Why Label?
Often you'll find yourself in a situation where there is a leak, a fire, or a tripped circuit. In these situations where time is of the essence to ensure the safety of both personnel and equipment, knowing where the disconnecting means for these energy sources is critical. Having a clearly labeled tag will help minimize the time it takes to return to normal safe operation.
What to label and how?
Valves should be labeled on any type of fluid line. Fluid here is both gas and liquid. These systems might not be appropriate for a simple label printed from a machine, instead a tag with information stamped on it is better. These tags can be hung around the handle with a small length of chain. Information to be stamped could be as simple as the section of the building it is feeding, the machine it's feeding, or individual components if part of a valve bank.
All electrical equipment should be labeled. If a panel schedule exists, use it to help identify areas where a circuit should be. Many times prints and schedules are out of date if it's not part of the maintenance team's duty to update it as building needs and equipment changes. If nothing exists, start from the main feed to the building. Give it a name, which will also act as an address.
Electrical Example
A name example would be MF~12:B. MF would stand for main feed. 12:B would be the physical location if looking at the prints. From here, there should be some kind of feeder panel. Give this panel a unique name, and if the location is not in the immediate vicinity of the main, be sure to include that it is fed from MF~12:B. Let's name this FP~12:B. FP could be anything, but here it stands for feeder panel and we will assume it feeds panels down the line.
Now on the individual breakers in this panel, we will simply label them in numerical order starting from the top down. Now let's say the first breaker feeds a panel across the building. We would label this breaker "Feeds Panel MR~23:M" MR being the panel name and 23:M being the location if viewed from the prints.
Going to the location of this panel, we label it "MR~23:M" under this we would put "Fed from FP-12:B" Giving both pieces of equipment labels and addresses to one another helps keep things organized for quick identification for both repair and upgrades down the line.
Final Thoughts
While this was just an example, hopefully you see the merit in having a clearly labeled system. I've worked in plants that had amazing labeling systems that made work so much easier. If you work in a place without a system in place, make one. Get a circuit tracer and a label maker. Any time you do a repair, update anything you can with the system you create. If you have downtime, go trace and identify any circuits you have access to. Yes, it's busy work, but it will make the job so much easier for you and the guy after you. Update your prints as well as often as possible in this process, at the end of the day or week is fine.
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