Question 1.

Human Error are errors which are caused by humans. These errors reduce the
capability of the process to the extent that it is unable to function as required by the
user.
Examples of human errors are easily found in manually operated components with
on and off modes for instance a manually operated valve can be left open instead of
being shut leading to unnecessary compound errors. Improperly fitted components
by maintenance personnel falls under this category of errors. Installation teams can
also poorly calibrate sensors which result in flagging errors when there are none or
not flagging errors when they are present
Question 2
Failure is define as the inability of any asset to do what its users want it to do
i)
Pattern A. Bathtub curve is used in reliability engineering. It describes a
particular form of the hazard function which comprises three parts:

Part 1 :early failures i.e decreasing failure rate

Part 2 :random failures is a constant failure rate

Part 3 :wear-out failures is an increasing failure rate

The sketch shows a cross-sectional shape of a bathtub: steep sides and a flat
bottom hence the name
The bathtub curve is generated by mapping the rate of early "infant mortality" failures
when first introduced, the rate of random failures with constant failure rate during its
"useful life", and finally the rate of "wear out" failures as the product exceeds its
design lifetime. This pattern accounts for approximately 4% of failures.
ii)
Pattern B represents age related failures. Although these failures are the
result of a more or less linear progress of deterioration, there will still be considerable
differences in the behaviour of any two components that are subject to the same
nominal stresses.

Life can have two distinct meanings as indicated by the frequency and conditional
probability curves. There is a rapid increase in the conditional probability of failure
termed useful life
When planning to overhaul/replace components at a mean time between failures,
half will fail before they reach it. That is we are preventing half the needs. To be able
to prevent most of the failures there is need for intervention at the end of useful life
In conclusion the mean time between failures is of little or no use in establishing the
frequency of scheduled restoration and schedules discard tasks for items to confirm
to failure pattern B. The pattern accounts for approximately 2% of failures.
Failure Pattern C is known as the fatigue curve and is characterized by a gradually
increasing level of failures over the course of the equipments life. This pattern
accounts for approximately 5% of failures.

Pattern D. Failure Pattern D is known as the initial break in curve and starts off with a
very low level of failure followed by a sharp rise to a constant level. This pattern
accounts for
approximately 7% of failures

Failure Pattern E is known as the random pattern and is a consistent level of random
failures over the life of the equipment with no pronounced increases or decreased

related to the life of the equipment. This pattern accounts for approximately 11% of
failures.

Failure Pattern F is known as the infant mortality curve and shows a high initial
failure rate followed by a random level of failures. This pattern accounts for 68% of
failures.

Question 3.
i) Greater Safety and Environmental Integrity
The systematic review of safety and environmental implications of every evident
failure before considering operational issues means that safety and environmental
integrity become top maintenance priorities.
It greatly reduce the probability of multiple failures which have serious consequences
because of the structured approach to protected systems
Because groups of operators and maintainer are involved directly in the analysis
makes them more sensitive to the real hazards associated with their assets. Hence
less prone to make dangerous mistakes
Risk of critical failure occurring during maintenance is greatly reduced by the overall
reduction in the number and frequency of routine tasks
ii)

High plant availability and reliability

The scope for performance improvement clearly depends on the performance at the
outset. Plant performance is improved by reducing the number and the severity of
unanticipated failure which have operational consequences
The emphasis placed on on-condition tasks helps to ensure that potential failures are
detected before they become functional failures

iii)

Improved Product Quality

By focusing directly on product quality issues, RCM does much to improve the yield
of automated process
iv)

Greater Maintenance Efficiency

RCM helps reduce the rate of growth of maintenance costs in the following ways:
Less routine maintenance. This reduction is due partly to increase in the intervals
between tasks, but mainly due to an overall increase in the intervals between tasks
v)

Longer life of useful things

By ensuring that each asset receives the bare minimum of essential maintenance
the RCM process does much to help ensure that just about any asset can be made
to last as long as its basic supporting structure remains intact and spares the remain
available
vi)

Greater motivation of individuals

RCM helps improve the motivation of people who are involved in the review process
in a number of ways. A clearer understanding of the functions of the asset and of
what they must do to keep it working greatly enhances their competence and their
confidence. A clear understanding of the issues which are beyond the control of each
individual enables them to work more comfortably within those limits. The knowledge
that each group member played a part in formulating goals, in deciding what should
be done to achieve them and in deciding who should do it leads a strong sense of
ownership
vii)

