The best form of casualty control is prevention. If you do not let a casualty happen, you will not have to fix it.
Preventive maintenance is one of the principal factors of casualty control.
Preventive inspections, tests, and maintenance are vital to casualty control. Continuous detailed inspections are necessary to discover worn or partly damaged parts, which may fail at a critical time. These inspections eliminate maladjustments, improper lubrication, corrosion, erosion, and other enemies that could cause early failure of a vital piece of machinery. The inspections, tests, and maintenance called for in the 3-M systems must be performed conscientiously since they are based on the known requirements of preventive maintenance. Still, casualties do happen.