GIB1004

BASIC BUILDING MAINTENANCE

MAINTENANCE
STANDARDS & POLICIES

DR NIK ELYNA MYEDA elyna@um.edu.my

BS3811:1964 defines maintenance as
‘a combination of any actions carried
out to retain an item in, or restore it to,
an acceptable condition’
• There is the concept of an ‘acceptable standard’
• This may be construed as acceptability to the
person paying for the work, to the person
receiving the benefit or to some outside body
with responsibility for enforcing minimum
standards.
• It can also be seen more widely as acceptability
to the public at large or to specific sections of
the public.
• The standards acceptable at the time of
undertaking the work may be higher or lower
than the initial design standards.

• In many cases the standard deemed acceptable

would be higher than that originally provided and
the work would include an element of
improvement.
DEFINITION BY CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF BUILDING

Improvement:

‘Work undertaken in order to keep, restore or

improve every facility, i.e., every part of a building,
its services and surrounds, to an agreed standard,
determined by the balance between need and
available resources”
Agreed Standard : Assumed to be higher than
the initial standard

Balance between need and available

resources: important factor to take into account
when fixing an acceptable standard
Maintenance should include a reasonable element
of improvement e.g: the replacement of worn out
components with up-to-date versions.
 MAINTENANCE POLICIES

• There are different types of maintenance

policies applicable for different clients and
building owners.
• The followings are 6 items which explain the
difference of the said types of maintenance
policies:
i. Factories
ii. Business Premise
iii. Public buildings
iv. Hospitals and Research Buildings
v. Security buildings
vi. Public Amenities
 I) FACTORIES
• Maintenance works for factories must be planned
early, comprehensive and scheduled to avoid
disruptions to the factories output/ manufacturing
processes, especially for factories that operate 24
hours/daily.

• Any disturbance to the

building operations or
manufacturing processes will
cause damage and affect
the company’s revenue and
productivity (output)
 II) BUSINESS PREMISE

• Business premise operators (premises such as shop

houses, shopping complex, café, shops, etc) do not
prefer for maintenance work to be done during
their business operation hours.

• Time for breaks, less busy

operations, busy hours for
example must be taken into
consideration when planning
for maintenance work
 III) PUBLIC BUILDINGS

• The nature of operations for public buildings are

different from each one of them. Most of the
maintenance work require the jobs to be done after
office hours or early morning.

• For schools, higher

institutions and hospitals for
instance, it is highly
important that the
maintenance work is
carried out with less noise
possible.
IV)HOSPITALS & RESEARCH BUILDINGS

• Maintenance for hospitals and research buildings require

careful attention and specific method, that is to
understand the requirements and functions of all the
machineries, equipment and appliances provided.

• This is as these building types are mostly equipped with

sensitive and high-technology equipment and
controlled areas, therefore the maintenance schedules
have to be planned early and prepared together with
the building managers.

• Skilled workers and specialists

must be hired to conduct the
maintenance work at these
buildings.
 V) SECURITY BUILDINGS

• Maintenance of security buildings (whether owned

by government, private or authorities)require a
highly reliable and security controlled conduct.

• All maintenance works

must be trained to be
reliable, trustworthy and
adhere to the scheduled
work. Maintenance
cannot simply hire any
contractors to do work,
instead have to follow a set
of quality criteria in
selecting the maintenance
contractors.
VI) PUBLIC FACILITIES & AMENITIES

• Public facilities and amenities namely the market,

community halls, public toilets, bus stations, public
transportation hubs and stations and the like require
full time and continuous maintenance planning and
schedule.