If you're delving into maintenance strategies for the first time, you may be feeling overwhelmed. There are numerous approaches to choose from and it can be hard to know where to begin.
As the industry standard for building maintenance, SFG20 has been creating guidance to inform maintenance strategies for over 30 years - so if you've come for practical maintenance advice, you're in the right place!
In this article, you will learn what reactive maintenance is, reactive maintenance pros and cons, the different types of reactive maintenance, when and how to implement a reactive maintenance methodology, and the difference between reactive and proactive approaches to maintenance.
Reactive maintenance approaches address repair and maintenance needs as they arise, without pre-scheduled plans. The term reactive can be used interchangeably with response.
It's the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" approach, where actions are taken only after a failure has been detected or identified as likely to happen (the flickering light bulb scenario). This strategy is straightforward but comes with a set of challenges and considerations.
Reactive maintenance does have more cons than pros, but it certainly can have its place within a maintenance strategy.
When dealing with unplanned maintenance activities, there are a number of activities or approaches that are regularly adopted or talked about. There are 4 main types of reactive maintenance approaches:
Emergency maintenance is when an asset breaks down that either threatens life or property or is critical to the operation of a business. Often, it only involves "making safe" the asset or issue. Further maintenance tasks may be involved to reinstate the asset and any consequential damage.
A heating pipe bursts. The primary issue is the loss of heating within the space, but there is likely to be a secondary issue of water damage within or below the space. The emergency task may be to turn the water flow off in the heating system and prevent any further damage. If the responder does not have the right size pipework when they attend, then a follow-up maintenance task would be required to address the primary issue. A further maintenance task of repairing or replacing fabric damaged by the water may also need to be carried out.
Breakdown maintenance is maintenance performed on equipment that has become unusable or inoperable. It is based on a trigger event occurring or being reported, and may be either planned or unplanned. Depending on the criticality of the asset, such an unexpected incident could force a business to bring in costly out-of-hours engineers to fix the issue or even replace the asset altogether. It may involve multiple tasks to bring the asset back into full service. Emergency maintenance may form a subset of a breakdown maintenance approach.
An HVAC system breaks down in a commercial kitchen. Kitchen ventilation systems are critical to the safe and legal functioning of a commercial kitchen, keeping employees safe from airborne particles that cause respiratory problems. If the kitchen cannot be ventilated, it cannot operate.
Profit margins are very slim in the hospitality sector, meaning restaurants cannot afford any critical asset downtime. This would force the business to call in expensive out-of-hours engineers to fix the problem overnight in order to not miss a day of business.
Technically, any strategy that accepts reactive maintenance has adopted a "Run-to-Failure" policy, because assets are intentionally ran until they fail or partially fail. However, the proper use of the term refers to an approach where the conditional probability of failure remains low over time and the criticality of the failure is also low. This is where run-to-failure differs from breakdown maintenance - to run an asset until failure is a deliberate decision, whilst an unexpected breakdown is not. The action for a run-to-failure approach is usually the complete replacement of an asset.
The classic example is non-emergency lighting. Failure of a lamp is unlikely to cause threat to life or have a significant impact on productivity, and the cost of access is disproportionate to its unit replacement cost. There is no maintenance activity required to optimise its life, rather it's just replaced once it fails.
Corrective maintenance can be a catch-all expression to cover a reactive task. It's sometimes used to describe a task where a total breakdown has not occurred, but there may be partial failure which can cause the asset to become inoperable until corrected or reduced in efficiency.
In real terms, it is a task that is initiated when an additional risk or issue has been discovered during a separate activity. Invariably, a corrective maintenance task is a planned activity rather than an unplanned activity.
A pipe bursts in a plumbing system in an office let, flooding a toilet and necessitating an urgent visit from the plumber. As previously described, this is likely to require an emergency maintenance task to stop the leak. Once this is done, there may be a corrective maintenance task to replace the pipework and return the toilet back to full operation. There may also be a requirement to repair/replace any fabric that has been damaged by water, however this may not need to be done straight away as it wouldn't impact the operational function and is more of an aesthetic issue (unless there is the hazard of mould involved). If the asset does not immediately need to be repaired or replaced, this is known as deferred corrective maintenance.
Waiting for assets to fail isn't universally applicable but serves well under specific conditions. Being proactive with maintenance minimises risks of failure, however it will not always prevent risks turning into issues. Taking a reactive approach is best for:
For certain assets, reactive maintenance is not just inevitable but also practical. Implementing it effectively, however, requires strategic thinking:
Although it's likely not your first option, sometimes you may have no choice but to employ a strategy that involves reactive maintenance for certain assets that don't have statutory requirements. If you are going to employ a reactive maintenance approach, here's how to do it smartly:
Most Facilities Managers will employ reactive maintenance approaches as part of a wider maintenance strategy. To effectively employ a reactive maintenance approach, a Facilities Manager must:
The key difference between reactive maintenance and proactive maintenance is that a reactive maintenance approach waits for an asset to fail while proactive techniques mitigate risk and attempt to address the most likely underlying cause of failure to prevent an asset from breaking down in the first place.
Choosing how to keep your facility running smoothly is key. This involves understanding the specific needs, risks and operational priorities of your facility. A blend of reactive and proactive strategies often represents the most balanced approach, optimising both costs and operational reliability.
However, it's important to bear in mind that no one-size-fits-all here. Think about what's critical in your facility, your budget and what tools you've got. While reactive maintenance may suffice for non-critical assets with lower repair costs, proactive maintenance strategies offer a more balanced approach for ensuring reliability and reduce the risk of unexpected failures. It's ideal for critical assets where the costs of failure are high.
Understanding the role and scope of reactive maintenance is the first step toward mastering facility management. The journey toward facilities excellence however involves exploring more comprehensive strategies that balance immediate needs with long-term goals, such as achieving financial stability, sustainability, compliance and operational efficiency.
At SFG20, we understand the challenges of developing and maintaining a practical maintenance plan composed of tens, hundreds or even thousands of individual assets and building elements, and so our team want to offer you as much as our guidance at possible.
To find out more about how to implement a blended maintenance strategy, we recommend watching our free "How To Balance Your Maintenance Strategy For Optimal Return" webinar ran by industry experts.