Building a preventive maintenance program for electrical systems starts with clear objectives. NFPA 70B provides guidance for establishing an electrical preventive maintenance program that emphasizes reliability, documentation, and qualified work practices. While adoption depends on company policy and local authority decisions, many organizations use the standard to reduce failures, extend asset life, and coordinate with safety practices addressed in related standards.

Begin with a comprehensive asset inventory. Record each piece of equipment with nameplate data, location, function, and single-line references. Include switchgear, panelboards, transformers, motor control centers, generators, UPS systems, transfer switches, protective relays, and power quality equipment. A complete inventory enables consistent scheduling, risk analysis, and traceable history, all of which are foundational elements in NFPA 70B program design.

Next, rank asset criticality. Use a simple matrix that considers likelihood of failure and consequence. Consequence includes safety exposure, production loss, environmental impact, and repair cost. Criticality ranking guides your time-based and condition-based task selection and determines where to apply more frequent inspection, testing, or redundancy.

Choose maintenance strategies that align with risk and manufacturer recommendations. Typical tasks include infrared thermography, insulation resistance testing, contact resistance checks, functional testing of breakers and relays, enclosure cleaning, torque verification, and ventilation checks. For transformers, add oil sampling and analysis when applicable. Condition monitoring and predictive analytics can complement calendar intervals, shifting resources to components that exhibit emerging issues.

Develop procedures that integrate safety, access, and sequencing. Reference lockout and tagging processes, job briefings, and energized work decision-making consistent with your organization’s safety program. Ensure technicians are qualified for the specific tasks and equipment. Define acceptance criteria, test instruments, calibration intervals, and required documentation for every step so that results are reproducible and auditable.

Strengthen documentation and data flow. A CMMS or equivalent system should host work orders, results, follow-up actions, and approvals. Attach drawings, photos, and thermography images. Track PM compliance, corrective action closure, and asset condition. When specialized testing is needed, coordinate with local services for calibration, oil analysis, or relay testing and capture their reports in the same record trail.

Home office workspace evaluation

Many maintenance planners and reliability engineers now split time between field work and remote tasks such as procedure authoring, data analysis, and outage planning. A quick home office workspace evaluation helps sustain concentration and reduce fatigue that can lead to errors in analysis or documentation. Check lighting, glare, screen distance, and chair support. Ensure adequate network security and a quiet area for remote meetings that cover critical switching orders and hazard reviews.

Ergonomic desk setup checklist

An ergonomic desk setup checklist supports consistent posture during long planning sessions and post-maintenance report writing. Consider the following items:

• Seat height allows hips and knees to be roughly level
• Backrest supports the natural curve of the lower back
• Elbows at about right angles with relaxed shoulders
• External keyboard and mouse when using a laptop
• Monitor top at or slightly below eye level
• Document holder aligned near the monitor to reduce neck rotation
• Foot support if feet do not rest flat on the floor
• Task lighting positioned to minimize glare on screens

Workstation posture audit

Just as equipment receives periodic inspections, a workstation posture audit can be scheduled to keep remote and office-based staff comfortable and focused. Use a brief self-check at set intervals to confirm neutral wrists, head over shoulders, and balanced seating. Apply short movement breaks throughout the day, such as the 20-8-2 pattern — time in sitting, standing, and light movement. Consistent audits help reduce musculoskeletal strain and maintain attention to detail during complex maintenance planning.

Ergonomic workstation setup

Field teams rely on laptops and tablets for procedures, drawings, and test data. An ergonomic workstation setup approach extends to temporary spaces — trailers, control rooms, and vehicles. Raise screens with portable stands, carry a compact external keyboard, and use anti-glare filters for bright environments. Keep frequently used tools within easy reach to avoid awkward twisting. These simple adjustments support accurate data entry and review of thermography images, breaker time-current curves, and inspection checklists.

Home office ergonomics

Home office ergonomics can be included in the broader environment, health, and safety framework that supports your NFPA 70B program. Offer short training modules, provide virtual assessments when needed, and set expectations for movement breaks during long planning sessions. While NFPA 70B addresses electrical equipment maintenance rather than workstation health, strong human factors practices help maintain quality in procedures, drawings, and CMMS records that underpin the program.

To sustain the program, establish performance indicators. Track preventive maintenance completion rate, findings per inspection, mean time between failures, and work order aging. Use trend reviews to adjust intervals and task scope. When failure modes are discovered — such as recurring overheating at terminations or relay misoperations — update specifications, torque methods, or test sequences. Close the loop with root cause analysis and ensure lessons learned are embedded in standard tasks.

Finally, plan periodic program audits. Verify that asset lists stay current after projects, emergency repairs, or equipment replacements. Confirm instruments are calibrated, spare parts are stored properly, and contractor qualifications meet your requirements. Review incident reports and near-miss data for signals that maintenance frequencies or procedures need refinement. Through continuous improvement, your NFPA 70B-aligned program will remain effective, traceable, and resilient against evolving operational demands.

In summary, a strong preventive maintenance program blends disciplined asset management, risk-based task selection, qualified execution, and clear documentation. NFPA 70B offers a practical structure for these elements. Supporting human factors — including simple ergonomics for planners and technicians who spend time at desks or on mobile devices — helps keep the program accurate, consistent, and sustainable over time.