A new report from the UK’s leading manufacturer and direct supplier for industrial paint and repair products, Watco, has revealed the huge impact poor maintenance can have on the smooth running of a facility.
The survey highlighted three of the biggest issues that poor management of maintenance work can cause:
- An unsustainable level of downtime
- Financial losses
- Health and safety breaches
The research found that, on average, warehouses and facilities are currently suffering 27 days of downtime per year due to maintenance work, which equates to over a month’s worth of working days being lost every year. In addition, 24% of those surveyed shared that they regularly have a backlog of repair and maintenance jobs to complete.
Furthermore, hefty maintenance jobs can lead to significant financial losses too. In fact, over a third (34.8%) of respondents indicated that their business regularly goes over budget on urgent repair work to remove hazards, with multiple respondents disclosing that £1million or more is regularly spent on urgent repair work.
Without a structured maintenance regime, health and safety is also put at risk. The survey found that a third of facilities managers believe a lack of general maintenance and repair often poses a safety risk, and, over a quarter (27.2%) of those surveyed do not think that employees are aware of potential hazards and how to report any risks.
A third of respondents also said that their business has been affected by slips, trips and falls within the past two-year period. This is not only detrimental to the employee and the business, but workplace related injury or ill health currently costs the UK economy an estimated £18.8 billion a year, according to the latest Health & Safety Executive (HSE) statistics.
On the research, Scott Saunders, technical service manager at Watco commented: “Facilities managers continue to battle sector challenges such as budget constraints and changing standards, however, health & safety must always remain the highest priority.”
“But health & safety doesn’t need to come at a cost to the business. In fact, by taking a structured approach to maintaining a premises, you can start to unlock cost-savings. Employing methods such as conducting a routine warehouse inspection and completing minor repair jobs when they are first spotted and have not yet deteriorated can significantly reduce the downtime and financial investment required for major repair jobs.”
Watco’s report which lifts the lid on the challenges of maintaining a safe facility also delves deeper into the biggest perceived threats to maintaining health & safety standards and provides actionable tips on how to help mitigate these.
Scott concluded, “Some of the findings from our research could be quite alarming, however, being aware of these risks and the associated costs means that warehouse managers can mitigate the physical and financial risks before a situation escalates.”
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