For a hospital, data centre or busy commercial building, an electrical failure is never just an electrical problem. It closes wards, stops lifts, takes systems offline and puts people at risk. A planned preventive maintenance program is the most reliable way to stop small faults becoming outages.
What a preventive electrical maintenance program covers
A good program is built around your assets and the risk each one carries, not a generic checklist. For most hospitals and commercial facilities in Perth, it includes:
- An up-to-date asset register of switchboards, distribution boards, generators, UPS systems and critical circuits
- Scheduled switchboard inspections, including thermal imaging under normal load
- RCD testing and test and tag of electrical equipment
- Six-monthly emergency and exit lighting testing to AS/NZS 2293.2
- Generator and automatic transfer switch testing for essential supply
- Testing and certification of patient areas to AS/NZS 3003 in healthcare facilities
- Clear reports that rank defects by risk, with photos and recommended repairs
Planned maintenance versus reactive repairs
Reactive repairs happen on the fault’s timetable, often after hours and at premium rates. Planned maintenance happens on yours. Defects found during inspections can be repaired during scheduled shutdowns, parts can be ordered in advance, and critical areas can be worked on when they are least busy.
Over time, inspection records also show which assets are deteriorating, so you can plan upgrades and budgets instead of reacting to failures.
Reporting that facility managers can use
Maintenance only helps if the results reach the people who make decisions. Look for a contractor who reports against your asset register, flags compliance due dates, and separates urgent defects from items that can wait for the next shutdown.
Foster’s Services is certified to ISO 55001 for asset management and NATA accredited for ISO 17020 inspection, so our testing, record-keeping and reporting follow a documented, audited system.
Extra hands when you need them
Many facility teams also need flexible support: relief cover during leave, extra electricians for a shutdown, or a technician based on site. Electrical labour hire lets you scale up without adding permanent headcount, while keeping the same contractor who already knows your site.
Talk to our facility management team
Foster’s Services has supported preventive maintenance and reactive works for major WA hospitals for more than 20 years, with 24/7 on-call support. Learn more about our electrical facility management services. Call 08 9337 3315, email service@fosters.net.au or send us a message. For urgent after-hours faults, call 1300 19 19 42.
This article is general information only. Always refer to the current editions of the relevant Australian Standards and your site’s own requirements.