Failure finding tasks are inspections we make of a particular piece of equipment to discover defects or hidden failures. Therefore, they do not fit within a specific type of maintenance. In these cases, the goal is not to maintain a certain asset, but to test whether it still works. Therefore, we can also call them “functional checks”.
It is important to underline this aspect because this is what differentiates failure finding from preventive and preventive maintenance. We are not trying to prevent or predict a failure, we are looking for it.
For example, a malfunction in an electrical generator that is used as a backup in a hospital or a hotel will never be detected during the normal operation of the building. If by any chance the generator is broken and we haven’t actively looked for failures previously, we will only find out when the light fails… which is too late! The same happens with fire alarms or smoke detectors, which are only activated under specific circumstances.
In short, failure finding tasks are necessary to have maximum reliability of security and backup mechanisms. Here are some of the systems that need this type of screening and testing regularly:
alarm systems such as fire alarms, smoke detectors, and motion detectors.
systems and electrical circuits, to test the load and current capacity.
relief systems, such as pressure relief valves or control valves.
mitigation systems to minimize the effect of possible failures, such as fire extinguishers.
backup systems, such as electrical backup generators or secondary water heating systems.
shutdown systems, components that automatically trigger and shut down the equipment (e.g. when it overheats) before damaging more expensive parts, such as the engine.
protection systems, such as electrical protection systems, including against lightning strikes (lightning rods), earth, or anti-seismic systems.