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Maintenance, Repair & Operations

How Detailed Are Your Maintenance Procedures?

March 17, 2020

Is your department suffering from procedure overload?

In some maintenance organizations, the procedures get updated in response to some error or special circumstance. Over time, what started as a three-page procedure gets bloated to a 30-page monstrosity that nobody reads. All the tips, specs, warnings, background information, tutorials, and additional steps that seemed too important to leave out have made the procedure useless.

Even procedures not subject to this information bloat tend to be too thick. How thick is too thick? Just observe people in the field. If they do anything other than follow the procedure step by step, then it’s too big. If they flip through pages to get through it rather than read those pages, the problem is the procedure, not the person it was presumably written for.

You may be using procedures to substitute for training and not even know that. To see if you are, look at the level of detail. Is it appropriate for a person who is trained to perform the task in question?

About the Author

Mark Lamendola

Mark is an expert in maintenance management, having racked up an impressive track record during his time working in the field. He also has extensive knowledge of, and practical expertise with, the National Electrical Code (NEC). Through his consulting business, he provides articles and training materials on electrical topics, specializing in making difficult subjects easy to understand and focusing on the practical aspects of electrical work.

Prior to starting his own business, Mark served as the Technical Editor on EC&M for six years, worked three years in nuclear maintenance, six years as a contract project engineer/project manager, three years as a systems engineer, and three years in plant maintenance management.

Mark earned an AAS degree from Rock Valley College, a BSEET from Columbia Pacific University, and an MBA from Lake Erie College. He’s also completed several related certifications over the years and even was formerly licensed as a Master Electrician. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and past Chairman of the Kansas City Chapters of both the IEEE and the IEEE Computer Society. Mark also served as the program director for, a board member of, and webmaster of, the Midwest Chapter of the 7x24 Exchange. He has also held memberships with the following organizations: NETA, NFPA, International Association of Webmasters, and Institute of Certified Professional Managers.