What is Preventive Maintenance?

Asset downtime costs organisations and the country millions each year, either directly or indirectly in lost productivity. However, much of it can be avoided with preventive maintenance – proactive care designed to keep assets running efficiently and safely.

SFG20, the UK industry standard for building maintenance since 1990, has long championed building safety. This guide leverages our expertise to explain what preventive maintenance is, why it matters and how to implement it effectively so your facilities stay safe, reliable and productive.

What is the Definition of Preventive Maintenance?

Preventive Maintenance is a strategy used to maintain equipment, machinery and facilities. The strategy is designed to prolong the life of business assets,
infrastructure, resources and equipment.

Rather than addressing issues after they arise (known as Reactive Maintenance), Preventive maintenance uses regularly scheduled inspections, servicing and maintenance activities to help prevent unexpected breakdowns and costly repairs.  
 

Why is Preventive Maintenance Essential? 

The main purpose of preventive maintenance is to ensure that assets remain in the best possible working condition, minimising the risk of unexpected failures and subsequent downtime, which can have operational consequences for a business.  

Preventive maintenance also helps businesses to:

• Extend asset life: Routine care slows wear and tear, maximising the lifespan of equipment.
• Lower costs: Early detection of issues avoids expensive emergency repairs and replacements.
• Ensure safety and compliance: Maintains equipment in safe working condition and meets regulatory standards.
• Improve efficiency:  Well-maintained systems operate optimally, saving energy and resources.
• Support productivity: Fewer breakdowns mean uninterrupted workflows and higher output.

This approach puts companies in control of their maintenance activities, rather than working on a continual reactive basis.

At SFG20, we advocate for a blended approach of maintenance strategies including Preventive Maintenance. To create a balanced maintenance strategy, it’s important to blend different maintenance approaches based upon the risks associated with each asset type and its availability.

How Does Preventive Maintenance Work?

Preventive maintenance typically involves the following main approaches: 

1. Time-Based Maintenance

   This involves scheduling maintenance activities at regular intervals, such as daily, weekly, monthly, or annually.
   
   

2. Usage-Based Maintenance

   This approach triggers maintenance based on the asset's utilisation, such as after a certain number of operating hours or production cycles. 
   
   

3. Condition-based Maintenance (CBM)

   This strategy monitors asset conditions to optimise maintenance scheduling. By tracking specific performance indicators, CBM ensures maintenance is performed only when equipment shows signs of potential failure. For example, maintenance might be triggered when vibration levels in a component exceed a predetermined threshold, signalling the need for replacement or lubrication.
    

4. Predictive Maintenance (PdM)

   This approach uses advanced monitoring tools to track equipment performance and anticipate potential issues before they escalate.
   By analysing parameters like vibration patterns and thermal conditions, PdM enables maintenance teams to schedule interventions that prevent unexpected failures and minimise equipment downtime.   

Common preventative maintenance tasks

Regular preventive maintenance ensures that equipment and systems operate reliably, efficiently and safely.

By proactively maintaining assets and addressing small issues before they become major problems, organisations can reduce downtime, lower repair costs and extend the life of their assets.

The following tasks are commonly included in preventive maintenance programs:

• Routine inspections: Regularly scheduled checks of equipment, such as electrical systems, HVAC units and fire alarm systems to identify potential issues before they escalate.
• Cleaning: Frequent cleaning of equipment to remove dirt and dust that can cause blockages and faults, particularly in mechanical systems.
• Lubrication: Regularly lubricating moving parts to reduce friction and prevent premature wear is crucial for mechanical longevity.
• Filter replacements: Changing air filters, oil filters and other critical components to maintain clean operation and efficiency.

In some cases, more extensive servicing or repairs (known as corrective maintenance) may be required if this is identified during regular preventive maintenance tasks. 

This can involve the repair, heavy reconditioning, or replacement of certain parts.

At a broader level, preventive maintenance encompasses the maintenance of the physical facility that supports various electrical and mechanical systems.

This includes tasks such as ensuring that HVAC systems and electrical systems are functioning properly and in compliance with regulations.

What Are The Advantages Of Preventive Maintenance? 

Statutory Compliance

Preventive maintenance doesn’t just keep your assets in optimal condition.

By regularly testing and servicing equipment in line with the latest legislation, you can help to keep your organisation compliant and in turn ensure the safety of those who use your buildings.

Supports Safety  

Properly maintained assets are less prone to malfunctions that could pose risks to workers or users.

All of these risks can be avoided by understanding your assets, using the right Facility Management (FM) software tools and following industry recognised standards such as SFG20.

