The Satellite Review Magazine The Satellite Review Magazine Vol 2 | Page 26

EQUIPMENT SAFETY INSPECTIONS
By Sara Rybaczewski

Marketing Coordinator, Kaufman Engineered Systems, Inc.
The key to machinery longevity is to have a preventative audit/ maintenance program. The definition of preventative is to stop something
from happening. If machines are routinely inspected and serviced the
chances of losing valuable production to machine failure is greatly
reduced. The inspection process can be broken up into categories
such as weekly, monthly and quarterly. Preventive maintenance is
broken down into four items: Scheduling, Auditing, Reporting and
Repairing.
Scheduling - The end user should establish a system to allow
entering data from the equipment manufacturer’s manuals for the
recommended service/audit procedure and intervals. Most OEM’s
have manuals for older equipment and are available upon request.
The system should be able to provide the maintenance department
with a daily list of equipment requiring audits.
Audits – The audits should be a list of required inspections and/or
lubrications needed by equipment based on the data entered for the
manuals provided by the equipment manufacturer. During the audit
any issues, noisy, leaking or broken items should be noted on the
audit form by the person conducting the audit.
Weekly Inspection Audit
- Safety and Machine operations
• Check all emergency stops, operator access gates and light
curtains for the proper operations and that they reset according
to Standard Operating Procedures “SOP”.
- Cleaning and Inspections
• Clean all photo eyes, reflectors and light curtains to ensure they
are free of debris.
• Check the alignment on photo eyes and light curtains.
• Check the condition of cables and wire carriers.
• Machine operations; watch the machine run and look for
abnormalities and functionality of the cycle.
Reporting – After the audits are preformed it is equally important
to review the audits and log the data. Record the individual’s name
that performed the audits, what procedures were completed and any
pro