Operation & Maintenance Manuals

Abstract

Technological and economical factors have created a trend toward operating larger and more complex power plants with fewer people. This trend is, therefore, making personnel ability an increasingly significant factor in overall plant performance. Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Manuals are a vital source of the information necessary to maintain and improve personnel ability. Therefore, a need exists for a well written set of integrated O&M Manuals. This paper discusses some of the numerous reasons WHY there are O&M Manuals and WHAT a good set of O&M Manuals should include. A set of O&M Manuals cannot be a haphazardly thrown together document. The manuals require planning and thought. So, two other critical items in the development of manuals are addressed: WHO is writing them and WHEN should they be written. Another point of interest is WHERE are O&M Manuals headed in the future.