Achieving Operational Readiness

Your operations team prepares equipment for maintenance, tests for optimal performance, and more. Operational readiness is key to ensuring the safety of workers and top-performing equipment.

The first step to achieving operational readiness is planning aspects of the job. This should involve managers reviewing operations, identifying a problem and communicating the problem to the maintenance department. Once there is a discussion with your maintenance team, together you should find a common solution that agrees with the manager’s plan.

Next, operation managers prepare the equipment for maintenance, maintenance completes the plan and then turns the role back over to operations, who will return to service. This next step is key in making sure it is done right 100% of the time to reduce the potential amount of human error that can occur, due to the possible amount of high-risk present in this step.

The operations team should then join the manager and the entire group does its due diligence to make sure equipment can be properly returned to service. Full engagement among all teams involved with a project helps ensure it’s done properly and safely, and anybody can utilize their authority at any point in the process to go back if they identify a concern and think the job needs to be halted.

A recent incident occurred due to a gas release at a site during startup activities following a scheduled maintenance outage. The source was determined to be a manway that was left open on a flare knockout drum. While no injuries or damage occurred as a result of the incident and emissions were below the reportable quantity, this helped managers and maintenance realize the importance of operational readiness.

ION Science is a leading gas detection and prevention company offering a variety of solutions across a vast amount of applications. Our fixed, portable and personal detectors meet rigorous requirements and standards set to ensure worker and site safety.

Pioneers in gas sensing technology, ION Science is the world’s leader in manufacturing photoionization products for enhanced gas detection, no matter the industry. To learn more information about products offered by ION Science for gas and leak detection, view our products page. For more information about specific systems in your application or if you have a question for us, contact ION Science today.