Keeping things working: a historical review of maintenance, inspection and failure analysis in engineering infrastructures, c. 1800–present

Engineering histories have traditionally privileged design and construction, while treating maintenance and failure as marginal or purely technical matters. This article offers a synthetic review of maintenance, inspection and failure analysis in large engineering infrastructures from c.1800 to the present. Drawing on published case studies and selected archival work across transport, maritime, power and information systems, it traces how engineers have identified, monitored and managed deterioration, and how institutions have allocated responsibility for keeping things working. The review highlights shifts from reactive repair to preventive and predictive maintenance, the growing role of testing laboratories, regulatory oversight and expert witnessing, and the increasing use of digital monitoring and data-driven diagnosis. By emphasizing maintenance as a central object of inquiry, the article argues for a rebalancing of engineering history towards the life-cycle of artefacts and systems, and outlines directions for future research on labour, expertise and resilience in geographical and sectoral contexts.