The cycle starts itself every month
A monthly schedule creates the checklist on the first working day, with the maintenance manager, planner and site manager assigned and every task due on a date counted from the start.
Preventive Maintenance Checklist Template
Most PM programmes don’t fail on the tools. They fail quietly, one deferred task at a time, until the backlog is three months deep and the lift examination report is out of date.
A preventive maintenance schedule is easy to write and hard to keep. Assets get added without task lists, intervals copied from the manual never change, and a statutory examination slips because the reminder went to someone who left. This free preventive maintenance checklist gives facilities managers, maintenance managers and operations managers a monthly control cycle for the whole programme. It covers checking the asset register and criticality, planning and assigning the month’s PM tasks, completing them with evidence, statutory examinations, PM compliance, backlog and deferral approval, and a quarterly review that adjusts intervals from real failure data. The statutory and quarterly phases appear only in the months they apply.
A PM Programme Is More Than a Pile of PM Jobs
Every preventive maintenance task is a small job: isolate the machine, change the belts, grease the bearings, test, sign off. That job is well served by a servicing workflow, and our Equipment Servicing Workflow Checklist handles it from booking the engineer to filing the report. What a job checklist cannot tell you is whether the whole programme is working: whether every critical asset has a task list, whether this month’s tasks were done on time, and whether the intervals are right.
That is the job of this template. It runs once a month for the maintenance manager and planner, and it treats the PM schedule itself as the thing being maintained. Two numbers sit at the centre of it. PM compliance is the share of scheduled PM tasks completed within their window. Backlog is the work that is due or overdue but not yet done, usually expressed in labour hours or crew-weeks rather than a count of work orders, because ten filter changes and one gearbox rebuild are not the same size.
Triggers matter too. Time-based tasks run on the calendar; usage-based tasks run on a meter such as running hours, cycles or miles. A compressor running two shifts and one running four should not share a calendar interval, so record each task’s trigger and read the meters when planning.
One PM job
Handled by the servicing workflow
- Book the engineer and confirm access and downtime
- Isolate the asset and apply lockout before work starts
- Carry out the task list and record readings
- Test, return to service and file the service report
The PM programme
Run by this checklist every month
- Asset register, criticality and task lists kept current
- The month’s PMs and statutory examinations scheduled and assigned
- PM compliance and backlog measured, deferrals approved
- Intervals changed from failure history, not habit
What the Preventive Maintenance Checklist Covers
Six phases take the programme from a checked asset register to a reviewed schedule. Phase 4 appears only in months when a statutory examination or inspection falls due, and Phase 6 only in the last month of each quarter.
Scope
Phase 1: Scope the Month & Check the Asset Register
The two scope questions decide whether this month’s checklist shows the statutory and quarterly review tasks.
- Name the maintenance manager, planner and site manager — later tasks and the deferral approval are assigned from these fields
- Answer the scope questions — is any statutory examination or inspection due this month, and is this the last month of the quarter
- Add new and transferred assets to the register — with location, criticality rating, owner and a task list before the first PM is due
- Retire disposed assets from the schedule — so they stop generating tasks that inflate the backlog
- Confirm every critical asset has a current task list — based on the manufacturer’s instructions and your own failure history
Plan
Phase 2: Plan & Schedule the Month’s PMs
- Pull every PM due this month from the schedule — calendar tasks by due date, usage-based tasks from the latest meter readings
- Carry forward last month’s overdue tasks — at the top of the list, highest criticality first
- Book shutdowns and access windows with operations — production stops, out-of-hours visits and plant outages agreed in advance
- Check parts, consumables and specialist tools — filters, belts, lubricants and gaskets in stock before the scheduled date
- Assign each task to a technician or contractor — with the due date and the procedure attached
- Confirm contractor visits and permits — insurance, competence and any permit to work for the planned tasks
Field
Phase 3: Carry Out & Record PM Work
- Complete each PM against its task list — following the isolation and lockout procedure for that asset
- Record readings and measurements — running hours, temperatures, vibration, pressures or wear, so trends can be seen later
- Photograph the condition found and the work done — worn parts before replacement, guards refitted after
- Raise corrective work for defects found — as a separate job with its own priority, not hidden inside the PM
- Update meter readings and next due dates — so the schedule reflects what actually happened
- Collect contractor service reports — attached to the task before it is marked complete
If Due
Phase 4: Statutory Examinations & Inspections
Shown only when a statutory examination or inspection falls due this month.
