Commissioning During the Pandemic

With social distancing in place and myriad efforts to curb the spread of the deadly virus, such as social distancing, quarantining requirements, self-isolation, life has changed drastically during the pandemic. However, businesses still need to be operational while delivering products and services to end users. But, executing conventional methods will not suffice. Since ongoing restrictions do not appear to go away anytime soon, our combined approach towards how we perform our work needs to be changed and alternative strategies must be implemented to commission the facility.

Major facilities and date centres demand global expertise. In light of the improved measures being taken by safety professionals, owners and governments, restrictions have been placed on commissioning approaches at construction sites, so that the work can be completed in a timely and safe manner.

Just like other businesses, covering face covering or wearing mask, temperature checks at entry and exit points, social distancing norms, and other similar measures have been implemented at construction sites to slow down the spread of the virus. Some governments across the world have also placed stringent restrictions locally, which has made the work of commissioning software even more difficult. Experts may not be allowed to stay onsite in case they fall in the “at-risk” category so that they can protect themselves as well as others around them, or there may be travel restrictions in place that could prevent them from visiting the site.

With increased travel restrictions, commissioning personnel may require additional time to reach and be available at the location where their presence is necessary. A common restriction is the requirement to self-quarantine for at least two weeks upon arrival in a country before being able to travel anywhere within that country. Moreover, the availability of flights could be limited since air travel across the globe has reduced significantly in these unprecedented times. This calls for commissioning schedules to consider travel restrictions in place.

When performing physical tasks on site – for instance, equipment inspection – extra time may be required to let all the parties involved restrict close contact, follow social distancing measures, and sanitise the tools and equipment to be inspected. In the start-up (L3) phase, you may need to restrict the number of individuals who can witness the process while establishing a method that allow witnessing the process remotely. The same applies to the Functional Testing (L4) and Integrated Systems Testing (L5). Hence, it’s is crucial for commissioning schedules to factor in such constraints.  

In situations, wherein travelling to a location is impossible, remote witnessing – as an alternative strategy – may be employed. You can achieve this through myriad platforms, such as Web-Ex Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or other video meeting software/applications. Most advanced commissioning management systems also come with this feature. 

Coordination and proper planning are the key to successful remote witnessing. For remote witnessing to complete successfully, you may require multiple cameras at a time while making it possible to view the process from different angles through those cameras simultaneously. Comprehensive commissioning-specific communication is crucial, particularly with respect to what these remotely available individuals need to witness. For instance, generator load runs at a location, where there could be substantial environmental noise, which can pose a challenge.

In such a scenario, remote professionals require to be very active during the witnessing session so that they can share their opinion as well as identify the data and system information they need to witness. The success of remote commissioning activities relies hugely on the technology being involved as well as the efforts made by the on-site team or factory. One great way to ensure this is to have a commissioning management system.

Another crucial facet of the commissioning process that needs to be addressed is back-up or succession planning. As the virus continues to spread across the world, commissioning team members are at a risk of contracting the deadly virus and they may need to self-quarantine for several weeks post infection. Therefore, all commissioning parties must plan in advance for such unwelcoming situations and set up a “next-person-available” system to replace members of the team with little to no disturbances.

If just a single person has the necessary skills or knowledge for a particular section of the project, the project can be delayed for weeks when that individual might be focusing on getting treatment or recovering from the infection. This makes succession planning one of the most crucial aspects of commissioning validation services in the UK, particularly in these turbulent times.