Anticipating an Emergency
June 9, 2009
Hi. This is Chris Matt, Associate Editor of Maintenance Solutions magazine. Today’s tip … anticipating an emergency.
The only information not predictable about emergency situations is when they will occur. Experienced maintenance managers can predict most of the other factors — such as location, craft, type of work, tools, equipment and material needed — after giving some thought to the most likely occurrences.
Given these facts, managers can do much ahead of time to prepare for these events to ensure they are handled quickly and with minimal downtime and disruption. Here are steps managers can implement that will shorten emergency-response time without producing added costs:
• Post the name and phone number of the maintenance person to be contacted in each requester’s work area.
• Train personnel to notify a supervisor immediately when an emergency occurs and to have required information ready when the supervisor arrives at the work station.
• Have designated maintenance personnel trained to respond quickly with the right diagnostic tools and instruments.
• Finally, prepare tool carts with equipment for use in these situations, minimizing the time required to gather them together.
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