Turnaround / Shutdown Best Practice of Centralized Dispatch, Distribution and Qa/Qc of Safety Services

Abstract

Abstract In shutdowns and turnarounds there are three groups interacting together during the event. The operation team (owners who get the equipment ready to work on), the mechanical maintenance team (typically made up of various contractors who perform the work) and the shared services team that support both of the above in getting their tasks completed, one of which is Safety Services. Items such as, Breathing air delivery, gas detection/testing, confined space entry monitoring, high angle rescue and other constitute the main bulk of the shared safety services typically used on site during the shutdowns and turnarounds. In most places, these services are thought of as extra requirement and as a cost center, although necessary and supported, safety isn't viewed as one of the productivity tools in a turnaround. They are typically left to the contractors to manage independently or in isolation creating redundancy in the amount of equipment available, incompatibility in the variety of brands and systems and duplication of efforts resulting in delays in tasks and a general poor perception of safety. This paper demonstrates the effective use of a system of a a QA/QC process and a centralized distribution and dispatch for on site safety services such as Q-Cycle™, Resource Track™ and Site Courier™ of United Safety, in achieving safety goals as well as schedule productivity gains. This system and process can benefit both the owner/ operating companies as well as the general contractors as either or both can use it. It reviews an electronic method of tracking, reporting and data capture of the distribution and management of site safety services. Centralized distribution and dispatch system can manage daily needs as well as provide data for future planning. In addition, the paper covers the case study and results of this system used in a large, major IOC turnaround; how the data benefited the operator and the mechanical contracting group as well as saved time and money through service quality and inventory management.