OPERATIONS STAFF RELIABILITY DURING FACILITY SECURITY EVENTS

Do you know what each of your plant operations staff members can do during a security event? A large organization with a proud record of 100% reliability on a 24/7 "must run" schedule in harsh environments recently had a big surprise. An outside service company doing a survey on steam system components was having trouble reaching machine rooms on the campus. They found that the plant operators were not sure where many of the 50 machine rooms on the campus were, much less how to operate all of the equipment. The service company found that only two members of the large operations staff "experts" actually knew of all of the machine rooms and operation of most of the equipment. The service company set its schedule on the site to match that of the two productive employees in order to complete their project and the facility managers scrambled to train all of their staff to increase facility reliability and security.

In the event of an on-site or a regional security incident both of the "experts" could have been kept from getting to the site to insure that the operation continued. Facility managers must ensure that every plant operator is an expert and knows what to do incase of an emergency or a natural disaster situation. Most importantly, facility managers should establish access control policies that will outline who has access to what equipment and rooms in the facility and to what extent. This information will be very valuable incase of a facility security breach. How can this be accomplished?

Increasing the reliability and thus the security of a facility starts with the basics. You will need to know the skills, knowledge and abilities (ska's) of each member of your team. You will also have to establish the skills, knowledge and abilities required to get around the facility and operate the equipment properly. The facility must have a current set of as-built blue prints as well as individual system descriptions on file. The blue prints will allow all individuals working in a facility to know where all the rooms and equipment are located, so that when it comes to an emergency situation they will know where to look. The individual system descriptions on the other hand, will allow people operating the system to know how to safely operate the system in a manner that will not compromise the security of other individuals working in the facility and the whole facility in general. The next piece of the staff reliability puzzle is an operating procedure for each piece of equipment. Facility managers will have to make sure that all of the system descriptions and operating procedures are kept up to date. Moreover, facility operators are provided with the necessary training on a regular basis so that they keep up with the new technologies related to secure and safe operations of a facility.

Budget cuts in the last fifteen years have added to this stress of facility reliability and security. Staff cuts have caused each staff member to cover more territory and responsibilities without the needed training and instead new facility operators just "learn on the job". In addition, new systems and pieces of equipment have been put in place without the budget to update the systems descriptions and operating procedures. Lowered wages have caused facility managers to hire employees that have had neither operations nor military training and they have not pushed to hire staff that has been certified by a national standard body. Both unknowledgeable facility operators and outdated systems descriptions can have negative effect on the reliability and security of a facility.

Down time reliability and security problems, as stated above need annual budget line items for training and certification, as-built blue print renewal and operating procedure up dates. Much of this work can be done in-house or a contract training company can augment your staff's effort. Software that generates valve and equipment tags with bar codes and instructions can be purchased and easily up dated. Only a well-documented certification program will provide the reliability and security that is now expected.

Bullets for a staff reliability box:

STEPS TO STAFF RELIABILITY

  • Hire certified staff.
  • Establish skills, knowledge and abilities.
  • Establish a corrected as built blue print program.
  • Establish system descriptions for all equipment.
  • Establish operating procedures for all equipment.
  • Train, cross train and document all of the training.
  • Establish facility access control policies to keep out unauthorized individuals from accessing the facility. For example, facility operators can be given badges that they will use to gain access to the facility.
Bullets for a staff reliability action box:

IMPLEMENT A STAFF RELIABILITY PROGRAM

  • Use your staff as subject matter experts.
  • Use staff time to up date as-built prints.
  • Hire a training company to augment your staff.
  • Use the training company to establish skill, knowledge and abilities.
  • Buy automated valve and equipment tagging software.
  • Use the training company to certify all operators.
  • Provide an annual budget line item for these plant reliability/security items.
  • Provide regular facility security audits to ensure that all security mechanisms have not broken into.

Mike Kilgore is Vice President of Education at Industrial Interactions, Inc. (www.wetrainindustry.com), a Virginia based company that provides training and consulting services to boiler room operators, supervisors, facility and energy managers in plants, schools, hospitals, hotels and buildings. Mike has been in charge of power plant operations and maintenance for over 20 years at a number of major properties, hotels and resorts in and outside the USA. He can be reached by phone at (703) 573-4500 and by email at mkilgore@wetrainindustry.com.