Tool Control

Tool control affects safety. Leaving a tool in an aircraft, engine or a piece of support equipment is not just an inconvenience, it is a safety risk. Realizing this, in our aircraft maintenance department superiors enforce some sort of tool control procedures. They realize that establishing and enforcing a tool control program can provide numerous benefits, the foremost of which is safety. The effect of Foreign Object Debris (FOD) on maintenance costs can be significant. For example, the cost to repair a FOD-damaged engine can easily exceed $1 million. FOD can also incur extensive indirect costs, including: Flight delays and cancellations, Schedule disruptions caused by the need to reposition airplanes and crews work for flight management and staff, it could prevent the Marine Corps from conducting its operations; ruining the careers of your fellow Marine who was the Collateral Duty Inspector (CDI); as well as potential liability because of injury.
At a minimum, tool control is a method to quickly determine that all tools are accounted for at the beginning and end of a maintenance task. This can only be done if each tool has a specific place where it is stored that allows for quick identification if the tool is missing. There are several ways to do this, a tool inventory is accomplished on a regular basis so that any missing tools can quickly be identified and searched for before they affect the safety of an aircraft. Etchings on tools can help identify the proper location of the tool. This can be done after each work task or at least once a day. Many maintenance departments choose to do it at the beginning and end of each shift.
In order to achieve the goal of accounting for all tools to ensure a safe product for the squadrons we support or “customers”, a culture must be present that encourages employees to report any missing or broken tool. This procedure should be clear as to how often tools need to be inventoried, how the maintainer should report a missing