Turnaround...

Today at work is all about turnaround. I joined two seperate meetings in the morning and in the afternoon discussing about it. Basically a turnaround is an event,whereby refineries/processing plants are taken off stream from operating & production (basically shutting down in layman terms). Turnaround (or TA as we called it) is the time major maintenance works were done,thorough inspection conducted to ensure the integrity of the structures,as well as modification or revampibg works will be conducted. This will be my first TA experience,and you know what,from what I saw it's gonna be a huge deal.

The morning meeting is all about safety. We're discussing the JSA (Job Safety Analysis) of the major jobs to be done during TA. This is where we detail out every single safety aspects in the job. We're talking equipment inspection,hazard awareness,manpower competencies,basically the whole lot. Safety during TA is especially a huge deal,because time is of the essence,and we can't afford to lose precious time for not doing things safely. In O&G, time is money,literally.

Then in the afternoon,we had a discussion as to the works to be done during TA. Here the planner will outline the detailed plan of what's to happen from shutdown to startup. Every single item is detailed out,like the minimum time to drain out the whole system to go hydrocarbon free,what jobs start first,even to extend of crane mobilization. We are given such a tight window,as let's face it; the longer you're down, the more losses you'll incur.

So that's about it. Expect long workhours,sleepless nights and deprived state of mind...