Planning for a turnaround
Without the efforts of professional craft planners and logistics professionals,
turnarounds will be a serious challenge
MIKE ASQUINI
T.A. Cook
R
efinery turnarounds
are massive events. For
organisations to be com-
petitive, they must be able to
manage these maintenance
overhaul projects and meet all
safety, cost and duration tar-
gets. Considering the quantity
of labour, and the materials and
services a turnaround requires,
coordination is a huge under-
taking, especially because all
of these resources add up to
significant sums of money.
Beyond the financial pressures,
the logistics of predicting the
costs for all of the scope, which
will include both known and
unknown work, is particularly
challenging.
A successful turnaround exe-
cution means that there are
absolutely no safety or environ-
mental setbacks, all cost and
duration targets are met and the
affected units are guaranteed
to run at the expected rate as
soon as the event ends until the
beginning of the next scheduled
turnaround. To reach that point,
a site must have a strong prepa-
ration strategy in place. With the
help of best practice techniques
and organisation requirements,
a site can control a maintenance
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project of this proportion. This
article will explain how to prop-
erly detail planning, schedul-
ing and overall management for
the preparation of a successful
turnaround.
Phase 1: planning, site-wide
support, risk management
Before actually executing work,
the right people need to plan
how they will do it. Setting
goals, developing strategies,
outlining tasks, and creating
a schedule are all important
aspects of planning and form
the basis of overall turnaround
development. The first step in
the process is to clearly define
the turnaround’s objectives.
Only then will the scope of work
begin to take shape. Before the
scope can be defined, let alone
finalised, management must
decide what work will be done,
and what work will not be done,
by creating a clearly defined set
of criteria. The question of what
should be included in the turn-
around’s scope should be min-
imised at this stage by being as
black and white and selective
as possible. Any ambiguity will
lead to scope creep. This type of
spontaneous increase in work
load will affect the event’s cost
and duration and make it very
difficult to maintain the already
challenging targets.
Although there are many
ways for an organisation to
structure itself to perform
a turnaround, one aspect is
non-negotiable: this is a site-
wide event and must be sup-
ported by everyone. Without
this mindset, it is difficult to
accomplish the turnaround’s
objectives. Once the goals
have been fully defined, man-
agement must make sure that
everyone is aligned and under-
stands all of the project’s objec-
tives. In order to communicate
all the details, management and
decision-makers need to host
an informative meeting for all
turnaround stakeholders. In this
meeting, decision-makers need
to share all facets of the upcom-
ing event. The areas of topic
will include turnaround objec-
tives, project preparation sched-
ule, capital project integration,
sharing of lessons learned from
previous turnarounds, identi-
fying the core turnaround team
members and resource require-
ments as well as initiating a
dynamic risk management pro-
Revamps 2017 1
 Consequences Probability
90–100% 60–90% 40–60% 10–40% 0–10%
A B C D E
Severity Health / Environ- Media Business TAR specific Possibility Possibility Possibility Not likely Practically
safety mental attention / impact of repeated of isolated of occurring to occur impossible
action by incidents incidents sometimes
authorities
1 Fatality(ies) / Potential signi- Significant Corporate Extends
(Severe) serious injury ficant, wide- public disrup- >$2M TAR duration
requiring med- spread long- tion; national >2 days
ical treatment
to members of
term adverse
effects; sus-
or international
media coverage
1A 1B 1C 1D 1E
public tained com-
plaints
2 Serious or lost- Potential local- Small public Business Extends
(Major) time injury / ised medium- disruption; $500k–$2M TAR duration
illness term adverse extended local <2 days 2A 2B 2C 2D 2E
effects; numer- media
ous complaints coverage
3 Restricted Potential One-time local Site Extends
(Serious) work or short-term media $100k–$500k unit critical
medical minor adverse coverage path 3A 3B 3C 3D 3E
treatment effects; public
complaints
4 First aid / Negligible or No media Other No impact on
(Significant) minor injury no adverse
effects
coverage <$100k unit critical
path
4A 4B 4C 4D 4E

Figure 1 An example of a risk matrix. The consequences are defined on the left, then measured against the probability of
a risk occurring

cess that remains in place until a turnaround’s success using a it thoroughly using the defined
the project officially closes. The risk matrix (see Figure 1). criteria. If proposed work meets
alignment meeting is the time The turnaround team starts the requirement, it is part of the
for employees to ask questions by minimising the risks with scope and if it does not meet the
and for management to provide the highest impact. Risks will be requirements staff should con-
answers. After this, the team added to and subtracted from sider scheduling it at a differ-
should be on the same page and the list based on the identifi- ent time, such as during routine
the overall site should be pre- cation of new risks, mitigation maintenance, as part of a capital
pared for the event. of existing risks, and changing project, during the next outage
The initiation of a risk man- conditions. Even though not (turnaround or otherwise), or
agement process is a key piece all risks can be managed, if the cancelling the work altogether.
of turnaround preparation. It turnaround team focuses work Any proposed work that does
needs to be mentioned that on the items with the highest not make the cut for inclusion in
risk management is dynamic; impact, the success of the project the turnaround still needs to be
it is forever changing. Risks can be maximised. dispositioned properly.
are inherent to all projects, but Beyond scope, there are other
fortunately they can be dealt Phase 2: scope management – preparatory activities during
with. If mitigating activities are definition and freeze this phase which are part of the
planned, risks are minimised At this point, the site should planning effort. One of these
(although not eliminated) as have all the turnaround’s objec- additional activities is coor-
much as possible. In most cases, tives defined, all personnel dination between the turna-
the list of identified risks can be aligned and the scope inclu- round team and procurement
lengthy. However, core turn- sion criterion finalised. The to identify long lead time items
around team members will next phase of the turnaround is based upon approved scope.
never have risk mitigation as selecting the actual work for Procurement will also be impor-
their only function. In order to the event. Developing the scope tant to help the site develop
efficiently and effectively man- is a rigorous process. Once the contracting strategies based on
age risk, we must rank the risks team identifies each piece of whether or not scope is clearly
and work on the ones that have work that could be added to defined. There are other fac-
the greatest potential impact on the scope, they must evaluate tors to consider when selecting

