Hence when work was proposed to modify the substation earthing, the knowledge and experience within ONRG was essential in ensuring both safety of personnel and in mitigating any disruption to the operation of the asset.
The Work
The project was to excavate and backfill 43 locations on a live substation to install new earth rods. Management of the work included planning, contractor management, ensuring safety from the system and quality assurance. The challenge was further complicated by specialists only being available for a short time window, the exact locations of the earthing system were not precisely known, and the work was to be undertaken in parallel with a major outage on the substation.
“It was a significantly challenging scope not only technically but also to manage personnel and stakeholders.”
Warren Davies
Work and project management
Planning is significantly more than just a project plan. At ONRG, we focus on both planning preparation and contingency arrangements to ensure trouble free implementation of the works. In addition, it is essential there is a common understanding of the planning.
Safety from the System
Work management on a transmission asset is built on a foundation of effectively implementing the high voltage safety rules (HVSR). Our ability to implement HVSR, whether from the client or our own, has been proven to save time and money whilst ensuring the highest level of safety. Additionally, for this project ONRG had the additional accountability for ensuring general safety, especially focussing on the excavation works.
Testing and reporting
Finishing strong is as important as managing the journey through the works. With a high focus on the quality assurance by ensuring the testing is undertaken in a safe and effective manner is critical.
At ONRG, our goal is to ensure both the client is fully informed as regards current status, not only what has been done but up and coming, as well as ensure they are left with a comprehensive close out report for future reference.
