Glossary Updates12 new terms added to the glossaries · October 2, 2026, 22:44 CEST
AI TechDocKnowledge

Glossary · Safe work, maintenance and competence

Preventive maintenance

Also known as: planned maintenance, preventative maintenance

German: Vorbeugende Instandhaltung

In maintenance, preventive maintenance is planned maintenance intended to reduce failure probability and preserve required performance, carried out at defined intervals or according to prescribed criteria.

  • Machine safety
  • Maintenance

In one sentence

Preventive maintenance is planned work that keeps failures from occurring, and for safety parts it keeps design assumptions valid.

Example

Every six months, the maintenance team of a bottling plant replaces the wear parts of the capper, checks the brake of the palletizer hoist and tests all interlock switches.

How it applies

  • Machine safety: Many safety calculations assume that components are replaced or tested at stated intervals. Preventive maintenance is how that assumption is kept true in operation; periodic proof tests serve a similar role for safety functions.
  • Technical documentation: The maintenance manual lists preventive tasks with maintenance intervals, required competence, the safe state for the work and acceptance criteria.
  • Human factors: Planned tasks are safer than breakdown repair, because time, parts and procedures are prepared. Deferring them shifts work back to corrective maintenance.
  • Evidence: Records of completed tasks show that intervals were kept; overdue safety-relevant tasks need escalation.

Preventive vs. corrective maintenance

Preventive maintenance acts before failure; corrective maintenance restores function after it.

By knowledge.aitechdoc.world · Published September 25, 2026 · Last reviewed

Source: AI TechDoc Knowledge editorial definition, based on ISO 13849-1:2023, Safety of machinery — Safety-related parts of control systems — Part 1: General principles for design

Definitions follow the cited standards and specifications. Where a source is a copyrighted publication, such as an ISO, IEC or EN standard, the definition is a close paraphrase, not a verbatim quotation, so as not to infringe copyright. We recommend reading the original publication. The sections “How it applies” are editorial commentary by AI TechDoc Knowledge and are not part of any standard.

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