Quick Answer
Create a mining equipment maintenance schedule by building a clean asset register with live hour meters, ranking machines by criticality, taking the OEM service intervals for each model, adjusting them for your site's duty and conditions, then adding statutory inspections as fixed dates. Trigger each service on hours with a calendar backstop, attach a task list and parts kit to every PM, forecast twelve months to level fitter and bay workload, and align heavy services with planned shutdowns.
- Baseline — OEM intervals, typically 250 / 500 / 1000 / 2000 hours for mobile plant.
- Adjust for dust, heat, load factor and short-cycle work.
- Trigger on hours or calendar, whichever falls first.
- Resource it — fitters, bays, service trucks and parts lead times.
- Automate the trigger from daily pre-start hour meter readings.
- Measure PM compliance, unplanned hours, availability and cost per operating hour.
What you need before you can schedule anything
A maintenance schedule is only as good as its inputs. Gather these first — most contractors find the asset register and hour meter data are the gaps holding everything else up.
| Input | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Asset register | Every machine with fleet number, make, model, serial, year, ownership (owned, hired, client-supplied) and current hour meter. Without this, nothing else is reliable. |
| OEM service intervals | The manufacturer's recommended intervals from the operator and service manuals — typically 250, 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 hours for mobile plant, plus calendar-based items. |
| Duty cycle and conditions | Severe service in dust, heat, high load or short-cycle work shortens intervals. Most Australian mine site fleets run tighter than the manual's baseline. |
| Statutory and registered plant inspections | Cranes, hoists, pressure vessels, EWPs and lifting gear carry legally required periodic inspections and log books that sit alongside the service schedule. |
| Condition monitoring data | Oil sampling (SOS/Scheduled Oil Analysis), vibration, thermography, filter cuts and undercarriage wear measurements — used to bring a service forward or push it back with evidence. |
| Defect and pre-start history | Recurring faults from daily inspections tell you which components need attention before the calendar says so. |
| Production and shutdown plan | When the machine is available, when the site has a planned shutdown, and which services can be bundled into that window. |
| Parts and kit lead times | Filter and service kit availability from the dealer decides when a PM can realistically be scheduled, especially in remote areas. |
| Labour and workshop capacity | Available fitters, bays, service trucks and after-hours coverage. A schedule the workshop cannot resource is just a wish list. |
The tiers of a typical mining fleet schedule
Hour figures below are the common Australian mining baseline for mobile plant. Always confirm against the manufacturer's manual for the specific model, and tighten for severe duty.
| Tier | Typical scope |
|---|---|
| Daily pre-start (operator) | Every shift. Walkaround, fluids, damage, defects. Feeds hour meter readings and defect data into the schedule. |
| PM1 — 250 hours | Engine oil and filters, greasing, fluid top-ups, visual checks, defect rectification. The backbone service for mobile plant. |
| PM2 — 500 hours | PM1 plus fuel filters, air filters, hydraulic screens, oil samples, brake and steering checks, undercarriage measurement. |
| PM3 — 1000 hours | PM2 plus transmission and differential services, cooling system checks, valve clearances where specified, deeper electrical and structural inspection. |
| PM4 — 2000 hours or annual | Major service — hydraulic oil change, coolant replacement, full structural and NDT inspection, statutory inspections, component condition assessment. |
| Component change-outs | Planned replacement or rebuild of engines, transmissions, final drives, pumps and undercarriage at life-based intervals, scheduled into shutdown windows. |
| Statutory inspections | Calendar-driven periodic inspections for registered and high-risk plant, plus test-and-tag, fire suppression and pressure equipment certification. |
Where the obligations come from
Plant must be maintained, not just serviced when it breaks
Under the model WHS Regulations, whoever manages or controls plant must ensure it is inspected, maintained and, where necessary, tested so it remains without risks to health and safety, so far as is reasonably practicable. A documented maintenance schedule is how you show that duty is being met.
Mine sites require it in the safety management system
Queensland coal and mineral mines, WA operations under the WHS (Mines) Regulations and NSW sites under the Resources Regulator expect maintenance systems, competent persons and records as part of the site safety and health management system. Contractors are usually audited against their own schedule.
Registered and high-risk plant has fixed intervals
Cranes, hoists, EWPs, pressure equipment and lifting gear have prescribed inspection and log book requirements that you cannot stretch to suit production. Build those as hard dates in the schedule, not flexible ones.
