When I first started conducting infrared inspections, the only documentation I had was for the thermal anomalies that I found. At the time, I thought doing so was the best way to utilize my time. But, after a few questions were asked about whether or not a certain piece of equipment had been inspected, I realized I had no way to prove or show what had been viewed. That experience changed my perspective of the infrared camera from a trouble shooting device into that of a tool in a reliability program. A program needs schedules, routes, status updates, and reporting.
What would be the best way to generate the list of equipment I needed to create routes? Possibly an electronic list from the CMMS system? That would be a good place to start – if the site to be inspected had one and it was up-to-date.
The best method I found was to walk out the equipment, write my own list, and in doing so, create my route sheet. What is the difference between an equipment list and a route sheet? Not much. A route sheet can be used as an equipment list, which simply lists the equipment that will be inspected. A route sheet has all of the equipment plus areas to input status, notes, image numbers, and location. The status describes the state of the equipment; is it running or not, locked out, off, not in use, or any other notations as to the operational status that would affect your inspection. These details help establish a record. If a piece of equipment fails and you are asked whether or not that piece of equipment had been inspected, and if so, when, you can pull up the route sheet and give an accurate answer.
I’ve done service jobs without equipment lists and this makes me nervous so I, as a general rule, will create an equipment list as I conduct the inspection. The reason for having an equipment list is simple; there is a record of what was inspected.
Some customers have provided a list, but these lists are what they think should be inspected and not necessarily what actually will be inspected. Many times the lists provided by customers are outdated, incomplete, or vague. While these lists can be used, it’s a good practice to update and/or correct them as needed. List everything! This is time consuming but worth it in the long-run. I add my list to the report (on service jobs) so there is no misunderstanding of what was inspected.
Bottom line – keep records of what was, or was not, inspected during your inspection. This is especially important if it is a service job that you may or may not return to.