QENM3-004

Handing over and confirming

completion of maintenance activities
Jordan Leah

1. The health and safety requirements of the area in which the handover
is to take place will involve checking that all safety, environmental and,
where applicable, contractual arrangements, have been met before final
handover to the appropriate person. Before handover take a place we
must make sure that area is clean, tidy and with all waste materials
removed, safety features of the machine back in place and working, all
the power units correctly connected or isolated, the area has warning
signs or barrier up.

2. The isolation process is used to isolate machinery and equipment from

its energy source. It is important to ensure the isolation of any unsafe
machinery/equipment from potential uncontrolled energy sources
during repair, service or maintenance work. At our work place we are
using personal padlocks to isolate machinery.

3. The health and safety procedures to be applied to the handover

procedure are to ensure that the work is completed free form all risks
and hazards, any equipment that is used follow the Provision and Use of
Work Equipment regulations, the correct isolation procedure is in place
and any stored energy in the equipment was released in order to
prevent any hazards, and that all permits to work have been completed
for any tasks that were required which have been signed off by an
authorised and competent person, also the work needs to follow all
regulations for what type of work has been completed such as wiring
regulations or COSHH regulations.
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4. When carrying out maintenance it is important to wear suitable

protective clothing and PPE. When carrying out electrical handover tasks
you must wear long sleeved clothing to ensure your arms do not get
caught by any electrical wire, this will ensure you are protected from
electrical shock. The PPE that must be warn are boots, overalls, helmet
and safety glasses. All PPE is provided by the employer.

5. When handing over equipment it is important to undertake some

checks on the equipment to ensure it is safe for the next person to use.
The handing over engineer should perform visual inspections of the tools
to ensure they are fit for use, they must also discard any tools that have
been broken during the maintenance process. They must then give a
verbal report to the new engineer on their findings of the tools.. In the
visual inspection the engineer will look for any damage to the tools, this
can include pieces of the tool being chipped off, any electrical insulation
missing, or any cracks or signs of wear.

6. When handing over a working activity there is a procedure to follow to

ensure the handover is done efficiently and safely. Firstly the area must
be checked for any hazards prior to introducing the new worker into the
environment, this can be done with a simple risk assessment of any
loose parts that may cause harm. After the new worker has been
introduced to the area of maintenance the problem must be described
to them as clearly as possible, this includes all symptoms of the fault and
current methods that have been tried to fix the problem, your own
diagnosis can be given but it is important that the new engineer must
understand the fault fully and make their own ideas on diagnosis also.
Next any major things to look out for should be pointed out such as
isolations and potentially harmful cables, or any broken tools, although
usually the new engineer has their own set to use. Finally a worksheet
can be handed over, this must be filled out by the engineer currently
working on the problem with things they have currently tried to fix the
problem, the new engineer on the problem can then fill the rest of it out
upon job completion and it can be signed off.
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7. When operating the newly fixed piece of equipment it is important to

ensure a fully trained operative is performing the operations. It is usually
best practice to ask the shift supervisor who is most competent to
perform the operations. If a competent person is selected to run the
machine then it is unlikely the current fault or any new ones will occur,
this is because they know the procedures of the machine and how it
operates best due to them working on it regularly.

8. When a piece of machinery has been fixed it is important to highlight

to the operative or engineer the details of the maintenance undertaken
on the machine. This is for; the development of their knowledge of the
machine, and help in changes to usual running procedure of the
machine. Continuous learning of the machine is important for
operatives, this is because if they continue to understand the machine
they can diagnose faults quicker and better for the maintenance team
fixing the fault.

9. The importance of informing appropriate persons of future

maintenance requirements is so they can plan in the future maintenance
tasks where it will not affect production. The people that need informing
of future maintenance requirements are people in supervisor roles,
these could involve shift supervisors production supervisors or
production managers. The production manager can then plan their
production around the scheduled maintenance tasks, this could be done
by moving production over onto another machine or working the
machine harder to get all the production out of it before the required
work.
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10. It is very important to confirm the person whom the work is being
handed over to understands how to use the equipment needed for the
job. This importance is in a health and safety aspect along with in a
professional aspect to ensure they can complete the job correctly and
efficiently. If the engineer who you hand the job over to can’t
understand how to use the equipment you have handed over to them
then they are often going to cause themselves harm in trying to work
out how to use it, this is because they could break something which can
have a knock on effect and cause physical damage to them, not only that
but they could break the tool or piece of equipment which could cost
the company thousands of pounds to replace in turn damaging the
company financially. It is also important to know how to use equipment
properly to ensure the job is completed efficiently and professionally.

11. It is important to ensure that the person equipment is being handed

over to accept it is in good condition so they can be sure it is safe to
work with. If a person has been handed over a piece of equipment that
is not in good working condition then it can become hazardous to the
person it is being handed to. When the piece of equipment is being
handed over it is important to ensure the other person accepts it is in
satisfactory condition, this is so you are no longer liable if any damage
occurs to the equipment or the new person using it, they can then not
claim you ampere with it prior to the event and this way you will be
covered if any accidents happen as a result of the faulty equipment.

12. When handing over jobs it is important to handover all the

documentation in order for the new engineer to understand how to
complete the job correctly, one piece of documentation is a worksheet
can be handed over, this must be filled out by the engineer currently
working on the problem with things they have currently tried to fix the
problem, the new engineer on the problem can then fill the rest of it out
upon job completion and it can be signed off. Other documentations
include permits-to-work, in which a new one must be filled out to ensure
the new engineer has the knowledge and skills to continue on the job.
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13. When in the workplace it is vital to maintain healthy working

relationships with colleagues, this is because you will be seeing them for
8 hours a day and sometimes more, you need to be able to rely on them
to do a good job to allow you to do yours well also. If your working
relationships aren’t healthy then it will become hard to work with
colleagues on a day to day basis.

14. Problems in the handover procedure can involve miscommunication of

faults and diagnosis, incomplete documentation which breach health
and safety rules, broken equipment that can slow down the handover
process, and an unsafe environment that can make handing over the job
unsafe. Miscommunication between colleagues is the most common
problem that can occur in the handover process, this can be due to poor
working relationships, or more likely an incorrect understanding of the
problem or job at hand, this can be due to lack of training or just simple
mistakes that can be made in the fault diagnosis process, these faults
can be overcome by more thorough training methods which can be done
through training courses and also handling workplace relationships
better to ensure they are maintained properly.

15. If there are problems in the work area that cannot be resolved they
must report to their employer, in reporting any problems this will allow
the employer who has more experience in the field to resolve the issue
professionally and correctly. The employee must watch whilst the issue
is resolved and make notes or learn how to deal with the situation so if
the same situation comes up again they can resolve it themselves.