Equipment operators typically don’t know what facts would be important to a pre-repair investigation and they may say things that aren’t accurate. With a little direction from you, they can be a time-saving source of troubleshooting information.
Your first step is to listen to what the operator has to say, regardless of what you think you need to hear. This not only shows respect for the operator, it opens the investigation to possibilities you may not have considered. Listen carefully, and jot down the key points. Don’t discount anything, yet.
Then review the points with the operator. For each one, ask probing questions such as “What where you doing when the noise occurred? Can you show me?”
You want to identify:
- Possible contributing factors arose just before the failure.
- Any “signature” the failure made just before occurring.
- Specifics that narrow down possibilities.
If, for example, a motor pedestal has broken an anchor bolt you may find that by asking, “When you say it vibrated, did the whole thing shake? Where did it seem to come from?”
