STOs (shutdowns, turnarounds and outages) give companies the opportunity to carry out preventative maintenance and equipment installation, which must be performed to keep a plant running and in regulatory compliance. However, to minimize productivity loss they must be completed within a very limited time frame. Therefore, one of the major concerns is the safety and well-being of workers
The Potential Safety Hazards
Turnaround increases the potential for injury to workers, as well as harm to property and the environment. This is due to the fact that during the STO process, the plant is shutdown, taken apart and worked on by a large number of strangers using unfamiliar and inherently hazardous procedures and equipment. Thus, under these circumstances, the potential for accidents and injuries increases exponentially and must be matched by a safety system of working, which minimizes the probability of loss. Therefore, safety orientations / orientations are a vital aspect of the STO processes.
Integration: The Key to Successfully Delivering STOs Safety Orientations
To prevent injury or loss of life the organization’s safety committee must provide the required safety induction/orientation to ensure that all on-site personnel and company assets are protected throughout the scope of the STO operation. Therefore, the manager responsible for the STO process will form a team of people who will plan, prepare and execute the safety orientation sessions. This team will integrate five different types of knowledge and experience, which will include:
- 1.Local: provided by plant personnel who are familiar with the technical records, operating procedures, history, past performances, and current problem(s) of the particular plant.
- 2.Work management: provided by engineers and planners who are familiar with all aspects of the STO process.
- 3.Supervision: provided by the client or contractor personnel.
- 4.Craft: provided by either internal or external maintenance personnel who are familiar with the tasks and activities required by the STOs process.
- 5.Specialist: specialists, such as sub-contractors, project managers and/or engineers provide technical task information.
Download the important points to cover in your safety sessions during each phase of the STO here.
A Successful STO is a Safe STO
Safety orientations for shutdowns, turnarounds and outages are perhaps one of the most important orientations in the manufacturing, and oil and gas industries. The shortened timeframe of the work and the array of safety hazards demand well documented procedures for all personnel involved to follow. Additionally, during an STO, a typical facility can see its ranks swell from 50 to perhaps 200-300 additional workers that the safety department must properly equip, train and provide rescue and standby emergency services. This often requires managing multiple vendors of safety products and services, as well as dealing direct with workers who are not familiar with the facility or its processes and are performing challenging, even high-risk, tasks. Therefore, STO projects require mature cost and performance management tools, such as effective and efficient safety orientations , which can rapidly be tailored, deployed and integrated on short notice.
GoContractor is an online contractor on-boarding platform. It gives you the ability to manage contractor documents, qualification cards, orientations and ongoing training. It can also capture the identity of each worker during the process.
