Page 58 - Boiler Operator’s Handbook

Operating Wisely 43

wasn’t in the SOP for starting that evaporator, the SOP instructions for keys to successful operation and men-
wasn’t updated to recognize the change but someone tally rehearse the operation before it’s time to do it. After
had started closing that valve. I scribbled “make sure you’ve gone through start-up and a few normal opera-
valve is open on third deck beside Boiler 2” in the mar- tions of the project you can edit your SOP to account for
gin under start-up and “leave that damn valve on third things you learned during the start-up and operation.
deck open” under the shutdown description. If you don’t have SOPs or they’re not up to date
When you get into writing your SOPs you’ll dis- don’t put off creating or correcting them. When you
cover why some of us engineers like to put pretty brass have a highly skilled and experienced Charlie in your
tags on valves to label or number them. Then there’s plant bounce them off him and make certain you have
little or no confusion as to which valve is which and captured as much of his knowledge as possible in those
writing the SOP is easier. So, don’t hesitate to tag valves. documents so you’re not wishing he was there after he’s
If the boss is too cheap to go for the brass tags there are gone.
alternatives, including using a magic marker and writ- Finally, know and follow your SOPs. When I
ing the number on the wall next to the valve. evaluate a plant and its operators I frequently pick out
SOPs can also include standard maintenance pro- a procedure and ask the personnel to run through it,
cedures which, even though they’re maintenance, not describing what they would do while I stand there with
operating activities, are performed by the operating staff the copy of the written procedure. It’s tough on ‘em!
and, when included in one document, show the extent First of all, they can’t grab the procedure and read it (I
of activities performed by the operators. If you are in a have it in my hand) and secondly, if they don’t follow it
large plant with separate maintenance staff there should I will know every step they missed. Pretend I am coming
be another document for maintenance activities and to check out your plant every quarter and review your
someone should check for coordination of the two to knowledge of your written procedures.
ensure that all procedures are documented, there are no
duplications and no conflicting procedures.
Once you have a set of SOPs the difficult work DISASTER PLANS
begins, You have to keep them up to date. After initial
preparation of your SOPs and for a week on each an- Preparing disaster plans has become a big deal
niversary of their completion you should think about since the tragedy of 9/11 but I’ve been promoting the
each function as you perform it and ask yourself “Is this development of disaster plans for a boiler room ever
procedure in the SOPs? Am I doing the job the way it’s since I spent 92 hours resolving a ground fault in the
described?” If the answer to either is “no” then you need main propulsion system of a ship in the middle of the
to get your SOPs up to date. Be very attentive to any Atlantic Ocean. We would have completed the recovery
construction going on in the plant because that work in a lot less time and been far more confident of what we
may change your SOPs or require you to create some were doing if someone had prepared a plan for such a
new ones. failure. Sometimes it’s unpleasant to consider what we
Don’t make them and forget them. I would esti- would do if something happened but if we don’t pre-
mate that every fifth plant I visit for the first time has pare we may find ourselves running around in circles
written SOPs that are completely out of date. Only four like Chicken Little (an old children’s story)
months ago an operator exclaimed “of course we have Let’s face it, if steam pressure is lost you are going to
SOPs, they’re right here” and proudly showed me a hear about it even if it isn’t your fault and there’s nothing
notebook that described coal unloading, coal firing, ash you could do about it. That’s a given and it’s easy to ex-
handling, etc. The problem was the plant had been con- plain away a disaster but there’s no explaining when you
verted to oil ten years ago and gas three years later. aren’t prepared to handle it. Just as you develop SOPs
When projects involve such things as adding a for new installations, by imagining what you would
new boiler, replacing the burners, replacing a pump, do to operate, you develop disaster plans for situations
adding new controls or technology such as VSD’s (vari- that you can imagine happening. Preparing may make
able speed drives) changes in your SOPs are a foregone you the hero someday in the future, not because you did
conclusion. If you prepare an initial draft of the SOP for something brave, but that you did something wise, plan-
the operation prior to project completion it gives you ning what to do in the event of a disaster.
time to think about how you’re going to operate that First the plans have to consider what to do if a
new or modified equipment. Look in the manufacturer’s disaster is happening and what you can do to limit