Two of the most important strategies for facilities management teams in Ireland are preventative and reactive maintenance. SMEs and large global corporations headquartered here in Ireland depend on a careful balance of proactive and reactive maintenance for their offices, warehouses, and other premises.
What’s the difference between them, and is one preferable over the other or should they be used in tandem with one another? Choosing the right type of maintenance strategy can be crucial for your business premises, not only for regulatory compliance but also for cost savings, minimising downtime, and extending the lifespan of company assets.
What is Preventive Maintenance?
Preventive maintenance, often called Planned Preventive Maintenance, is a proactive method of maintaining and servicing business assets and equipment to ensure that they are compliant, operating properly, and any early detection of issues is noted and scheduled for servicing.
It’s commonly used for any critical or important assets or equipment, those that are expensive and need routine servicing to extend their lifespans, and any assets that are essential for regulatory compliance in Ireland.
Ongoing preventative maintenance comes with up-front costs and requires teams of personnel to plan and inspect the facilities, but in exchange offers benefits such as long-term cost savings (compared to doing emergency repairs), extended asset lifespans, minimised downtime, and improved compliance.
What is Reactive Maintenance?
Reactive maintenance, sometimes called run-to-failure, is the task of resolving issues ad hoc, i.e. after building assets break down. All reactive and corrective maintenance is unplanned, so it’s best used for assets or equipment that are not critical or rank lower in importance to daily operations.
Because reactive maintenance is unplanned, it incurs no upfront costs or routine planning, nor does it require scheduled inspections. Conversely, unanticipated asset breakdowns can cause impactful downtime to operations, and the cost of repairs can be much higher.
One key area where reactive maintenance is a necessity is for emergency systems such as building lifts, emergency lighting and fire alarms, or critical plumbing issues. Naturally, these all benefit from routine preventative maintenance as well, so that there is less reliance on reactive maintenance alone.
Cost Implications of Reactive vs Preventive Maintenance
Cost is one of the most important – and rightly so – factors to consider when it comes to Facility Management services. Foregoing preventative/reactive maintenance altogether is a recipe for disaster, so businesses should consider a practical blend of both reactive and preventive maintenance that optimises cost without sacrificing on downtime, regulatory compliance, or asset lifespans.
Over the short term, reactive has no direct costs as it’s done on an ad hoc basis. When your facility needs an emergency plumber or locksmith, for example, that cost can be quite high. Preventive, on the other hand, has consistent ongoing costs whether or not a particular asset is in need of repair.
Over the long term, preventive maintenance is substantially cheaper than relying heavily on reactive maintenance. By identifying potential defects or faults in a system early on, e.g. HVAC or plumbing, repairs may be much cheaper and less impactful on business operations if conducted sooner rather than later.
Operational Risks and Compliance Issues
While cost is an important factor, businesses must also make efforts to maintain compliance. According to the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), for example, all employers are required to carry out an annual fire risk assessment (or more frequently). This means that fire detection and warning systems, sprinklers, emergency lighting, and alarms are all inspected frequently.
The risks of foregoing preventive maintenance on critical systems such as these can lead to injuries or even fatalities if there is a fire and the emergency system breaks down at such a critical time.
Likewise, many other important facility assets and equipment must be routinely inspected not only for good measure and to prolong their lifespan, but to meet regulatory compliance and to minimise risks.
When is Reactive Maintenance Justified?
By now, it should be clear that preventive maintenance is often preferred over reactive maintenance, but that doesn’t mean that reactive maintenance is not needed. In fact, some reactive maintenance will always be necessary and in some cases, preferable.
Assets that are less critical stand to benefit from reactive maintenance. When regulatory compliance is not needed for a particular asset and it holds comparatively little value, reactive maintenance may be preferable and cheaper.
Assets that are critical to safety and/or operations like emergency systems, HVAC, or plumbing, reactive maintenance is sometimes needed even with careful preventive maintenance. The only difference is that when preventive maintenance is used, reactive maintenance may not be needed as often as faults can often be detected early on.
Choosing the Right Strategy for Your Business
Deciding between preventive/reactive maintenance isn’t a binary choice; both are necessary and with careful preventive maintenance and skilled staff, less proactive maintenance may be needed.
Take into consideration the type of operation you conduct, the size and layout of your premises, which assets and equipment need to be maintained, and choose a reputable facility management contractor in Ireland such as Brosnan Property Solutions.
Professional Planned Preventive Maintenance in Ireland
Many companies operating in Ireland lean heavily on reactive maintenance and can stand to benefit from cost savings, regulatory compliance, increased asset lifespans, and many other benefits with planned preventive maintenance.
Brosnan Property Solutions provides professional preventive maintenance, Building Services Contracts, and facility management services to keep your business premises safe, compliant, and cost-efficient. Contact our friendly team of professionals today.
