Like most of the world, Covestro has been working hard to protect and mitigate the on-site risks of COVID-19. Some of the efforts the company has taken include self-screening, on-site screening, distancing activities and digitizing all meetings, and increasing awareness of activities like hand washing and using sanitizer whenever water is unavailable.
"I've really gotten good at washing my hands for 20 seconds," Covestro's Bradley Coble, HB specialist/CMC, joked.
A major concern for Covestro and other manufacturers is planning the upcoming turnaround season and what precautions to take. During WJTA's recent webinar "Turnarounds - Risk Mitigation and COVID-19 Precautions," Coble acknowledged this will likely impact the length of turnarounds and cause initial delays.
Over the past several months, Covestro has worked to reduce maintenance crews and stagger crafts personnel at its sites, which Coble called "challenging." As planning for turnaround season begins, he said it will be important for owner companies to continue to work through these challenges and mitigate risks of infection.
During a single turnaround shift, on-site personnel can swell to 3,000 or 4,000, Coble explained. Both the large number of bodies on location and the "get it done" mindset that comes with turnaround season can make things even more challenging. Because of the urgency of a turnaround, Coble said multiple crafts have to work simultaneously and cannot be staggered.
Brainstorming ideas for safety
"How are we going to work through these challenges to maintain a safe work environment?" Coble queried. He said Covestro has now been brainstorming for several months and won't begin its large turnarounds until spring 2021, so "we have some time."
One of the brainstormed options has been designated parking lots and access turnstiles for turnaround-specific destinations. Thermal cameras are another option being considered, Coble noted. These would eliminate the need for hand-held temperature scanners that could delay entry for the influx of personnel on the turnaround site each day.
In the past, to minimize traffic and get workers to the facility site quickly, plants used shuttle buses with large capacities. With social distancing measures and the risk of spreading COVID-19 and other contaminants, Coble said this won't be as easy in the future.
"With these COVID-19 precautions, we'd have to increase those shuttles and minimize the personnel getting on those buses at a time," he explained.
Even lunch and break areas will need to be adjusted, as they can normally accommodate large numbers of workers at once. Coble said lunch and break times and locations will need to be staggered so there are smaller gatherings. This would also apply to bathroom facilities and hand-washing stations.
"It provides optimal social distancing, reduces headcount, optimizes craft productivity," Coble said.
Adjusting scope will also be important, Coble emphasized. On a normal turnaround, there are periods where different craftspeople are waiting for materials or for the completion of another job. Although field workers are all present, there are periods where not everyone is working simultaneously.
"To battle that, we can adjust those times where scaffolders are going to work these hours ⦠then we bring in the insulators to remove the insulation, then the pipefitters to take off the pipe or open the exchanger, and then we'll bring in the water blasters so we're not all sitting on top of each other on standby," he said.
Setting the expectation upfront that there could be delays to the turnaround schedule due to these changes is going to be integral to the event's success.
"If we set that expectation ahead and plan for it, then we can be successful, and it won't be a shock at the end of the turnaround when it's a week or two behind," Coble said.
