Maintenance

In any undertaking, good housekeeping and maintenance are the essential routine supports of industrial safety and health. They are complementary and, on some points, it may be difficult to draw a line between them, but a general distinction may be made.

Maintenance:

Maintenance covers the work done to keep building, plant, equipment and machinery in safe and efficient working order and in good repair; the upkeep of all sanitary and welfare facilities; and the regular painting and cleaning of walls, ceilings and fixtures. Good housekeeping includes day-to-day cleanliness, tidiness and good order in all parts of the undertaking. Good housekeeping is almost impossible without good maintenance of machinery and equipment; for example it is difficult to keep a badly-worn floor clean or to keep it dry if there is leakage from a broken roof or some ill-maintained piece of plant. On the other hand, good day-by-day housekeeping will considerably cut down the amount of maintenance work required.

Many accidents can be attributed, in the first place, to defective maintenance, for example:

• Falls on broken floors or worn-down steps or stairs;
• Falls off or from defective ladders, stools or chairs;
• Access to dangerous parts of machinery through broken or badly fixed guards; and
• Scalds from leaking steam pipes or burns from unlagged hot pipes.

Workers may be trapped by fire if exit doors do not open quickly or outside staircases are damaged or obstructed; unrepaired damage to electrical equipment, earthing arrangements, plugs, flexes, etc., may bring a risk of electric shock. Lack of maintenance may be the prime cause of failure in lifting plant or explosion of pressure vessels.

Badly maintained hand tools cause many injuries. Dirty windows or light fittings may reduce the level of illumination so much that accidents occur through failure to see the danger.

More insidious dangers to health can be caused by, for example;

• Badly maintained exhaust ventilation systems which allow dangerous fumes or dust to escape into the air;
• A badly worn workbench which is difficult to keep clean;
• Defective plumbing; and
• Failure of hot water or drinking water supply.