Several years ago, when my son was a Cub Scout, his den went on a night hike at our local wildlife sanctuary. He and I went together on this outing. We were led by a professional nature guide who worked full-time at the sanctuary. I wasn’t expecting much; after all, what can one see in the forest when it’s pitch dark?

It wasn’t long into the hike before I realized that I was nothing more than a babe in the woods. While I was concentrating on my footing along the trail, our guide was pointing out everything from faint insect smells to the luminescent trailers of caterpillars on tree branches. To her, the forest was an orchestra of sights, sounds and smells. Using only her senses, she named the species of countless birds, mammals and reptiles we encountered along the way. She was in her element … a true professional in tune with her environment. I was impressed.

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How does this relate to lubrication and maintenance? In my view, the most important maintenance function doesn’t require anything from the tool box. It doesn’t require an instrument or an oil sample. It may not be on your PM schedule or lube route.

What it requires instead are skillful inspections that are rapid, comprehensive and frequent. Taking a pointer from speed chess, we need to pick up both inspection tempo and quality by deploying sensory-based (versus instrument-based) condition monitoring techniques. Let’s call them daily OMIs, or one-minute inspections.

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Early detection means frequent detection. While daily one-minute visual inspections have been discussed previously in Machinery Lubrication magazine, many questions remain, including where and how you inspect, what the observed conditions mean, and how you penetrate a machine’s exoskeleton exterior without X-ray vision.

There are three important inspection zones in common oil reservoirs and sumps. These zones have a story to tell about your oil and machine. They might be difficult to reach, but difficult does not mean impossible and certainly doesn’t mean unnecessary. Let’s get inside that exoskeleton and see what we need to know.

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Doctors have perfected the skills of conducting physical exams. They know what questions to ask and how to examine the body for clues that signify health, injury or disease.

The same is true of pilots. They are taught how to perform critical preflight checks or inspections that reveal mechanical condition and safety.

By walking around the plane with checklist in hand, pilots survey the aircraft for signs of tire damage, maintenance errors, material defects, and even sabotage.

Mechanics, lubrication technicians and even equipment operators must be skilled at giving physicals as well. Like the doctor or pilot, they need to be alert to subtle changes or symptoms that might be an early sign of machine malfunction or accelerated wear.

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