Corrective maintenance

Corrective maintenance is the work of fixing something after a fault has been found. The fault might be a complete breakdown, such as a lift stopping between floors, or a defect spotted before failure, such as a cracked pump coupling noticed during an inspection. Either way, the goal is to restore the asset so it does its job again.

Example

The guest in room 318 reports that the air conditioning is blowing warm air. Reception logs the request and assigns it to maintenance with high priority. The technician finds that a blocked condensate drain has tripped the fan coil unit’s safety switch, clears it, tests the unit and closes the job with a note and a photo.

Immediate, deferred and run-to-failure

Not all corrective work is an emergency.

• Immediate corrective maintenance: done straight away because the fault affects safety, guests or operations. This is what people usually mean by reactive or breakdown maintenance.
• Deferred corrective maintenance: the fault is logged and fixed at a convenient time, such as replacing a worn door closer in a quiet week.
• Run-to-failure: a deliberate choice for cheap, non-critical items, such as light bulbs, where fixing on failure costs less than preventing it.

How it differs from neighbouring terms

Preventive maintenance is scheduled before failure; corrective maintenance follows a fault. Both are normally managed as work orders. MTTR measures how quickly corrective work restores service. A high share of unplanned corrective work usually points to gaps in the preventive programme.

Where TaskLoop fits

Most corrective work starts as a request from a guest, resident or staff member. TaskLoop gets that request to the right technician with a priority and deadline, tracks its status in real time, escalates it if it runs late, and reports on response and completion times. See work orders.