Improve Equipment Lifespan  

Preventive maintenance ensures that all assets – from systems to individual assets – operate at peak efficiency.

Regular monitoring and upkeep not only helps assets reach and often exceed, its intended lifecycle but also maintains optimal performance standards.

This proactive approach significantly reduces costly emergency repairs. By extending the life of your assets, you minimise frequent replacement expenses and avoid large, unexpected expenditures when vital equipment fails.

Increased Reliability And Productivity  

Many factors contribute to business success, but productivity is one of the most powerful.  

To maximise outputs, profits, and growth potential, you must take proactive steps to prevent equipment downtime.

Frequent breakdowns don’t just halt operations: they damage productivity and increase costs, which could harm your reputation.

Implementing a preventive maintenance strategy ensures that equipment and systems are regularly serviced and performing at their best.

In fact, studies show that preventive maintenance can reduce unplanned equipment downtime, helping businesses stay productive, profitable and competitive.

Save Energy  

Poorly maintained or faulty electrical and mechanical assets don’t just risk downtime: they can also consume significantly more energy than systems operating at peak efficiency.

By implementing preventive maintenance and efficient scheduling, your organisation can identify and resolve issues early, optimising performance and reducing unnecessary energy waste.

Lower energy consumption not only reduces operational costs but also strengthens your sustainability credentials, enhances brand reputation, and opens new opportunities with environmentally conscious partners and customers.

Cut Costs  

Reactive maintenance and the downtime it causes can be extremely costly.

Depending on the organisation and its outputs, running systems and equipment to the point of failure can be more expensive compared to performing regular upkeep. This is not only because of the premium costs for emergency labour and rush-ordered parts, but also due to lost productivity and disruption.

In contrast, studies from the U.S. Department of Energy show that preventive maintenance programs can reduce overall maintenance costs by 12–18% compared to reactive approaches.

By investing time and resources into preventive maintenance, organisations minimise unplanned breakdowns and extend the lifespan of critical assets, which can result in cost savings. 

What Are The Disadvantages Of preventive maintenance? 

Resource Requirements 

Implementing a comprehensive preventive maintenance (PM) program often requires additional resources such as increased staffing requirements and greater time allocation for maintenance procedures.

Risk of Over Maintenance 

There's a delicate balance to strike in PM programs.  

Over-maintenance relates to unnecessary wear and tear of assets and can occur when resources are allocated to prevent every conceivable problem, maintenance is performed more frequently than necessary, or focus is placed on issues that pose minimal threat to operations.

Upfront Cost Considerations 

The initial costs associated with PM may be daunting, particularly for smaller businesses. 

Expenses to consider include purchasing specialised equipment, implementing new systems, providing staff training and setting up maintenance management software.

Steps to Implement Preventive Maintenance

1. Assess existing maintenance practices: Start by reviewing your existing maintenance procedures to identify reactive maintenance trends and high-risk equipment that frequently breaks down or causes downtime. This baseline can help you to define where preventative maintenance will deliver the most value.
2. Develop an asset register: Create a detailed asset register including criticality, location, condition and service history of equipment. This information will form the foundation for prioritising maintenance schedules and allocating resources effectively.
3. Define maintenance schedule and frequencies: Use authoritative guidance from SFG20 to determine your maintenance schedules, outlining which tasks are required and how often they should be performed. Ensure tasks are aligned with both statutory obligations and manufacturer recommendations to maintain continued reliability.
4. Implement maintenance through a CMMS, CAFM or IWMS: A Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS) schedules tasks, tracks completions and records evidence of work done. A Computer-Aided Facilities Management (CAFM) system expands on this by linking maintenance with asset and space management, whilst an Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) integrates maintenance and sustainability data. Together, they automate reminders, help allocate labour and maintain a full audit trail for compliance purposes.
5. Monitor and review maintenance: Regularly review the performance of preventative maintenance by tracking asset uptime, cost trends and reactive work ratios. CMMS data can support this, helping you to refine schedules and adjust task frequencies.
   
   

Understand Your Compliance Responsibilities

To wrap up, Preventive Maintenance aims to address potential issues before they escalate into major problems and is an essential investment in the longevity, efficiency and compliance of your assets. 

Understanding the principles of preventive maintenance is just the beginning: without a clear grasp of your compliance responsibilities, it’s likely that you won’t get very far.

It’s SFG20’s mission to help you maintain compliance and in turn sustain the safety of your buildings.  

That’s why we’ve created an Ultimate Guide To Compliance to help you understand your responsibilities in the clearest way possible and make compliance easier and more manageable.