How Plant Turnaround Companies Increase Project Safety

To stay protected during a shutdown, you need professionals who specialize in safety

Plant turnarounds are never easy and are quite often hectic. As you might imagine, this sometimes doesn't bode well for worker safety. In 2019, a TA Cook and Solomon Associates study found that almost 50 percent of workplace accidents in manufacturing plants occurred during a turnaround. While performing a turnaround, lives are on the line just as much as future facility performance.

To manage a turnaround without incident, you need a company of turnaround safety experts. Plant turnaround companies join you during the planning process and bring their expertise to bear in preventing employee accidents from the start of the project to its finish.

Here are more specifics about how these companies can help keep your turnaround workers safe.

Pre-Turnaround Planning

Before a turnaround begins, the turnaround company works to understand the entire process ahead, working with your teams to capture every detail. The plant turnaround company assesses your planned actions, looks at all possible risks to employees, and then presents a comprehensive strategy that integrates people, processes, and data. The front-end suggestions might include safety, unit congestion, and productivity.

Execution

A plant turnaround company will help you keep it on track during the turnaround by assuming decision-making to mitigate any delays or confusion. Functions the company will assume include:

• Real-time monitoring of activities - The company tracks and reports equipment status, labor, PPE, and current costs. Real-time tracking with Accutrack and the use of IoT devices create leaner processes resulting in considerable time savings.
  
  
• Forecasting - The plant turnaround company looks at all current events to forecast future costs and constraints.
  
  
• Monitoring for process deviations - Plant turnaround companies can watch for processes falling out of compliance or deviating from their timeline, which can be events that increase risk when employees try to get back on track and lose focus on safety.
  
  
• Auditing - Turnarounds are notorious for being the cause of many potential code and regulations violations. On-site safety professionals perform audits, finding and reducing potential weak spots.
  
  
• Facilitating communications - Working across teams, plant turnaround companies improve communication by eliminating information silos.

One-Stop Safety Solutions

Plant turnaround companies are one-stop shops for all of your safety needs. They can provide breathing solutions, PPE, and rental equipment like gas detection solutions and fall protection. Safety personnel staffing is handled by the company, and rescue teams are created and put on call for emergency situations.

Having all necessary personnel and materials on site ensures you're ready and prepared should an incident occur. By planning ahead, nothing that can contribute to safety during the turnaround process is forgotten or left out.

Safer, More Efficient Start-Up and Demobilization

A plant turnaround company stays with you until your facility starts up again, then demobilizes to return your plant to normal operations quickly. During demobilization, equipment removal occurs and a final sweep is performed. Because your turnaround partner handles this work, your teams are free to focus on bringing your facility back online.

A plant turnaround company isn’t a luxury, but a necessary solutions provider, keeping employees safe throughout this hectic time. Turnarounds are not easy, but with the right help, you can get through them on time with better results and safer employees.