Inspection
Work Planning

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Critical Equipment

Equipment whose failure would result in unacceptable safety, environmental, operational or business consequences.

Definition

Critical Equipment refers to assets that have been identified through a formal criticality assessment as requiring increased attention because failure could result in significant impacts on personnel safety, environmental protection, production, regulatory compliance or business performance. Critical equipment typically receives enhanced inspection, maintenance and monitoring throughout its operational life.

Why It Matters

Identifying Critical Equipment enables organizations to prioritize maintenance resources, inspection programs and capital investment toward assets that present the greatest operational risk.

In Practice

Critical Equipment is normally identified using formal asset criticality methodologies that evaluate consequence, likelihood of failure, business impact and regulatory requirements.

Common Misuse

Critical Equipment is typically the outcome of an Asset Criticality assessment and should not be used interchangeably with Asset Criticality, which is the methodology or ranking process used to determine equipment importance.

Term Details
Synonyms:
Critical Equipment; Critical Asset; Safety-Critical Equipment
Classification:
Reliability Engineering
Concept
Intermediate
Applications

Reliability Engineering; Asset Management; Mechanical Integrity; Risk Management.

Where It's Used

Criticality assessments.; RBI implementation.; Maintenance prioritization.; Inspection planning.; Spare parts planning.

References

ISO 55000; IEC 60812

See It In VisualAIM

VisualAIM connects glossary concepts to the asset records, inspection histories, and workflows they describe.

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