In a school the safety of the students and staff, as well as their ability to work and learn, is of paramount importance. Maintenance issues, in particular what we call maintenance emergencies, can threaten these things. Of course, you can’t control when a maintenance emergency (like flood, power loss, no water, AC out) will happen, but there are a lot of things your maintenance team can do to be better prepared for when one does happen.
One of those things (we’d say the best thing) is preventative maintenance. When your school maintenance team is performing preventative maintenance in an organized and efficient manner, not only will they be better prepared to deal with an emergency, they will also be able to prevent some from happening in the first place.
Saying that you’re going to do preventative maintenance is one thing; actually having the organization and planning you need to do it is another. The best way to ensure your school is able to do it properly, is to have a school maintenance management program. With a CMMS in place, preventative maintenance scheduling and task assignment will be easy.
Here are a few of the things a school CMMS with preventative capabilities will do:
If your school maintenance team isn’t performing preventative maintenance you could be headed down the path to a maintenance emergency. With a school facilities management software, your team will be able to perform maintenance before the equipment fails or breaks down and causes an emergency.
The simple fact is that by not focusing on a preventative maintenance program, your facility has to spend more on repairs than it would on making sure the repairs are not needed. There are always things that need to be fixed when running a facility, no matter what type it is. However, by letting the preventative measures fall to the wayside, the need for repairs starts to create a snowball effect and this can eventually get out of control.
Our CMMS for education works by allowing the user to schedule preventative measures in advance so that these particular tasks are not forgotten or pushed aside when it's busy. For instance, if the air filters in the HVAC unit need to be changed monthly, this can be entered into the program so that it automatically creates a work order on the day that it is scheduled. More or less, you can schedule it and forget it because it'll create the work order.
Recently at the Maury County Public Schools, the Assistant Director of Operations came up with a plan to focus on preventative maintenance. Stan Breeden stated, “The plan includes enacting preventive maintenance schedules, looking at when to replace buildings and eying areas of growth for future needs — not just making repairs.” This is exactly how every school should look at their maintenance plan and needs.
Ready to jump in and get started using one of our Maintenance Care CMMS programs? See the options here.
Looking for more information about how school management software can help you improve your maintenance program and be prepared for emergencies? You can read more about this, and download our Emergency Preparedness EBook by clicking the link below.