Defect Register
A defect register is a controlled list of identified equipment defects, risks, status, ownership, and required corrective actions.
What this term means in maintenance
A defect register is a controlled list of identified equipment defects, risks, status, ownership, and required corrective actions.
What a defect register may contain
Typical fields include:
- Asset
- Defect description
- Date detected
- Detection source
- Risk
- Priority
- Current condition
- Interim control
- Required action
- Owner
- Target date
- Status
- Related work order
Practical example
An inspection identifies corrosion on a support structure. The defect is recorded, risk assessed, monitored, and linked to a corrective work order.
Defect register versus backlog
The defect register captures known equipment conditions. Backlog contains approved maintenance work. One defect may create one or more work orders.
Review
Teams should review critical, aging, deteriorating, and overdue defects regularly.
Common mistake
Recording defects only in inspection comments makes them difficult to prioritize and follow through to closure.
Related concepts
Related maintenance terms
Keep exploring connected CMMS, reliability, and maintenance planning terms.
Defect Elimination
Defect elimination is the structured removal of recurring equipment defects and the conditions that create them.
Maintenance Backlog
Maintenance backlog is approved maintenance work that has not yet been completed, commonly measured by job count, estimated labor hours, age, risk, or weeks of available labor capacity.
Asset Condition Assessment
An asset condition assessment is a structured evaluation of the physical state, performance, degradation, and remaining serviceability of an asset.
Glossary FAQs
- What is a defect register?
A controlled list of identified equipment defects, risk, status, ownership, and actions.
- How is it different from backlog?
The register stores conditions; backlog stores approved work.
- What defects should be reviewed first?
Critical, deteriorating, aging, overdue, and high-consequence defects.