Routine maintenance, defect reporting and equipment care
This domain tests the operator's part in planned maintenance, safe isolation, correct defect grading and reporting, and the care that keeps a machine serviceable and resale-ready.
Core rules
- Follow the maintenance schedule in hours, not memory: greasing intervals, oil and filter changes, track tension, wheel-nut torque and tyre pressures. Record what was done and when.
- Correct lubricants and fluids. Mixing oils, using the wrong coolant or topping up with contaminated fluid causes more damage than a low level; keep containers and funnels clean and capped.
- Hydraulic injection injury - never search for a leak with your hand. Use a piece of cardboard or paper at a safe distance; a pinhole leak at pressure can inject fluid through skin.
- Isolate before maintaining: lower the attachment, release stored hydraulic pressure, isolate the battery, apply lock-off and tag, and use a permit where the site requires one. Never work under equipment supported only by hydraulics - use certified stands or the manufacturer's locking device.
- Grade defects: safety-critical (brakes, steering, alarms, hoses, structural cracks, lifting devices) means stop, tag out, quarantine and report immediately; non-critical items are logged and monitored, not ignored.
- A written defect report needs machine identification, hour meter reading, date, exact description and location of the fault, effect on operation, and your signature.
Worked example
You find a hydraulic hose weeping at a crimped end. You park on firm level ground, lower the bucket, switch off, operate the controls to release residual pressure, tag the machine out of service and raise a defect report describing the hose position and hour reading. Reasoning: a weeping crimp can fail completely under load, and a pressurised hose released during an unplanned failure can cause serious injury or a lost load.
Traps that cost marks
- "Just topping up" oil to hide a leak rather than reporting it.
- Working under a raised loader arm or bucket with no stand.
- Writing vague defect entries such as "hydraulics faulty" that a fitter cannot act on.