Most industrial workers engage in physically strenuous work. This is particularly true during a turnaround or outage. In any plant environment, the challenge for the safety and turnaround managers is balancing workload, productivity, safety and project cost. The safety component of the equation becomes particularly important as projects near completion. Depending upon the work schedule, workers could experience end-of-project fatigue. Slips, trips and falls on stairs/ ladders are often listed as reasons for OSHA incidents during project review meetings. For those craft workers performing in more challenging locations, possibly working at great heights, extra vigilance is required. A welder may have no fatigue issues while welding at ground level, but the same welder may experience weld failures and decreased productivity after climbing many stories to perform work.
By strategically installing temporary hoists, workers are able to spend more time working and less time on nonproductive tasks.
McDonough Elevators notices an increased role played by plant safety departments as turnaround and outage season begins. Turnaround managers and general contractors request temporary elevators for the taller structures within their facilities. Typical units where temporary hoists are placed include FCCs, crude, cokers, vacuums, furnaces, boilers and selective catalytic reduction units, just to name a few.
Temporary hoists are installed to increase worker safety and productivity. Climbing and descending stairs and cage ladders is very strenuous. Workers often have heavy tools and material to transport. Providing them with a means of arriving at the work front safely and quickly enhances overall schedule compliance. Discussions often take place about "tool time" and how much time is spent actually working. These discussions occur more often now that break areas and tool trailers are located farther from the heart of the turnaround/outage activity.
If it takes 10 minutes to climb the structure and 10 minutes to recover normal breathing, imagine this multiplied many times a day by the size of the crew and the number of trips. It doesn't take many trips to lose 20 percent or more in crew productivity daily. By strategically installing temporary hoists, workers are able to spend more time working and less time on nonproductive tasks.
Another bonus of installing a temporary hoist is inspections are easier to perform, thus keeping the overall project on schedule, saving time and money. How often have whole crews been redeployed to other activities, starting the permitting cycle over, while waiting for an inspector? Furthermore, an emergency rescue of workers at the top of units becomes simpler to coordinate and execute quickly, thus potentially saving lives.
If any of these challenges sound familiar and you would like to discuss how to make sure your workers are productive and safe during your next project, please contact McDonough. McDonough has more than 40 years of experience in placing temporary elevators on existing structures and can readily engineer a solution for your project.
For more information, visit www.mcdelevators.com or call (866) 497-3654.
