FMECA-Led Maintenance Risk Reduction Case StudyPort Terminal Operation - NSW, Australia

• 31 maintainable item groups
• 152 credible failure modes identified
• 18 potential fumigant release or leakage scenarios
• 140 preventive maintenance strategies
• Five corrective strategies
• Three regulatory strategies
• One condition-monitoring strategy

A port operation used phosphine gas within its fumigation plant. Due to the severe health and safety consequences of exposure, phosphine emissions are subject to strict licence conditions and can result in significant regulatory penalties.

Following an uncontrolled emission, the EPA investigated and found that the failure mode responsible for the release was completely absent from the operation’s maintenance strategies. The plant was being maintained using legacy plans that had not been developed through a structured, reliability-based process.

The incident raised a broader concern: if this critical failure mode had been overlooked, other safety, environmental, regulatory and operational risks might also lack effective maintenance controls.

The Maintenance Manager engaged EnterpriseIS to facilitate a comprehensive FMECA across the entire fumigation plant. Maintenance personnel and selected operators contributed their technical knowledge and operating experience.

Using the EnterpriseIS methodology, the team reviewed each system, maintainable item and component to identify credible failure modes, their causes and consequences. Each failure mode was assessed for severity, likelihood and detectability, then prioritised using a Risk Priority Number.

The analysis covered 31 maintainable item groups and identified 152 credible failure modes, including 18 scenarios involving the potential release or leakage of fumigant to atmosphere. Appropriate controls were developed, including preventive maintenance, functional testing, calibration, condition monitoring, corrective maintenance and regulatory activities.