Better teamwork

Not only does RCM foster teamwork within the review groups themselves, but also
improves communication and co-operation between:
production departments and the maintenance function
management, supervisors, technicians and operators
equipment designers, vendors, users and maintainers
viii)

A maintenance Database

The RCM information and Decision Worksheets provide a number of additional

benefits as given below:
Adapting to changing circumstances. The RCM database makes it possible to track
the reason for every maintenance task right back to the functions and the operating
context changes, it easily identify the tasks which are affected and to revise them
accordingly
An audit trail
The RCM worksheets provide the audit trail in a coherent, logical and easily
understood form

More accurate drawings and manuals. The RCM process usually means that
manuals are read in a complete new light. People start asking what does it do?
instead of what is it? this leads them to spot a surprising number of errors which
may have gone unnoticed in the as-built drawings
Reducing rate of staff turnover. Organisations suffer when experienced people leave
or retire and take their knowledge with them. By recording this information in the
RCM database, the organisation becomes much less vulnerable to these changes

ix)

An Integrative Framework

RCM provides a framework for tackling all issues discussed above all at once, and
for involving everyone who has anything to do with the equipment in the process

Question 4.1
Anthropometric factors are those which relate to size and/or strength of the operator
or maintainer. Errors occur because a person (or part of a person, such as a hand or
arm):
-simply cannot fit into the space available to do something
Cannot reach something
Is not strong enough to lift or move something
Question 4.2
A violation is failure to apply a good rule
There are three main types of violations pertaining to human error: routine,
situational, and exceptional.
A routine violation is one which is commonplace and committed by most members
of the workplace. For example, in a particular office building it is against the rules for
personnel to use the fire escape stairwell to move between floors, but it is common
practice for people to do so anyway.
A situational violation occurs, as its name suggests, in response to situational
factors, including excessive time pressure, workplace design, and inadequate or
inappropriate equipment. When confronted with an unexpected or inappropriate
situation, personnel may believe that the normal rule is no longer safe, or that it will
not achieve the desired outcome, and so they decide to violate that rule. Situational
violations generally occur as a once-off, unless the situation triggering the violation is
not corrected, in which case the violation may become routine over time.
An exceptional violation is a fairly rare occurrence and happens in abnormal and
emergency situations. This type of violation transpires when something is going
wrong and personnel believe that the rules no longer apply, or that applying a rule

will not correct the problem. Personnel choose to violate the rule believing that they
will achieve the desired outcome.
Question 4.3
Slips and lapses are errors in the performance of skill-based behaviors, typically
when our attention is diverted
Slips and lapses are defined as errors that result from some failure in the execution
or storage stage of an action sequence, regardless of whether or not the plan that
guided the action was adequate to achieve the objective
In this context, slips are considered as potentially observable behaviour whereas
lapses are regarded as unobservable errors
Slips typically occur when carrying our familiar tasks that do not require much
conscious thought. They usually result from lack of attention. Stress circumstances
such as having too much to do, having to work too quickly or simply feeling unfairly
judged by collegues or line managers can result in cognitive overload, which makes
slips more likely
Lapses are similar to slips in that the intention is correct but error occurs because of
failure of memory. Lapses result in a failure to carry out actions at the appropriate
time or lose a place when carrying out a procedure or task. They can also be
exacerbated by stressful circumstances
Question 4.4
Slips and lapses can be minimised through workplace design, effective fatigue
management, use of checklists, independent checking of completed work,
discouraging interruptions, reducing external distractions and active supervision
Controls to minimise slips and lapses include:
The use of checklists to ensure appropriate actions have been carried out or have
been carried out in the correct order
Causing individuals to make some sort of positive acknowledgement at vital points in
a procedure before proceeding further, for example signing-off procedures
Procedures should be clearly and unambiguously named. Colour coding paperwork
can help differentiate specific procedural systems that are regarded as being
particularly prone to error, or when the risk of such as error would result in serious
consequences. Likewise, controls on machinery should be clearly labelled. Colour
and/or different auditory markers should be clearly used to differentiate key
components

Cognitive overload can be avoided by presenting only the information that is

necessary at the time. Long-winded memos and impenetrable text will lead to
distractions caused by having to make too great an effort to access the required
information. However, supplementary information should be provided at the point
where it might be required.
To avoid unnecessary cognitive effort, wherever possible, forms and paperwork
should be designed so that recognition and confirmation of elements replaces the
need for recall and extended writing
With regards to operating machinery, controls that are similar in design but that
perform different functions should not be place adjacent to each other as this could
result in slip-type errors
Also with regards to operating machinery, input should result in immediate and
unambiguous feedback as to what has been altered so as to allow the operator to
undo any changes that have been made
Question 5.1
Overall Plant Effectiveness, OPE= A p
Where

