Line inspections - eyes and ears of RCM

RCM (reliability centered maintenance) is a refined maintenance philosophy that focuses on maximizing the life of facilities. It represents a shift from "repairing/replacing" equipment to "inspecting", and repairing or replacing it when its optimal service life has been reached. As a result, inspection and assessment of facilities is a critical process to the success of RCM. This shift in philosophy has a significant impact on people engaged in the inspection and assessment of facilities. Inspectors are the "eyes and ears" for RCM. The success of any RCM program is dependent on quality of the information that these people provide. This paper looks at the role of the transmission line inspector, and how they can make an effective contribution to the program.