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 Case StudiesVirtual ControlSite Adoption
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Site Management | ||||||||||||||
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More and more companies are outsourcing the management of their electrical networks to Facilities Management companies. As these networks rarely give rise to any problem the management often ignore these systems and appoint an authorised person to carry out the few operations needed when they hand over any construction or maintenance work to specialist companies. However the consequences of a failure of High Voltage systems can be devastating. Lost production or income is the least of the issues. Worse still are the extreme consequences of equipment failure or operational errors. Very few industrial systems have the capability to cause so much violent disruption. HV switchgear is normally operated by specially trained and appointed staff who should have the necessary experience and technical ability to recognise the dangers. Although work is often passed to specialist companies it is still the responsibility of the site managers to ensure that the switchgear and the electrical network is managed in a correct and safe manner. This puts a major responsibility onto the general staff often employed in FM companies. All too often the responsibilities are complicated with many different parties involved in the management of the site. A FM company may subcontract maintenance to one company and construction to another while the actual hands on work may be carried out by yet another company. This can lead to confusing contracts and leaving some essential safety aspects of a network with no clear lines of management. The staff at 11kV has for many years provided operational training and consultancy on High Voltage Electrical networks. Our engineers have over 30 years or more experience with many different types of electrical installation, most have extensive operational experience at all levels to Senior Management within Electricity Distribution Companies and are now available from Phronesis Technology to help FM companies satisfy their legal and contractual responsibilities of providing a safe economical reliable supply of electricity to their sites. Although we can offer a full range of construction and maintenance services ourselves we are equally happy to assist site managers and plant operators understand and manage their responsibilities by providing them with safety rules, procedures, site surveys and reviews. This often happens when we are asked to provide training for plant operators to satisfy the requirements of becoming an AP for a site. Unlike many companies we focus on providing the staff on the site with an understanding of the plant they are will actually be operating and of the way the plant is configured on their site. The focus is firmly on the people, the plant and the network they will operate. By providing staff with this targeted training we often identify areas where we believe there is a lack of operational management and potential danger. We then help the companies either work around the problems or provide them with a report that can help them secure any additional funding to rectify the situation. Although most companies work to a set of safety rules these are often generic (frequently poor copies of the local Electricity Companies) and are aimed at covering issues that may occur on any one of the sites under contract. Safety rules are an essential foundation in providing safe systems of work, but alone they can be difficult to interpret and can themselves result in dangerous situations as the rules may not cover any site specific oddities or anomalies. To cater for these situations a set of operational procedures may need to be produced to explain how the rules are to be interpreted or applied to these anomalies. Other situations which we frequently find are where there is no clear boundary of responsibilities for different aspects of a site. Construction work may be carried out by one part of the group without the knowledge in detail of the staff who will have to operate or maintain the plant. Construction work may create protection setting or loading issues which are not passed on to the maintenance company. In general the methods of working on Low voltage (415v 3 phase) are far more stringently documented than work on HV systems. The IEE wiring regulations offer a bible which designers and installers can work to, yet the more dangerous and complex HV systems often do not have the same level of care and consideration applied to them. This is because although HV networks are very easy to operate they often have very specific types of use and often have plant that is not as suitable to use as more modern plant. A standard bible of operational methods and design procedures is simply not available or applicable. To cater for this shortfall Phronesis Technology, with its wide operational experience can highlight these risk areas and introduce procedures which allow safe systems of work to be applied and then help to train and authorise your staff to understand and use these procedures. We can also help your site management team, often with no experience of electrical networks, understand the implications on production and safety of these often ignored systems. We can then either help your managers to become authorising engineers or we can work alongside your staff to make a recommendation as to their suitability for the role after initially explaining what your responsibilities as a Manager are for issuing an authorising certificate. The day to day management of networks includes many of the following activities Safety rules Operational procedures Risk assessments Method statements Operational staff assessments Staff training Security of supply assessments Site management Training for the authoriser Operational Boundary procedures Ownership operation and maintenance schedules Control procedures Site safety reviews Operational labelling and nomenclature Operational document generation process If you feel that there are areas where we can help your management tam then please contact us for an informal discussion. |
We are now looking for people with AP or HV network experience. Email ap@11kv.com
Call now for AP / SAP training courses | ||||||||||||||
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info@11kv.com |
+44 (0)7710404792 |