GUIDELINES ON WRITING A MAINTENANCE MANUAL - February 2000

Oct 22, 2026

Uploaded by Noah

A guidance document prepared for writing effective maintenance manuals, emphasizing suitability for the intended audience and the need to consider differing educational backgrounds and staff responsibilities. It addresses how to define the proposed audience and purpose, how to structure content for different hierarchy levels, and how language choices affect usability in multilingual contexts. It also provides writing and presentation considerations, including typographic guidance for clear reading and the use of diagrams and forms.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

A maintenance manual: what to consider

Audience

Language

Text and typography

R O U G H T O N In association with THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM and THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM GUIDELINES ON WRITING A MAINTENANCE MANUAL February 2000 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • R O U G H T O N In association with THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM and THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM Department for International Development Knowledge and Research (KaR) Programme Project Title: Appropriate and Efficient Maintenance of Low Cost Rural Roads DFID Project Reference: R6852 Subsector: Transport Theme: T2 Element A: Guidelines on Writing a Maintenance Manual Date: February 2000 This document is an output from a project funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of DFID • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Roughton International 321 Millbrook Road West Southampton SO15 OHW United Kingdom [www.roughton.com](www.roughton.com) The University of Nottingham School of Civil Engineering University Park Nottingham NG7 2RD United Kingdom [www.nottingham.ac.uk/p&g](www.nottingham.ac.uk/p&g) University of Birmingham School of Civil Engineering Edgbaston Birmingham B15 2TT United Kingdom [www.bham.ac.uk/CivEng/](www.bham.ac.uk/CivEng/) Department for International Development 94 Victoria Street London SW1E 5JL [www.dfid.gov.uk](www.dfid.gov.uk) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This manual was prepared by Ms K Adams (University of Birmingham) . Formatting and graphic design was undertaken by Mrs L Bailey and Mr J Charter (Roughton International Ltd) . The helpful comments of Professor K Madelin, Dr B. Obika and Dr R.J. Freer-Hewish and those people who contributed to the main report are gratefully acknowledged. Limited extracts from the text may be reproduced provided the source is acknowledged. For more extensive reproduction, please write to DFID. This document is available on CD ROM and has been formatted to allow its easy use in training presentations. GUIDELINES ON WRITING A MAINTENANCE MANUAL Guiidelliines to Wriitiing a Maiintenance Manuall This maintenance manual is written in two languagesEnglish on the right and Pidgin on the left. Thus ensuring it is suitable for the user. (Papua New Guinea, Department of Works, Road Maintenance ield Manual) The maintenance manual should always be suitable for the audience. Account should be taken of potential differences in educational background. Photograph from Papua New Guinea, Department of Works, Road Maintenance Field Manual. The proposed audience of a maintenance manual should always be stated. This will help both with the style of writing and the level of information. Also getting the manual to the person it is intended to help is an important issue, which will be helped by having a clear idea from the start about the ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙∙ ∙ WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN WRITING A MAINTENANCE MANUAL When writing a maintenance manual there are various issues that need to be considered. The aim of this guidance document is to offer advice on the type of issues that must be tacked. The advice is based on work undertaken to establish what makes manuals effective. Audience The proposed user of the maintenance manual should have clear guidance on the exact purpose and status of the manual. Who is the audience? Different levels of staff which a manual could be aimed at (in the maintenance scenario) can be thought of as follows (obviously different titles and structures will be present in different countries), but generallyi: ♦ Chief Engineer at Headquarters ♦ Regional Maintenance Engineer ♦ Road Maintenance Engineer ♦ Road Maintenance Supervisor ♦

FAQs

Why must the proposed audience and purpose be stated when writing a maintenance manual?

Stating the proposed audience clarifies the style of writing and the level of information, and helps ensure the manual reaches the people it is intended to support.

How should language be handled in countries where more than one language is spoken?

The manual should be written in the relevant languages or supported with good diagrams so non-speakers can still use it; forms and bullet points may also be provided in multiple languages.

What differences should be considered between staff at different hierarchy levels?

Staff at higher levels typically need less operational detail than those implementing maintenance on the ground; since a single manual for all levels may be too large, topic manuals or loose-leaf systems can group information appropriately.

Oct 22, 2026

Uploaded by Noah