When looking at EPC on a megaproject, there are many practices a contractor can perform to make a successful project. There are innovative ways to approach a project but it’s important for contractors to have a realistic outlook, ensuring on-time completion and hitting the budgets.
At the recent North American Petrochemical Conference and Exhibition, I discussed EPC projects and some possible best practices to approach them. The following are some strategies, which are nothing out of the ordinary and should be common sense, but they have to be discussed when executing a megaproject and to avoid escalating costs.
- Early contract award. You know who you want to do the job. Go to that company, get it to commit, secure the people and reserve any shop space needed.
- Traffic control. I know this sounds simple but it’s important to stagger the departure and arrival times on a megaproject. It’s very difficult to fit 8,000 people through one gate. One solution is to split up groups into 15-minute intervals. There’s nothing wrong with people working 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. or 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. This leads to departments not being swamped, better morale and safety benefits.
- Constructability. It is vital managers establish a strategy early in project development. Then, periodic reviews need to be done on focal points of the design process.
- Open communication. Communication channels need to be open between a contractor and an owner. Also, a clear, streamlined communication tool would be best. For example, you could have a safety video specific to that site and job. It’s best to bundle all information in one spot so the worker doesn’t spend more time than he needs trying to get on the site.
- Rethink the hiring process. Have human resource personnel at the gate to handle problems. Recently, we heard about a job where they centralized timekeeping on a major project. You might think this would help streamline efficiency but it did not. In actual practice, centralized timekeeping sent employees from different areas all to the same spot, which created a lot of traffic and some confusion. I would recommend not re-engineering timekeeping. It’s best to keep timekeeping separated by area and the department fully staffed.
- Safety committee. We recommend creating a safety committee that includes craft personnel on the job and meets twice a month. Safety committees produce phenomenal results. It’s amazing how quickly establishing a good safety committee can turn around a troublesome project.
- Realistic lessons at the jobsite level. Practices such as “all large cranes will be coordinated by the construction manager” may not work in the real world. We’ve found these practices create delays and trades become stacked because everyone is waiting for equipment.
- Poor planning of X-rays. When performing X-rays, you have to abandon the whole unit, leading to an inefficiency nightmare. You can always look at other methods of NDE.
- Have tie-off points on a module and order pipe supports at the beginning of the project. For some reason, pipe supports are the last things we think of but you can’t hang pipes without pipe supports.
- Have a separate staging area. On projects where you have a tremendous amount of equipment coming in and out, it’s important to have two different staging areas: one area for coming in and one area for going out.
Twenty-five years ago the owners looked at contractors and started using the word “safety.” It started a cultural change where companies now have entire floors dedicated to it. The cultural movement of safety is the best thing that’s happened to the industry. Implementing a zero tolerance alcohol and drug policy has also changed the safety culture of the industry. Today, we all need to drive a cultural change once again. We have to change it from just building great things to building people who build great things. We need to attract the next workforce. We have to tell people our story and let them know what great careers we’ve all had in this industry. In the end, that’s how we’ll solve the tight labor scenario that’s approaching.
For more information, contact Toups at stoups@turner-industries.com or call (225) 214-2725.
