Work order priority levels exist so that a queue of reactive jobs and corrective work has an order that somebody decided rather than an order of who shouted last. Most sites need four levels, and a work order priority matrix that sets the level from two questions: what is the consequence of this asset being down, and how soon does that consequence arrive. This page gives the scale, the matrix, and the rule about who sets the priority, which matters more than the scale itself.
The four levels
Emergency: a safety risk or a stopped line with no workaround; work starts now and the schedule moves. Urgent: a stopped or badly degraded asset with a workaround, or a safety-related finding that is not immediate; work starts today or tomorrow. Planned: corrective work found by inspection and anything that can wait for the weekly plan; done within the fortnight. Routine: cosmetic, convenience and low-consequence items; done when the plan has room, and reviewed if still open after a month. Four levels is enough; more than that and the middle levels blur.
The matrix
Down one side, the consequence of the asset being out of service: safety or environmental; production stopped; production degraded; no operational effect. Across the top, how soon it bites: now; this shift; this week; eventually. Each cell holds one of the four levels, with safety always emergency or urgent and no-effect items never above planned. The matrix is written once, printed by the supervisor's desk, and used every time a request is triaged, so that two supervisors give the same job the same level.
Who sets it
The supervisor, at triage, from the matrix. Never the requester, whose problem is always the most urgent one they have. Never the technician alone, who will fix the interesting fault first. The supervisor reads the queue daily, sets the level from the consequence of the asset and the matrix, and reorders as the day changes. A queue with levels set that way is a plan; one with levels set by requesters is a list of complaints.
What the levels feed
The daily plan: emergency and urgent first, planned into the week, routine into the gaps. The reporting: how many emergencies a month is a measure of how far the site is behind its equipment, and a falling count is the preventive programme working. This site's worked example, 84 breakdowns a month, is a queue of emergencies and urgents that a schedule that runs is meant to shrink. The maintenance work order template worksheet on this site has the priority field with these four levels.
Questions people ask about work order priority levels
How many priority levels should a maintenance team use?
Four. Three loses the distinction between urgent and planned; five or more means nobody can say what level three means.
Should preventive work orders have a priority?
They carry a due date, which is their priority. A preventive task overdue on a critical asset becomes planned or urgent corrective work by the matrix.
What about a job that is urgent for the requester but not for production?
Routine or planned by the matrix, with the reason explained to the requester. The matrix exists so that the explanation is the same every time.