Winter is a good time to clean up around your shop area. Bad weather often limits outdoor activities and gives everyone a little time to do some housekeeping. Here are some tips to keep your shop in good shape.

Organize spare parts and equipment. Sometimes shops slowly acquire a variety of “stuff” without giving adequate thought on where to store it. Before it gets any worse, take time to organize some proper storage. Construct a few simple storage racks to get items up off the floor and down from the rafters. Put the heavy items on lower shelves and anchor the entire shelving unit to a wall or the floor. Be sure to maintain full-width aisles and clear doorways to allow safe movement in and around the shelves. Keep tires and other rubber items out of direct sun and away from devices that have electrical motors, such as air compressors and blowers. Sunlight contains ultraviolet rays and electrical motors generate an almost invisible gas called ozone — both can seriously degrade rubber compounds and cause them to fail.

Secure sensitive items. Some items are especially dangerous or may be prone to theft and require special storage. For example, mis-use of fuel is a common problem, and many departments control access to the fuel storage and dispensing equipment. In some cases, a simple chain-link fence enclosure with a padlocked gate is all that’s needed. Radios and other expensive items may need to be kept in a locked cabinet. Spare apparatus batteries need to be stored off the floor and in a ventilated area away from ignition sources. Compressed-gas cylinders need to be secured with a chain in an upright position, and those with flammable gases need to have warning signs posted.

Improve the working environment. If your shop could benefit from upgraded lighting, an improved heating system or additional air line connections, this would be a good time to do it. Ditto for the construction of an interior office space to provide a clean, quiet and secure place to conduct business and keep records. Have a licensed contractor do the work if you don’t have your own skilled personnel. Be especially careful about doing your own electrical modifications or additions — causing a short circuit that burns down the shop is frowned on in most departments.

Catch up on paperwork. Winter is a good time to make reports, organize files and write proposals and outlines for work in the coming year. It’s also a good time to order and review the manuals you may need for your apparatus and equipment. With the proper manuals, you can then potentially expand your preventive maintenance program to include the regular inspections and maintenance required by the manufacturers. Doing it “the way we’ve always done it” without double-checking the proper procedure is no longer acceptable and can buy you a one-way ticket to a day in court. And while you’re catching up on your paperwork, review some of the many service training opportunities coming up next year and make arrangements to enroll one or more of your technicians for classes or seminars.

Taking time to clean your shop will give you an opportunity to look at what you’ve got and how you use it. Perhaps in the process, you’ll think of better ways to do things.

In a future issue, we’ll offer some safety tips to further improve your shop area.