Page 448 - Boiler_Operators_Handbook,_Second_Edition

Why They Fail 433

ures isn’t really surprising. Until such time that the Na- in front of the television at his house several miles away.
tional Board chooses to differentiate between licensed They aren’t supposed to do it, but it’s done.
individuals and the janitor there’s no way for them to The National Board’s data doesn’t break down
determine if that’s the case. In my judgment it’s the maintenance problems either. The most likely is loss
perception that licensed operators cost too much and ac- due to lack of proper water treatment but we simply
tions taken to replace them that has resulted in increased don’t know. I think that’s highly probable because a
losses and loss of life. When the person maintaining a large number of boilers are installed and operated with
boiler has all the training and skill of a janitor that was no consideration of water treatment beyond an initial
handed a broom and told where the boiler room is it’s no charge of chemicals, especially hot water boilers.
wonder this facet of failures is showing an increase. If it isn’t broke don’t fix it! How often we’ve heard
Is it that increase the operators’ fault? Hell no! those words in one form or another. I’m always told
When I encounter problems that are attributable to op- that it hasn’t broke yet so it must be okay. If there’s no
erator error or poor maintenance I always find an atti- log, no record of maintenance, and no repair history
tude on the part of the plant management that promotes I’m there because the plant is frequently shutting down
or enforces the improper action or lack of action. I’ve for unknown reasons and fuel bills seem to be much
recommended training for upper management in many higher. Just because it’s working doesn’t mean it’s work-
plants since the 1970’s and have yet to do any. All that ing right. People that use that excuse are costing their
plant manager wants to hear from me is how screwed employer a lot of money and exposing themselves to
up the operators are and when I tell that manger that the increased risk of injury or death.
problem originates at a higher level than the operators It’s true that a licensed boiler operator could make
they go look for another consultant that will tell them a mistake with disastrous consequences, a license is no
what they want. I hope a lot of plant managers read this guarantee and neither is training. However, I’ve had
book but my experience indicates they won’t. many opportunities to observe individuals without a
Frequently it’s not the operator that contributes license and have no doubt that the lack of the discipline
to poor maintenance. The operator manages to keep involved in training and preparing for the exam leaves
the plant running by a growing mountain of temporary lots of room for error. If you don’t have a license that
fixes that accumulate until nothing can keep the boiler doesn’t mean you’re more likely to make a mistake
running. The reason is management’s attitude about because I’m reasonably confident that the operator that
maintenance. In some cases operators simply have to chooses to read this book is far less likely to do some-
allow the boiler to fail or shut it down due to unsafe thing that will result in an accident with loss of life or
operating conditions. One of the advantages of a license serious injury than one who believes it’s a waste of time.
is that license gives you the authority to do just that, Part of the business of acquiring a license includes
shut it down and refuse to operate it. Of course there’s the development of respect for the profession and great-
a potential for being fired but you may get a supporting er understanding of the responsibility so you should
position from another source and after a hearing you attempt to get a license even if you don’t need to have
will be reinstated. When you don’t have the confidence one. It’s more a matter of attitude than the actual license.
to shut the boiler down you do have the option of re- When a state licensing program exists the wise operator
porting the condition to the State Chief Boiler Inspector seeks to obtain the license to support a professional per-
who will send a deputy inspector to look at the boiler. ception of his role.
If the problem is one that threatens failure the deputy Attitude and perception seem to be the key to op-
will ‘red tag’ the boiler and instruct you to shut it down. erator error. When a boiler is damaged, and I’ve inves-
There’s absolutely no way you can be dismissed under tigated several cases of damage that never reached the
those circumstances. status of a National Board investigation and report; any
And, just because an insurance company inspector failure in operation is usually attributable to an attitude.
passed your boiler don’t believe you have no recourse. The most disconcerting one is “the boss doesn’t care
I know of several instances where a State Deputy In- so why should I?” Since I have the opportunity to get
spector red tagged a boiler that was reported safe by an to know operators in several boiler plants I eventually
insurance company inspector. That’s especially true if learn a lot about their perception of their job and their
nobody sees the inspector but a new certificate to oper- attitude. It’s the ones that seem to believe that they can
ate suddenly appears. There are situations where an in- get away with doing the minimum and the company
surance inspector has inspected the boiler while sitting should be happy that they even show up that eventu-