Heavy vehicles need a maintenance management system
Road-registered trucks and trailers fall under the Heavy Vehicle National Law, where a documented maintenance program, daily checks, defect reporting and records form part of your chain of responsibility obligations.
Confirm the detail with Safe Work Australia and your state regulator — Resources Safety & Health Queensland, DEMIRS (WA) or the NSW Resources Regulator — plus the NHVR for road-registered heavy vehicles, the manufacturer's service manual and the site operator's safety and health management system.
Building the schedule, step by step
Build a clean asset register
One row per machine, one identity, correct serial and current hour meter. Merge duplicates and retire what you no longer own. Every schedule decision hangs off this list.
Classify assets by criticality
Rank each machine on production impact, safety consequence and replacement difficulty. Critical plant earns tighter intervals, condition monitoring and spare-holding; a light vehicle does not.
Pull the OEM intervals for each class
Take the service tasks and intervals from the manufacturer's manual for that exact model. This is your baseline and your defence if a warranty or incident question arises.
Adjust for your actual operating conditions
Dust, heat, load factor, short cycles and idle time all age components faster. Tighten intervals where the site is severe, and record the reason you deviated from the manual.
Add the statutory and calendar items
Registered plant inspections, test-and-tag, fire suppression, pressure vessel certification and annual structural inspections go in as fixed dates with their own reminders.
Choose the trigger for each task
Hours, kilometres, calendar time, cycles, or condition. Most PMs are hour-based with a calendar backstop — whichever falls first — so a low-use machine still gets serviced.
Build the task list and kit for every service
Each PM should have a checklist, labour estimate, parts and filter kit, consumables and any specialist tooling. This is what makes the service repeatable by any fitter.
Forecast twelve months and level the load
Project every machine's hour usage forward and plot the resulting PMs. You will find clusters — move services a few hours either way to match fitter and bay capacity.
Align with shutdowns and production
Bundle heavy services and component change-outs into planned shutdown windows. A PM done during a shutdown costs a fraction of one that takes a machine off production.
Order parts against the forecast
Use the twelve-month plan to place standing kit orders with your dealer. Lead times, not fitters, are what usually blows out a remote maintenance schedule.
Automate the trigger from live hour meters
Daily pre-starts should feed hour meters straight into the schedule so work orders raise themselves at the right point instead of relying on someone checking a spreadsheet.
Measure and revise quarterly
Track PM compliance, schedule adherence, breakdown hours, mean time between failures and cost per operating hour. Tighten the intervals that keep failing and relax the ones that never find anything.
Best practice for contractors
Hours first, calendar as backstop
Whichever comes first. That single rule stops both over-servicing idle plant and under-servicing machines that are flat out.
Keep a ±10 percent compliance window
A service done within 10 percent of its target hours counts as on time. It gives planners room to move without pretending the schedule was met.
Attach everything to the asset
Pre-starts, defects, work orders, oil samples, parts, labour hours and photos in one place. The machine's history is what makes the next interval decision an informed one.
Use oil analysis on critical plant
Scheduled oil sampling catches wear and contamination weeks before a failure and lets you justify moving a major service.
Schedule the fitter, not just the machine
A PM without an assigned fitter, bay and window will slip. Roster maintenance labour like you roster production work.
Plan for hired and client-supplied plant too
Hire agreements often make you responsible for daily checks and damage. Put those machines on the schedule with the hire terms recorded.
Common mistakes
Living in a spreadsheet
Hour meters get entered late or not at all, so services drift. By the time a spreadsheet shows an overdue PM, the machine is usually 200 hours past it.
Copying the OEM manual without adjusting
Baseline intervals assume normal conditions. Mine sites are not normal conditions, and the fleet pays for the gap.
Treating every asset as equally critical
Spreading maintenance effort evenly starves the machines that stop production when they fail.
Ignoring parts lead times
A perfectly planned service that has no filter kit on site becomes an unplanned breakdown a fortnight later.
No link between defects and the schedule
If pre-start defects are not visible to the planner, the same fault gets deferred until it becomes a failure.
Never reviewing the plan
A schedule set once and left alone drifts out of step with the fleet's age, hours and duty within a year.
Related reading: How to record daily equipment inspections · How to digitise mining compliance paperwork · Asset management software · Workshop management.
Mining equipment maintenance schedules — FAQs
This article is general information for Australian mining and heavy industry contractors, not legal or engineering advice. Service intervals must be confirmed against the manufacturer's manual for your specific model, and obligations with your state regulator, the site operator and your own advisers.
