The Failure of Maintenance—A Paradox

Most infrequent high profile failures occur due to natural disasters, and society is mesmerized by the destruction they leave behind. When events, such as Northridge, Kobe, and Andrew occur, the media coverage is dramatic and irresistible. Not only are we touched by the cost to human lives, but also we are staggered by the costs reported for property losses, generally into the millions and even billions of dollars. Yet, there is little mention of failures that occur regularly, costs for which, over time, can also reach into the millions and billions of dollars. Failures of building envelopes, such as roofing and wall systems and facades that are intended to protect structures, occur daily in industrial facilities. They are generally less dramatic, gradual failures, yet they can lead to deterioration of steel, concrete, and wood components in a facility and can be very costly to correct. Too often failures of building envelopes of industrial facilities are not viewed as failures at all, but as inevitable maintenance items to be addressed in time as budgets allow. The term maintenance suggests that a item will be kept in good condition; if an item has failed, the action required to address it is not maintenance, but repair or replacement, either of which likely would be significantly more expensive than true maintenance. If, however, reasonable procedures are used to identify failures before they lead to extensive, unplanned, emergency repairs, significant savings would be realized. Legitimate maintenance of industrial facilities is achievable. The paper proposed will describe a program that has been used in industry to identify, rate, and recommend action to address failures that have occurred, along with maintenance to be done to minimize future failures. The paper will present case studies of the program in use and the benefits that have been realized.