CMMS Software for Fire Departments
Use fire department CMMS software to manage all aspects of equipment maintenance in a fire department. Fire departments must be ready to respond immediately when the alarm sounds or the pager tones go out. Emergency vehicles are run hard for many short trips after cold starting. This makes the fire and EMS (emergency medical services) apparatus especially vulnerable to breakdowns. Other firefighting tools are subjected to extremely harsh environments. Additionally, unintentional abuse of tools is part of the controlled chaos prevalent with firefighting efforts.
Critically important safety gear, including turnouts, and SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus) is particularly vulnerable to the harsh conditions encountered by firefighters on a regular basis. IDLH (immediately dangerous to life or health) environments demand that all safety equipment is maintained in excellent conditions at all times.
Similarly, hydraulic equipment such as pumps, hoses, cutters, spreaders and rams require careful maintenance. This maintenance not only ensures that the equipment works in an emergency extrication setting but that it also does not harm responders using the equipment. With high-pressure hydraulics, a tiny unseen leak could cause a devastating injury to the firefighter using it. Using a fire department CMMS solution for hydraulic equipment maintenance helps to prevent these types of mishaps. In short, equipment reliability for emergency equipment and vehicles is very important and often a matter of life or death. Unfortunately, many fire agencies still rely on paper maintenance checklists. These may be better than nothing, but fall short of the mark in numerous ways.
Software Solution vs. Paper System
With all of these factors in mind, the need for fire department CMMS software in a fire department is obvious. CMMS software outperforms a paper-based equipment maintenance system in many ways. Below is a brief summary of some of the advantages that a CMMS maintenance software solution has over a paper-based system:
- Improve equipment reliability and extend equipment life though a structured and automated preventive maintenance system.
- Automatic work order notification of required maintenance tasks relieves the fire officer or chief engineer of managing work assignments.
- There is quick access to equipment maintenance records for compliance inspections or other governing authorities.
- Flag expiring medical equipment, SCBA hydrostatic testing and more.
- The ability to share information in the form of customized reports, Excel and many other useful formats makes the dissemination of fire department data quick and efficient.
- Preparation for board meetings becomes very simple for the fire chief with CMMS reports.
- The complete inventory of equipment and spares is always available in seconds. Restock spares directly from the software by emailing a purchase requisition, purchase order, or request for quote.
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Improve Equipment Reliability with Fire Department CMMS Software
CMMS software improves equipment reliability is several ways. By using an automated preventive maintenance (PM) issuance program there is never any concern that needed maintenance assignments are skipped. Preventive maintenance history is archived as PM task lists are completed. Subsequently, use this history to determine if maintenance efforts are improving reliability. The our fire department CMMS software solution links the preventive maintenance module to the reliability analysis software module. This results in a software solution that actually suggests preventive maintenance task intervals based upon real data analysis of the equipment failure rate and the mean time between failures (MTBF).
Furthermore, display failure rate as either increasing, decreasing or static. A decreasing failure rate indicates that PM efforts are likely succeeding. Conversely, an increasing failure rate may indicate that preventive maintenance intervals or tasks need adjustment. Reliability charts provide a quick snapshot of historical data making it simple to get enough information to make informed maintenance decisions.
Automated Work Order Software System Frees Personnel for Other Duties
Generating work orders automatically from the software offers multiple benefits. For example, work is still assigned appropriately and on time even when the maintenance planner is absent. Create work orders automatically by date and time triggers or by meters. The maintenance planner (CMMS coordinator) define units of measure then use these as meter units. For example, an SCBA air compressor uses an hour meter. Every 500 hours generate a work order to replace the filters on the intake for the compressor.
An OPC (OLE of Process Control) compliant data network updates meter values automatically in the situation where electronic controls communicate with the fire department CMMS software program. In this state of the art configuration, the equipment is telling the software when it needs work and the fire department CMMS software is responding with the appropriate job with absolutely no user input. This work order system is fully automated. Conversely, it is still a simple matter to update the meter readings manually in departments lacking this OPC communication.
The automated work order system also sends work orders directly to one or more printers and/or emails the work orders out to one or more recipients. Again, this if fully automated freeing the maintenance planner or fire officer from spending their time generating work orders.