- List the examinations due this month — lifting equipment, pressure systems, gas appliances, electrical systems and any others your sites carry
- Book the competent person or inspector — and confirm the equipment will be available and prepared as the scheme requires
- Attach each examination report — with the date of the next examination entered on the schedule
- Act on defects reported as dangerous — take the equipment out of use until the defect is put right
- Schedule repairs for other reported defects — within the timescale the report gives
- Check the examination scheme still matches the equipment — after modifications, relocation or a change in how it is used
Compliance
Phase 5: PM Compliance, Backlog & Deferrals
- Calculate PM compliance for the month — tasks completed within their window divided by tasks scheduled, overall and for critical assets
- Measure the backlog in labour hours — and compare it with the hours your team and contractors can deliver next month
- List every PM proposed for deferral — with the reason, the new date and the risk of running the asset longer
- Site manager approval of PM deferrals — required before any critical-asset PM moves to next month
- Record the split of planned and reactive hours — a rising reactive share is the earliest sign the programme is slipping
- Share the monthly PM report — compliance, backlog, deferrals and statutory status for each site
Quarterly
Phase 6: Quarterly Programme Review
Shown only in the last month of each quarter.
- Review the quarter’s breakdowns by asset — which failures a PM should have caught and which it could not
- Adjust intervals and task lists — shorten them where failures recur between PMs, lengthen them where several PMs found nothing
- Remove tasks that add no value — inspections nobody acts on and duplicates between contractors
- Maintenance manager approval of schedule changes — with the evidence for each change kept on the task
- Flag assets for repair-or-replace decisions — those with rising maintenance cost, falling reliability or no parts support
Statutory Inspections That Belong in the PM Schedule
Some inspections are required by law, and an inspector or insurer will ask for the reports. Put them on the same schedule as everything else so they appear in the monthly plan, not in a contractor’s reminder email. The table covers the common UK and US examples for a commercial or industrial site.
| Equipment | United Kingdom | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Lifting equipment | LOLER: thorough examination by a competent person every 6 months for equipment used to lift people and for lifting accessories, every 12 months for other lifting equipment, or at the intervals in a written examination scheme; the report records defects and the next due date | OSHA 29 CFR 1910.179: overhead and gantry cranes get frequent inspections (daily to monthly) and periodic inspections (1 to 12 months); 1910.178(q)(7): forklifts examined before being placed in service, at least daily, or after each shift when used round the clock |
| Pressure systems | Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000: a written scheme of examination must be in place before the system is used, and the system examined by a competent person at the intervals the scheme sets; covers steam at any pressure, gases above 0.5 bar and pressurised hot water above 110 °C | Nearly all states, and some cities, require periodic inspection of boilers and pressure vessels by a commissioned inspector; intervals and scope vary by jurisdiction, so check the rules for each site |
| Work equipment and machinery | PUWER regulation 5: equipment kept in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair, with any maintenance log kept up to date; regulation 6: inspection where deterioration could cause danger | OSHA 29 CFR 1910.147: energy control procedures for servicing and maintenance, each one inspected at least annually by an authorised employee and certified |
| Electrical systems | Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, regulation 4(2): systems maintained so as to prevent danger, so far as is reasonably practicable | NFPA 70B, a standard rather than a recommended practice since its 2023 edition: maintenance intervals set by an equipment condition assessment of physical condition, criticality and operating environment |
| Gas appliances and flues | Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, regulation 35: employers keep gas appliances, pipework and flues at work in a safe condition, using Gas Safe registered engineers | Set by the fuel gas code each state or city adopts, usually the International Fuel Gas Code or NFPA 54, the National Fuel Gas Code |
Refrigeration and air conditioning have their own rules. Leak checks under the F-gas regulations, the TM44 air-conditioning inspection, and EPA Section 608 and AIM Act leak repair are covered in the HVAC Maintenance Checklist. Fire alarms, emergency lighting and extinguishers belong on this schedule too, and the Fire Risk Assessment Checklist sets out what your assessment says they need. Company vehicles follow road transport rules rather than workplace equipment rules, so run them through the Fleet Vehicle Inspection Checklist.
