Preventive vs reactive maintenance

The short answer

Preventive maintenance is recurring work performed on a defined schedule to reduce failure or preserve condition. Reactive maintenance responds to an issue after it is reported or discovered. Preventive work is planned and repeatable; reactive work requires prioritization, triage and schedule adjustment.

What this workflow should improve

• Protect planned work from constant interruption
• Make reactive priorities explicit
• Use consistent completion evidence
• Measure backlog and schedule impact separately

Preventive work needs a repeatable trigger

The trigger may be elapsed time, meter use, condition or a contractual cadence. The work order should include the site or asset, steps, due window, responsible resource and evidence required.

Reactive work needs clear triage

Not every request is an emergency. Define priority, impact, response target and escalation ownership so urgent work can enter the schedule without hiding the preventive commitments it displaced.

A practical workflow

1. Define which tasks repeat by time, use or condition.
2. Create the preventive schedule, scope and responsible role.
3. Capture reactive requests with priority and impact.
4. Review completion, overdue work, recurrence and resource conflicts.

Scope check

This guide describes operational planning, not engineering maintenance intervals or safety requirements. Qualified asset and compliance owners must define the correct tasks and frequencies.

Sources and further reading

• IBM preventive maintenance records
• IBM work order types and practices

Questions about preventive vs reactive maintenance