Facility Turnarounds During a Pandemic

Refineries and petrochemical plants around the world are required to perform turnarounds.  A turnaround (TAR) is an expensive and planned period of time where a plant or refinery must be inspected or where plant improvement/maintenance is implemented.   All refineries and petrochemical facilities are required to have inspections and be held to a certain set of health and safety standards.  If any of these standards fail to be met, they must address them in a timely manner to pass inspections.

Now mix in a pandemic, the impact of regulations, social distancing, and exposure risks and that can prove to add even more complexity for even the most experienced managers. 

As facilities focus on getting essential turnaround projects completed, one of the top concerns brought up is “Can we complete a safe turnaround?”. Below are some safety tips and security solutions Allied Universal can help you with as your company looks to adjust the schedule and turnaround for current COVID-19 precautions:

• Monitor health conditions of all persons entering and exiting the facility.
  • Utilizing your security partner to screen all contractors with a temperature reader
  • Utilizing technology and Federally approved thermal cameras.
• Ensure adequate supplies of PPE are available, secured, and a process is set in place for compliance (e.g., face masks, latex or nitrile gloves to be used under work gloves, etc.)
  • PPE and other necessary equipment is safely secured and accessible to employees when needed
• Safety Briefs
  • Make sure during each shift, each contractor lead is observing any safety concerns in addition to any normal safety protocols. 
• Sanitization:
  • Utilize HELIAUS® to ensure timely checks of work areas are done for disinfecting, cleaning, and sanitization 
• Limiting face-to-face shift handover meetings:
  • When and where possible, use radio or electronic communications (radio, video conferencing, or mobile phone) to allow for socially distanced communications and conversations

In conclusion, an abundance of pre-planning before the turnaround and debrief after can help improve business and safety protocols/efficiencies. At Allied Universal, we offer solutions and services to help you and your business whether it be a Risk Assessment at your facility, improving your technology and camera equipment, or man-guarding services.  Our Chemical, Petrochemical, and Utilities subject matter experts - are here to help. 

About the Author:

Jason Gordon 

Manager, Chemical/Petrochemical/Utilities for Allied Universal

jason.gordon@aus.com