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Maintenance work order form

A maintenance work order is the record that authorizes and describes a maintenance job: what is wrong, on which asset, how urgent it is, what work and safety steps it needs and who does it, and, when it is closed, what was done, why it failed, the parts and hours used and the downtime. Closed work orders become each machine's repair history. Page 1 of this template is the form in four sections: the request (asset, location, problem, priority, machine status, requested by), planning (work type: corrective, preventive, inspection or improvement; permits including lockout/tagout; parts; estimated hours), completion (work done, cause, parts used, labor, downtime and follow-up) and the handback to production with sign-off. Page 2 is a work order log with example priority targets. The Excel version is the log: it works out each order's status, days open, response time and completion against the target for its priority, and summarizes the on-target percentages, the backlog by priority and age, the share of labor hours that is planned (preventive and inspection) or reactive (corrective), and hours by asset with a chart. It works on paper or alongside a CMMS.

Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.

Page 1 of the maintenance work order form: fields for work order number, date, requester and shift, then four sections: the request with asset, problem and priority, planning with work type and permits, completion with cause, parts, labor and downtime, and the handback to production with sign-off.
Request and priorityWork typePermits and LOTOParts and hoursCause foundDowntimeHandback to productionWork order log

When to use it

When to use a maintenance work order form

  • When maintenance requests arrive by radio, phone or a word in the aisle, and some get lost.
  • To give every job a priority, an owner and a record of what was done.
  • To see the backlog and how long jobs wait, by priority.
  • Alongside a CMMS, as the request at the machine or a backup when the system is down.

How to fill it in

  1. 1

    Raise it at the machine

    Asset, location and what you see: the symptom, where, since when. Say whether the machine is down and whether there is a safety hazard.

  2. 2

    Set the priority

    Use agreed levels, for example 1 emergency or safety, 2 line down or at risk, 3 routine, 4 planned. The priority sets how fast the job is answered.

  3. 3

    Plan the job

    Work type, who does it, parts, estimated hours and the permits it needs. Servicing where an unexpected start-up or release of energy could hurt someone needs lockout/tagout under your energy control procedure.

  4. 4

    Record what was done and why

    The work done, the cause found, parts used, hours and downtime. Writing 'fixed' is not a record.

  5. 5

    Hand back to production

    Locks removed by the people who applied them, guards refitted, area clean, machine tested with production, and who accepted it and when.

  6. 6

    Review the log

    Open orders by priority and age at the daily maintenance meeting, and repeat failures on the same asset each month.

A filled-in example

Illustrative, not a benchmark

An example: a conveyor stop on a packing line (illustrative).

  • Raised at 06:40: conveyor C3 belt running off and rubbing the frame, line stopped. Priority 2, corrective, lockout/tagout needed, estimated 2 hours.
  • Started at 07:30, a response of 50 minutes against a 4-hour target. Two technicians at 1.5 hours each: 3 labor hours.
  • Cause: a worn bearing on the take-up pulley; one bearing used. Restarted at 09:10: 2.5 hours of downtime, and 2.5 hours from raised to finished against a 3-day completion target.
  • Handback: locks removed, guard refitted, belt run and checked with the line lead, who signed it.

The log showed two belt problems on C3 in a month, so the follow-up added a monthly check of the take-up bearings to the preventive maintenance plan.

Common mistakes

  • Everything is priority 1

    If every job is urgent, none is. Agree what each level means and stick to it.

  • Closing without a cause

    Without the cause, the same failure comes back and nobody sees the pattern.

  • Skipping the handback

    A machine returned with a guard off or a lock still on is a new hazard. Hand it back in person.

  • Letting the backlog age unseen

    Review open orders by age. A routine job left for three months often becomes a breakdown.

Download the template

Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.

Run this template in LeanSuite

In LeanSuite a professional maintenance tag becomes a work order with photos, location and equipment ID attached, rules route it to the right technician and set its due date by priority, and the technician records the fix and the parts used when closing it.

FAQ

Maintenance work order form: common questions

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