Preventive maintenance refers to the practice of keeping machinery and equipment up-to-date in order to prevent problems before they occur. Preventive maintenance is important in all types of businesses, but particularly in the petroleum industry.

Both the API Spec Q1 & API Spec Q2 standards require a documented preventive maintenance program, specifically section 5.7.8 in both standards. The goal here is to keep all equipment in working order as a means to minimize risk and improve operational efficiency.

The best practices for preventive maintenance include creating a preventive maintenance plan and carrying out the plan effectively.

Create or Review Your Preventive Maintenance Plan

What are the specific preventive maintenance needs of your facility? Take into account your facility size, types of machines used, and other unique factors. If you don't currently have a plan in place, you will need to create one. Existing plans can benefit from periodic reviews.

Management should agree on a definition of what preventative maintenance means for your facility before you begin creating or revising a plan.

Take an inventory of each machine and its specific maintenance needs. Include both cleaning requirements and upkeep for each machine. Create a schedule for long- and short-term maintenance.

Organize your maintenance schedule using computer software. With so many types of machines with different needs, software can help keep everything organized and easy to keep track of.
Physical observation of machinery will also be necessary. Schedule walk-through examinations of machines by qualified employees.

Keep Employees Informed

Employees need to be aware of the preventive maintenance plan, especially those who will be conducting the inspections  or performing the maintenance. Emphasize the importance of preventive maintenance and its role in your business's continued success.

Keep up with the Plan

Ensure employees carry out the plan by keeping up with inspections, cleaning,  and other periodic maintenance. Software that creates work orders can make sure the preventive maintenance of your facility is implemented smoothly. 

Creating or updating your preventive maintenance plan doesn't have to be difficult and time-consuming. The work you do in advance could save you time and money later on.  To find out how Accupoint Software can help streamline your preventative maintenance plan, contact us.

Keeping your employees safe in the work place should be a top priority. This is especially true in the oil and gas industry.  To that end, today’s post will discuss why HSE management is important and some techniques you can apply to your business plan.
 
Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) involves creating processes for identifying workplace hazards, reducing accidents and minimizing exposure to harmful situations and substances.  This is accomplished by developing detailed operating procedures and then effectively communicating the information to your team. It is important to ensure that the information has been internalized and must be monitored to verify that it is followed.  The main goal is to maintain a safe and productive work environment. 

Why HSE Management is Important

• It prevents your business from being fined for unsafe environments.
• It will help you keep production levels up.
• It protects your company from liability and a bad reputation.
  

How to Get Employees to Comply

Employees must complete hours of training that many people find boring and useless. To keep them interested, you should develop a safety compliance plan that is interactive, interesting, and to-the-point.

• Design the training to help your employees, keeping in mind their backgrounds and what they already know.
• Keep the training session short. Break up the information into several sessions if necessary.
• Use bullet points for large amounts of information.
• Choose carefully which topics you want to cover, to avoid information overload.
• If possible, add humor to your lessons. This will help employees connect on a different level and make the training more enjoyable for everyone.
• Make the trainings available online. This will allow employees to work on it from virtually any location, encouraging faster completion.
  

Accupoint Software provides a variety of HSE management solutions that improve operations and help businesses sort through complicated and ever-changing safety regulations. To learn more about how can help, contact us.

Visitor management refers to the tracking and accounting of visitors to a facility. Visitor management is very important in the petroleum industry because of the unique safety concerns that arise. The best practices for visitor management take the visitor from arrival to departure, making the experience both informative and safe for everyone involved.

Register Visitors 
The visitor management process begins with registration. This should be done electronically when a new visitor arrives. The visitor's name, business, and time of arrival will be recorded. At this time, a badge or other form of identification can be given to the visitor so they are clearly identifiable by employees.

Safety
With the types of equipment and chemicals used in the petroleum industry, visitor safety is a major concern. Visitors may be given hard hats or other safety equipment as needed. 

Supervision
Making sure visitors are always properly supervised is a best practice for visitor management. Employees involved with supervising visitors should give visitors access to any relevant safety rules before allowing them into the facility. The employee should remain with the visitor for the duration of the visit.

Restricted Areas
There may be certain areas of your facility that visitors cannot go. Using electronic visitor management, you can restrict these areas to all or certain visitors. You may also be able to track a visitor's movements throughout a facility using their badge.

Releasing Visitors
Visitors should be released by reversing the registration process. They will need to return their badge and any safety equipment they used. The time they are released will be noted electronically in the visitor record.

Using these visitor management best practices, your facility and all visitors will remain safe and well accounted for.

To find out how Accupoint Software can help your business with visitor management, contact us.