A human safety approach to safe maintenance

Abstract

The deterioration of the technical condition of plant equipment is a common phenomenon today. This is increasingly contributing to breakdowns and accidents, according to the experience of national and international authorities. Plants that are operating with an inadequate maintenance strategy are nowadays approaching the end of their design life and thus represent an increased risk of accidents. Ageing processes are often accelerated by operators' underestimation of the effects of stresses and strains on equipment and the extent of degradation mechanisms, and consequently by inadequate design and operation of condition monitoring and maintenance procedures. The aim of our work is to investigate domestic and foreign trends in the light of modern maintenance optimization methods and to make related recommendations for optimizing maintenance scheduling for domestic employers.