AM6 - Asset Maintenance and Cleaning

Purpose

To provide guidelines on maintenance and cleaning considerations in order to maintain safety at an aquatic facility

Description

Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 aquatic facilities have a duty of care to ensure workers and others in the aquatic facility are not exposed to hazards.

Maintenance strategies and objectives should be developed to guide maintenance planning.

The owner or operator of the aquatic facility should identify the best combination of planned versus unplanned maintenance in order to minimise risk through breakdown of critical assets e.g. pool filters or disinfection plant which can lead to facility closure or unacceptable public health and safety risks.

A planned or pro-active maintenance schedule should identify maintenance regimes for critical or high value assets. These predict wear and tear, and help to prevent problems from lack of maintenance, as well as indicating when the plant may need replacing.

Planned preventative maintenance programs should be implemented to ensure smooth and efficient running of plant and facility assets and to ensure that an asset’s life expectancy is achieved. The purpose of a preventative maintenance program is to provide a systematic approach to asset management and maintenance and provide ways for aquatic facility managers to pre-empt problems which may arise with their plant or equipment and plan resources accordingly. Pool and plant infrastructure can be very expensive to replace and / or upgrade, so aquatic facility asset owners and managers need to think very far ahead to ensure that resources are available when assets reach the end of their lifecycles and / or ensure that assets achieve their planned lifespan.

The owner or operator of an aquatic facility should ensure there is a rigorous cleaning, maintenance and inspection schedule in place

In an aquatic facility the plan would usually include:

• Plant and equipment checks (e.g. scoreboard, emergency lighting, heating and ventilation)
• Maintenance and repair work
• Cleaning maintenance work
• Health and safety equipment checks
• Water quality monitoring
• Checks against various aspects of the facility as indicated in the Guidelines for Aquatic Safety

A reactive or unplanned maintenance schedule focuses on repair or maintenance when an item fails, (e.g. Replace light bulb when it blows). It is generally lower cost, as it is not always easy to predict rates of wear and tear and therefore timing of maintenance intervention.

The asset maintenance plan should outline in considerable detail all aspects of maintenance, replacement and capital improvements to be undertaken.

Best practice repair and maintenance requires a log of all work undertaken on plant, machinery and buildings. Standards need to be set for response times (ensures efficiency) and quality standards whether by internal staff or outside contractors.

To ensure best value for money from outside contractors in terms of cost, availability and skills, carry out research on the contractors and put the contract out to tender every three years to ‘test’ the market.

Maintenance plans should:

• Ensure that the whole building is covered by the schedule
• Have a daily facility checklist
• Have specific plans posted on the wall in each area. Provide for signature and dating of maintenance records or schedule
• Consider the impact of cleaning on surface, the active ingredients in cleaning material and their relative costs if made from replenish able resources
• Consider the cost and benefit of replacing surfaces
• Consider full time or contract cleaners
• Ensure staff are trained in handling cleaning materials and chemicals
• Ensure Material Safety Data Sheets are provided and displayed
• Ensure staff have personal protective equipment available when using potentially dangerous chemicals

Hazard and Risk Management

Hazard and risk management will already be built into the planning and operations procedures of the facility but also needs to be included in the AMP. In terms of asset management, one of the important factors is the appropriate, timely and cost-effective maintenance of plant and equipment.

A good AMP considers the lifecycle of the facility and equipment, and covers all aspects of maintenance, repair and replacement of plant, equipment, and fittings in the facility and includes a timeline for such work.

Scheduled Maintenance Closures

A planned maintenance shutdown should be scheduled every 2-5 years depending on the aquatic facility to allow for a major renewal of any plant and facilities. This allows for complete maintenance work, asset replacement and repair work to be undertaken

Requirements from Contractors/Suppliers

Current manuals and instructions should be provided by the builder to the owner or management of the aquatic facility at the handover stage and should include the following:

1. Manufacturers specifications
2. Cleaning regimes
3. Equipment and chemical requirements
4. Training requirements
5. Product or cleaning instructions/restrictions
6. Maintenance requirements
7. Product MSDS and PPE requirements

References

• AS ISO 550001:2014 Asset Management – Management systems - requirements

Forms / Templates

• Asset Maintenance Schedule - Template