Ap

Ep

* Qp

[eqn1]

is the availability rate =88.5% =0.885

E p is the efficiency rate = 82% =0.82

Q p is the quality rate = 99.6% = 0.996
Substituting the values in eqn1
OPE=0.885*0.82*0.996
=0.723
=72.3%
Question 5.2
The three essential elements for formulating the maintenance policy are the choice
of maintenance strategy, defining maintenance standard and allocation of
maintenance resources.
Question 5.3
The advantages of planned maintenance are as follows

Reduction of major repair expenses

Prospects equipment warranties

Releases front-line foremen from major planning duties and allows them more
time to supervise their crews.

Provides procedures to plan, execute, monitor and control maintenance

resources.

Reduces delays in waiting for men, material, tools after a job is in progress.

Provides procedures to implement and continue a PM program.

Provides a communication link between maintenance and operations.

Allows hourly employees to be 100% work loaded.

Performance reporting allows upper management to judge system and

maintenance progress.

Reduces maintenance costs.

Provides a tool for operations to assign priorities.

Reduces emergency breakdowns.

Question 5.4
A work breakdown structure (WBS), in project management and systems
engineering, is a deliverable-oriented decomposition of a project into smaller
components. It is a hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to be
carried out by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the
required deliverables
Project network diagram is one technique of showing activity sequencing. A project
network diagram is a schematic display of logical relationship among project
activities and/or sequencing of project activities.
Question 5.5
Project management is the overall planning, implementation, control and
coordination of a project from inception to completion to meet defined needs to the
required standards, within time and to budget.
Question 5.6
Three ways in which suppliers or contractors are selected are as follows:

 Supplier management attitude and commitment

The buyer may contact previous customers and ask about the suppliers delivery
performance, adherence to contract terms, what (if any) problems arose and how
they were resolved, etc.
The buyer may use published supplier ratings to determine the suppliers financial
status and likely financial viability in the short to medium term. For example, if the
supplier has recently assumed significant debt, this may raise red flags about the
possibility the supplier will declare bankruptcy before fulfilling its obligations to the
buyer.

Supplier quality management system

The buyer might require that suppliers have ISO 9000 certification (or similar),
indicating that the supplier has policies, procedures, documentation, and training in
place to ensure continuous adherence to quality standards. However, in some cases
the certification documents can be misleading and/or easily forged. To actually see if
an adequate level of quality is achievable, the buyer may have to look deeply into the
suppliers organization to ensure the supplier is capable and competent to meet the
buyers specifications.
Supplier delivered quality performance

To rigorously check the suppliers capabilities the buyer might: (i) Request samples
of supplier products and test them to ensure conformance to the buyers
requirements. (ii) Visit the suppliers production facility and interview line workers and
engineers to ensure that all members of the supplier team understand the critical
features of the product in their charge. For example, a buyer seeking to purchase
tires from a supplier may interview the design engineers to ensure they understand
each aspect of the tires design (for instance, the role of gum strips in preventing
tread separation at high speeds). (iii) Audit the production facilities to ensure that
production can and will only proceed in a manner approved by the buyer. For
instance, the buyer may require the supplier to restrict their production to small batch
sizes in order to prevent contamination outbreaks from spoiling the entire production
run.

Question 6

Let Ei represent the earliest start time for activity i such that all its preceding activities
have been finished. We calculate the values of the E i (i=A,B,...,K) by going forward,
from left to right, in the network diagram.
To ease the notation let Ti be the activity completion time associated with activity i
(e.g. TB = 3). Then the Ei are given by:
EA = 0 (assuming we start at time zero)
EB = 0 (assuming we start at time zero)
EC = EA + TA = 0 + 5 =5
ED = EA + TA = 0 + 5 =5
EE = EA + TA = 0 + 5 =5
EF = max[EC + TC, EB + TB] =max[5 + 3, 0 + 4] = 8
EG = ED + TD = 5 + 4 = 9
EH = max[ED + TD, EE + TE] =max[5 + 4, 5 + 6] = 11
EI = EF + TF = 8 + 4 = 12
EJ = max[EG + TG, EH + TH] =max[9 + 5, 11 + 6] = 17
Ei = max[EI + TI, EJ + TJ] =max[12 + 6, 17 + 4] = 21
Hence the minimum possible completion time for the entire project is 21 weeks/days
i.e. 21 (weeks/days) is the minimum time needed to complete all the activities.