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Audit template in the LeanSuite app

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Lubrication audit checklist

A lubrication audit checks the whole lubrication routine in an area once a month: how oils and greases are stored and labelled, whether each lubrication point is marked with its lubricant, and whether the route is followed, recorded and done by trained people. Its 12 questions catch the mix-ups and missed points that a lubrication schedule on paper does not show.

A maintenance planner, lubrication technician or 5S lead runs it monthly. What a failure looks like: two different greases topped up from the same gun, an open oil drum collecting dust, a sight glass so dirty the level cannot be read, grease pushed out of a bearing seal that was over-greased, or a route signed off for points the technician could not reach.

What it is for, as built: Monthly audit of how lubricants are stored, labelled and applied.

Use this template in LeanSuite

The full question list

The 12 questions in the audit

Every question is answered Yes, No or N/A. Each No is flagged and asks for a photo and a comment, so the finding arrives with its evidence.

Storage

  1. 1Lubricants are stored clean, covered and labelled
  2. 2Containers for each lubricant are marked to avoid mix-ups
  3. 3New and used oil are kept apart
  4. 4Spill containment is in place

Lubrication points

  1. 5Lubrication points are marked and easy to reach
  2. 6The lubricant type is shown at each point
  3. 7Sight glasses and breathers are clean and in good condition
  4. 8There is no over-greasing or leaking

Routes and records

  1. 9A lubrication route or schedule exists and is followed
  2. 10Completed lubrication is recorded
  3. 11People who lubricate are trained
  4. 12Used oil and rags are disposed of correctly

Worked example, illustrative

A filled-in example

One section as it might be filled in on the floor, with every other section of the audit answered Yes. The place and finding are made up to show how the audit reads and scores.

Result: pass, 83.3% against a pass mark of 80

  • 12 questions, all of them count.
  • 2 answered No, so 10 of 12 are Yes: 10 ÷ 12 = 83.3%.
  • 83.3% is at or above 80, so the audit passes. The Nos still need their fix.

What happened next: Lubrication technician replaced the sight glass and the route card now gives shot counts for that bearing, done within the week.

Scored here as one point per question with N/A left out. In the app each answer carries the points set on the template, so change them after you clone it if your plant weighs some checks more.

Lubrication Audit

Audit, monthly

Area or machine
Compressor room and conveyor drives, Line 4

Lubrication points

  1. Lubrication points are marked and easy to reachYes
  2. The lubricant type is shown at each pointYes
  3. Sight glasses and breathers are clean and in good conditionNo
  4. There is no over-greasing or leakingNo

    Comment: Sight glass on the gearbox of drive 4B too dark to read the level. Fresh grease pushed out past the seal on the tail pulley bearing.

    Photo attached to each No

Drawn from this template's own questions, not a screenshot of the app. Illustrative answers.

When to use it

  • Once a month.
  • An auditor or leader answers each question from what they see, hear and read in the area.
  • Each record starts with: Area or machine.

How it is scored

The template is built with points per answer and a pass mark of 80. In this library every audit is set to pass at 80 and every inspection at 90. Each submitted audit shows its score and pass or fail, and every No is flagged with its photo and comment.

Change the points or the pass mark after you clone it. How rules and scoring work.

Read and print

More in maintenance and equipment

All maintenance and equipment templates

FAQ

Lubrication audit checklist: common questions

  1. Monthly per area, timed so the auditor can walk part of the route with the technician. Do an extra one when a new lubricant is introduced or a supplier changes, after a bearing failure traced to lubrication, when a new technician takes over the route, and after any spill or contamination found in a storage area.

  2. A maintenance planner, reliability engineer or 5S lead, not the person who runs the route that month. They need to know which lubricant goes where, what over-greasing looks like at a seal, and how the colour or tag coding works on site. Findings go to the maintenance lead, who owns the route and decides on relabelling, training or a route change.

  3. A fail means bearings and gearboxes are getting the wrong lubricant, the wrong amount, or none at all, and the failures will follow in weeks or months. Quarantine any container you cannot identify, check the points fed from a mixed gun, and give the maintenance lead a dated action to relabel the storage and the points. In this template every No is flagged and asks for a photo and a comment, and an audit that scores under its pass mark of 80 is a fail.

  4. Keep the area, date, auditor, each No with a photo of the container or point, the lubricant involved, and the relabelling, cleaning or training that closed it. Set against bearing and gearbox failures over the same months, the audit history shows whether lubrication is behind them, which is the argument for fixing the store rather than buying more spares. In LeanSuite each submitted audit is stored with its score, its pass or fail, and the photo and comment on every No.

  5. 12 questions in 3 sections: storage, lubrication points, and routes and records. Every question is answered Yes, No or N/A.

Use this template in LeanSuite

It is ready in the Template Marketplace inside Lean Creator as “Lubrication Audit”. Clone it into your plant, change any question, then schedule it to a person, role or asset with reminders. Auditors complete it on a phone or tablet, with photo evidence where required.

Not on LeanSuite yet? On a 90-day pilot our team sets up your account and digitizes the forms and checklists you use today, this one included.

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