Standards give the programme a shape. ISO 55001:2024 sets the requirements for an asset management system and covers maintenance as one stage of the asset life cycle, alongside acquisition, renewal and disposal. You do not need certification to borrow its logic: let what each asset is worth to the business decide how much maintenance it gets. In practice that means a criticality rating on every asset. A critical asset gets the shortest intervals, the tightest compliance target and deferrals that need approval. A low-criticality asset may be cheaper to run to failure, as long as that decision is written down.
Why Run Preventive Maintenance in CheckFlow?
Statutory tasks only when they are due
Two questions in Phase 1 decide what the month shows. A month with no examinations due hides Phase 4; the quarterly review appears only when the quarter closes, so routine months stay short.
Deferrals with a name against them
A critical PM cannot slip until the site manager answers the approval, and the checklist waits until they do. Examination reports and photos sit on the tasks that produced them, with a history of who did what and when.
This checklist manages the programme; individual jobs run elsewhere. The Equipment Servicing Workflow Checklist covers a single service visit, the Office Maintenance Schedule Checklist handles the daily-to-annual routine of an office, and the HVAC Maintenance Checklist runs the seasonal service on heating and cooling plant.
On a production site, pair this with the Equipment Maintenance Workflow Checklist for lockout and restart on each job, and see how CheckFlow for manufacturing handles shift handovers and safety inspections alongside the PM schedule. Monthly compliance and backlog figures can feed a dashboard through reporting.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a preventive maintenance checklist?
At the level of a single asset, it is the list of tasks a technician completes at each service. At the level of a site, which is what this template covers, it is the routine that keeps the whole PM programme on track: a current asset register, a planned and assigned month of PM tasks, statutory examinations in date, compliance and backlog measured, and intervals reviewed against failure history.
How often should preventive maintenance be carried out?
Start from the manufacturer’s recommended intervals and any statutory examination intervals, then adjust from experience. Calendar intervals suit assets that deteriorate with time; meter-based intervals, such as running hours or miles, suit assets whose wear depends on use. Review intervals at least quarterly: shorten them where failures happen between PMs and lengthen them where several PMs in a row found nothing to fix.
How do you calculate PM compliance?
Divide the number of PM tasks completed within their window by the number scheduled in the period. Decide the window before you start measuring, for example within the scheduled week for monthly tasks, and do not count a task as compliant because it was eventually done. Report critical assets separately, because a high overall figure can hide overdue work on the equipment that matters most.
Which maintenance inspections are a legal requirement?
In the UK, thorough examinations of lifting equipment under LOLER and examinations of pressure systems under a written scheme are the most common specific requirements, alongside general duties to maintain work equipment, electrical systems and gas appliances in a safe condition. In the US, OSHA sets inspection requirements for equipment such as cranes and forklifts and requires annual inspection of lockout procedures, while boilers and pressure vessels fall under state law.
What should a preventive maintenance record include?
The asset, the task list used, the date, who did the work, readings taken, parts replaced, defects found and the corrective work raised, plus any contractor or examination report. Keep the next due date with it. That record proves the work was done and is the raw material for adjusting intervals.
Is CheckFlow free for this template?
14-day free trial, no card required. The Business plan is $10 per user per month after the trial. Full details at checkflow.io/pricing.