maintenance work for larger companies or individual customers (e.g. garages). From their point of view, it is important to always have the right contact persons, to be involved in the client’s risk assessment processes, to always be up to date regarding developments of the contractor’s buildings and machines, to have the right equipment and to receive sufficient training. In addition, the tasks and activities involving contractor staff needs to be clearly defined, there needs to be good work organisation between the contractor and host company and their workers, and there should be good communication up and down the contractor chain.

Risk assessment

Preventive measures have to be based on a prior risk assessment. A risk assessment is a careful examination of what could cause harm to people and to evaluate whether sufficient precautions are in place or whether more are needed to prevent harm. It involves identifying the hazards present in any undertaking (whether arising from work activities or from other factors, e.g. the layout of the premises) and then evaluating the extent of the risks involved, taking into account existing precautions.

Any risk assessment process should:

• look for the hazards (whether arising from work activities or from other factors, e.g. the layout of the premises),
• decide who might be harmed and how,
• evaluate the extent of the risks involved
• decide whether existing precautions are adequate or whether more control measures should be introduced
• involve employees and worker representatives, including consulting them about the risks and prevention measures in the process and providing information on risk assessment results
• take account of people’s abilities when planning work
• considering maintenance workers as part of risk assessments at the design and planning stage, making use of their experience
• record the findings

The European Commission published a guide on risk assessment at work in order to help employers and employees implement the risk assessment requirements of the Framework Directive 89/391/EEC, (see the section on legislation below). In this guide, maintenance workers were identified as “workers who may be at increased risk". The guide also points out the need to conduct a separate risk assessment for maintenance activities^[13].

The specific risk assessment has to examine: the work activities, the work equipment, the work environment, the work organisation, physical and psychosocial hazards, information and training needs. Typical hazards in maintenance work are:

• difficult access, working at height, working in awkward positions,
• working near running engines and at systems still under pressure,
• working with dangerous substances,
• electric shock, unsuitable tools,
• time pressure, improper planning, insufficient training, inappropriate communication,
• unforeseeable situations
• unfamiliar workplaces.

Outsourcing and subcontracting need special consideration, the risk assessment should include both client’s and service provider’s perspectives and coordination and communication issues.

The results of a suitable and sufficient risk assessment should enable to choose which preventive measures are most appropriate in order to prevent risks in general and also to prevent risks to any individuals identified as being particularly at risk. The implementation may mean making changes to the organisation and working procedures, working environment, Personal Protective Equipment used; training management and staff; and improving communications (see below for examples of measures).

The adoption of any policies and measures should always be carefully planned and carried out with consultation of the workforce and their representatives as a key component of success. This should include coordination and communication between the client and service company personnel. The general principle, also laid down in the respective EU directives (see below), is that risks should be prevented at source and that work organisation, tasks, equipment and tools should be adapted to workers in order to eliminate and reduce risks. Measures should follow the prevention hierarchy:

1. Elimination of risks
2. Substitution e.g. of dangerous substances
3. Collective control measures like technical, organisational and administrative measures
4. Individual control such as personal protective equipment.

There must be periodic reviews to check that measures, policies and procedures remain appropriate and are working and revised if necessary.

Preventive measures

The following table shows some typical hazards associated with maintenance work and examples of preventive measures.

Table 1: Hazards and preventive measures

Source: Adapted from^[1]

Measures in case of an accident

The accident at Union Carbide India Ltd in Bhopal 1984 indicates how important it is to have safe systems in place. On the other hand it also shows that it is equally important to be prepared when accidents happen. These should include the relevant technical skills and procedures, including first-aid organisation, of fire fighting plans and emergency plans. At the same time, other non-technical skills (e.g., decision making, situation awareness, communication and co-ordination, teamwork) should also be developed^[14]. Emergency arrangements must be planned and regularly rehearsed.. Exercises should be conducted and reviewed regularly, learning from incidents within and external to the organisation/ sector^[15].

Legislation

There is no specific legislation dealing with occupational safety and health (OSH) in maintenance. The directives laying down a general framework for the minimum requirements in protecting workers at the workplace also apply to maintenance activities. The OSH Framework Directive, Council Directive 89/391/EEC^[16], contains the general principles of prevention, lays down employers’ obligations concerning the assessment of risks, the elimination of risks and accident factors, the informing, consultation and balanced participation and training of workers and their representatives.

On the basis of the Framework Directive a series of individual directives were adopted, all relevant for carrying out maintenance in a safe manner. Many of them include specific provisions regarding maintenance activities and requirements for maintenance to eliminate workplace hazards. These directives - including the Framework Directive - had to be transposed into the national legislation of the Member States.