Planned preventative maintenance (PPM): what it is and how to keep the records

The same idea is sometimes called planned maintenance, preventive maintenance or a PPM schedule. Whatever the name, a PPM programme is only as useful as the history it leaves behind: what was done, by whom, what was found and when it is next due.

Most buildings have both. Keep them in the same history: a reactive repair on a boiler is useful context at the next planned service, and a pattern of reactive callouts on one item is a reason to revisit its planned schedule.

1. 1

   Identify what needs recurring attention

   Start from the equipment and systems: heating and hot water, ventilation and air handling, electrical distribution, fire detection and alarm, emergency lighting, lifts and lifting equipment, doors and shutters, water systems, roofs and drainage. A list of installed equipment is the natural starting point; see the plant and equipment register guide below.

2. 2

   Link each task to its equipment or area

   A task such as “service the air handling unit” belongs against that unit, not floating in a general list. Linking it means the history of the unit and the history of its servicing stay together.

3. 3

   Set how often and from when

   Take the interval from the manufacturer’s instructions, the engineer’s advice or the applicable rules, and say whether the next visit follows the calendar or counts from the last completed one.

4. 4

   Name who is responsible

   Where known, record the person or provider responsible for arranging and carrying out each task. Where nobody is named, work will tend to be missed.

5. 5

   Decide what evidence each visit should leave

   A service report, certificate, checklist or photos. Agree this up front, so completion is not just a tick.

The method matches how to create a property maintenance schedule, with more attention to equipment and providers. For the inspection side, see the commercial property maintenance checklist, and for building the equipment list itself, what a plant and equipment register is.

Completed visits are the building’s work history. Keep them after the next one is done, so a recurring fault or a lapsed provider can be spotted from the record rather than from memory.

There is no universal PPM frequency, and this guide does not set one. What is right depends on the equipment, its age and use, the manufacturer’s guidance, advice from a competent person and any rules that apply.

• Work equipment. HSE guidance says work equipment must be maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair, and that where machinery has a maintenance log, the log must be kept up to date. It does not require a log for every item.
• Lifting equipment. HSE sets thorough-examination intervals for lifting equipment, or allows an examination scheme drawn up by a competent person, and says what the report must contain. Read the HSE page rather than relying on a summary.
• Gas appliances in rented homes. HSE guidance covers annual landlord gas safety checks and the record that goes with them.
• Fire safety. GOV.UK says the responsible person must carry out and regularly review a fire risk assessment and keep a written record of it.

• Look at overdue and due-soon items on a regular rhythm, not only when something fails.
• Check by provider and by equipment as well as by date: one provider missing three visits is a different problem from three unrelated slips.
• For each overdue item, rebook, reassign or change the plan, and note why, so the history is accurate.
• Treat safety-related and system-critical items first.
• When the work is done, record the real completion date and set the next due date from it.

Across a portfolio the same review applies per property. See how to track maintenance across multiple properties.