Fire Engine Preventive Maintenance Ensures Arrival On Scene
Compliance Reporting for Fire Equipment Maintenance is Simplified
Government compliance reporting is a huge priority with a fire department or other emergency service provider. For example, in the United States OSHA inspections occur periodically and usually unexpectedly at fire stations. Being prepared to produce maintenance logs and other documentation quickly and accurately makes the difference between a costly inspection or not. More importantly, email reminders, automatic printing and other prompts help ensure that the maintenance work is properly assigned and that completions are accounted for. The results is, proper maintenance of critically important equipment. This system is also useful for generating medical equipment expiration or other date sensitive certifications and licenses.
Vehicle maintenance benefits from fire department CMMS software use for sure; but consider all of the other equipment items that also benefit from CMMS use. Hydraulic tools, saws, hand tools, hose, nozzles, pumps, the list goes on. The point is, if you are managing a fire department and do not have a good CMMS to guide your maintenance you could be asking for trouble. Contact MaintSmart for a demonstration with our fire department CMMS software designed for emergency services.
Equipment Warranty and Supplies Expiration Reporting
Manage medical equipment and drug expiration dates with the CMMS as well through the meters component. As the expiration date approaches, the software sends out email notifications giving advanced warning of the impending expiration. This system ensures that critical medical supplies and medications are always up to date. The importance of changing out expired medications cannot be overemphasized. Not only does this affect patient care but also regulatory agencies, such as OSHA, often head straight to the medic rig to check mediation expiration dates.
Flag warranty expiration dates in the main equipment asset list. With new apparatus it is especially important to be aware of these warranty expiration dates. In many cases, problems manifest themselves during the warranty period as new equipment is broken in. Allowing the warranty to lapse prior to submitting warranty claims may result is large unnecessary expanses to the fire agency.
Easily Share Fire Department Data with Other Entities
Fire departments are community-based organizations. As such, fire department information is often shared with other organizations. Additionally sharing information is common between fire agencies for training purposes and in some cases mutual aid operations and agreements. Additionally, the need may arise for the public information officer (PIO) to report data to the public or a news organization.
The ability to quickly and intuitively extract the needed information from the CMMS software program saves time and provides for accurate reporting. Our drag and drop report builder serves this purpose. Create sophisticated reports with charts in seconds. Bets of all, the report builder is available for every screen in the program so reporting is always possible under all circumstances. Furthermore, the report builder automatically creates two or three-dimensional data sets. If that's not enough, it even provides several built-in statistical functions to total the data rows and columns. These functions include the following: Sum, Average, Minimum, Maximum, Variance and Standard Deviation.
Fire Department CMMS Software Enables the Fire Chief to Prepare for Board Meetings in Minutes
With all of the fire department information in one place the fire chief can quickly organize a fire department board meeting. Extract data in any manner. Furthermore, generate professional reports and charts quickly and accurately in minutes. Most importantly, all CMMS reporting data exports directly to an Excel spreadsheet with two button-clicks. Use Excel to further analyze and report on the data if needed.
Alternatively, create reports from in seconds using the direct export to a web page function. Providing professional looking presentations is especially important at public board meetings. It is hard to quantify the value of public perception and good will but these factors are important in a community public service organization for sure.
Use Fire Equipment Maintenance Software to Manage Spares
Managing spares and other inventory is especially important in the fire service. In many cases, the lead-time to obtain critical parts is too long for the purposes of emergency service providers. Track restocking requirements from this inventory management software. Request a quote from a vendor then convert the request for quote (RFQ) to a purchase requisition automatically. Purchase requisitions, approvals, purchase orders and invoice matching capabilities lend order and accountability to the fire department purchasing procedure. Our CMMS solution offers a simple one-step purchasing option. In this case, one approved user directly purchase orders. Our system also offers a more secure purchasing option where additional accountability is required. This second option offers various levels of approval and a division of the purchasing roles.
Reporting purchase and spares usage gives the chief the ammunition needed when the annual budget meeting commences. Not only that but reporting is simplified for monthly board meetings as well. Best of all, the fire chief or procurement officer knows what they have in stock, what is needed and when to restock. Additionally, log all spares usage by why used, who used, what equipment it was used on and when used.
Equipment Maintenance Software a Versatile Solution
There are countless fire department maintenance programs available today. Only MaintSmart includes a drag and drop report builder. Ours is the only CMMS to offer extensive analysis and reporting of all aspects of a fire department. We are a stable company in business for over 21 years. Used in 42 countries as of 2018 our software solution comes in any language.
MaintSmart Software, Inc.,
66164 Homestead Rd.
North Bend, OR, 97459 U.S.A.
+1-541-404-0616