Facility Manager: Benefits to Developing a Generator Maintenance Checklist

on August 22, 2011 in Facility Maintenance, Facility Management, Generator Maintenance

As the facility manager, you are at times the only person who knows a backup generator is working properly. Everyone assumes that when the power goes out, the generator is just going to start up and provide whatever electricity is required to keep everything running smoothly. I come from the Healthcare industry where a generator that doesn’t kick in when needed can literally be a life or death situation. I know first hand that the time to identify, resolve and ultimately prevent generator issues is during routine maintenance. When a generator failure occurs at a hospital it’s big news! For example, earlier this year all surgeries had to stop at a hospital because the backup generator failed during routine tests. This issue was identified during a routine test so lives were not in immediate danger. However, whatever kind of facility you manage, people depend on the backup generator to function properly 100% of the time. So it’s mission critical that these machines are maintained properly.

Here are some ideas you can draw from to develop a generator maintenance checklist. Take what works for you, and depending on the extent of your emergency power needs, develop frequencies that make sense for your facility.