Good maintenance depends on good drawings. Maintenance is an
information-driven undertaking. The four cornerstones of the
information “building” are drawings, equipment data, test
measurements, and training. This information building is shaky
if drawings aren’t what they should be, and the maintenance
function will suffer as a result. How long does it take you to
locate the energy source for a given piece of equipment? Once
you locate it, how sure are you that locking it out will make
that equipment safe to work on? What will de-energizing that
equipment do to the production process? The answers to these
questions are always better answered when you have good drawings
than when you don’t. Let’s look at three fictional scenarios to
illustrate that concept, and then consider ways to maintain good
drawings in your facility. Keep in mind that today many people
maintain many drawings electronically—sometimes embedded in
control systems—but you also must often work with drawings that
aren’t strictly electrical just