2 Revamps 2017 www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001454

a contracting strategy, but com-
pleteness of scope definition is a
governing factor. Besides organ-
ising with procurement, the
final piece to the puzzle at this
point is the development of a
first pass cost estimate. To form
the first pass cost estimate, the
team must have a fully devel-
oped idea of the upcoming work
detail. Scope development is
a prerequisite for detailed job
planning.
Finally, this phase is complete
with the closure of scope devel-
opment, also known as scope
freeze. This can happen only
after all identified scope has
been challenged. Inspections
personnel will determine this
after thoroughly reviewing all
the assets in the area where
the turnaround will be exe-
cuted. During these inspec-
tions, decision-makers will be
able to consider poor perform-
ing equipment or bad actors
prior to scope freeze. Once the
scope has been determined, the
team will be able to determine
an accurate high level cost esti-
mate. Additional scope may be
added, but it is only warranted
by changing conditions. For any
additional work, the same rigor-
ous scope challenge is applied
and if the additional scope does
not meet the challenge, the item
must be properly dispositioned.
Phase 3: work packages
The next phase in the pro-
cess is planning and creating
the detailed packages for all
work executed during the turn-
around. At this point, the fro-
zen scope should be completely
clear. Without this, the plan-
ner must ask questions in order
to completely understand. A
well-written scope item should
define the symptoms observed
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and the requirements to com-
plete the work. Then, the plan-
ner will only need to visit the job
site and begin to develop a step-
by-step job plan. This detailed
job plan is the first piece of the
work package. The whole work
package comes about as the
product of the planning phase.
Each and every task on the
scope list will require a work
package. That way, the person-
nel executing the work (usu-
ally a contractor) can perform
the assignments successfully
with little or no interjection from
others.
Creating these work packages
is a collaborative effort, but the
site planner will take the reins.
Typically, the planner collects
all the required information,
which includes visiting the job
site to survey the work area and
determining what is required
to complete the tasks. A check-
list is imperative to ensure the
planner surveys the site well,
asks all the right questions,
and comes up with a complete
and thorough work package.
During this first job site visit,
the planner may take photos or
create sketches to help explain
the task and the location. Then,
the step-by-step job plan can
begin to take shape. The plan
will include the craft disciplines
required for each task along
with an explanation. The details
of the work plan should include
any material, equipment or
tool requirements for the task
as well as any safety concerns,
such as exposure to harmful
chemicals and any personal
protective equipment required.
After the planner creates the
detailed work package, he or
she is responsible for inform-
ing the craftspeople performing
the work as to what they may
encounter at the job site.
The job packages should pro-
vide the craftspeople with
everything they need to per-
form the work safely, effi-
ciently and effectively. With a
job plan in hand, they should
be able to arrive at the job site
with the correct tools, materials,
and equipment to perform the
identified work scope. At this
point, there should be no prob-
lem meeting quality control and
assurance requirements.
Phase 4: onboarding
Of course, planning for a turna-
round includes much more than
detailed plans for each individ-
ual job. The site must be pre-
pared to accept the volumes of
craftspeople, administrative per-
sonnel, management, and all of
the support staff needed to exe-
cute a turnaround. On oil, gas
and petrochemical sites, secu-
rity is a top concern. The site
must be capable of screening
the mass of people coming to
work to ensure the right people
are authorised to be there. This
massive undertaking can be
done by site personnel or con-
tracted out, but the bottom line
is: everyone must be screened.
Management must verify a
variety of details, including
background checks, security
clearances, proof of permission
to work, drug testing, profes-
sional credentials, safety qual-
ifications, and more. Everyone
who is accepted to work on the
site will need a badge for iden-
tification purposes. Site manage-
ment must organise onboarding
for new personnel to under-
stand and follow all site rules
and procedures. This is just one
element of mobilising a contrac-
tor workforce.
Prior to bringing the turna-
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 round workforce on site, the
current site team must ham-
mer out all the details to sup-
port the temporary workforce
increase. All questions will need
to be considered and answered.
For example, when a contrac-
tor comes on site, where does he
put his lunch box? Although the
question may be simple, a deci-
sion-maker must take it upon
himself to have an answer pre-
pared beforehand. Most sites are
set up for process equipment,
transferring operations person-
nel, moving raw materials, and
finished goods. There is usually
no protocol in place to support
large workforce fluctuations
as required for complex turna-
round activities. The grounds
of the site must be able to house
the workforce. This includes
providing building repair and
maintenance (BRM) for man-
agement, administrative staff,
and other support staff, which
will require power, just as with
the work areas, but with differ-
ent requirements. Turnaround
decision-makers must consider
details such as eating facilities,
water for both cleaning and con-
sumption, sanitary facilities,
comfort stations to protect from
heat and cold, and other hous-
ing concerns beforehand.
Phase 5: logistics
In addition to contractor and
workforce logistics, site man-
agement must plan for the tech-
nical logistical challenges of a
turnaround. One question might
be: how do we transfer person-
nel, material, and equipment to
be exactly where we want them
when we need them? To answer
this, the site must coordinate
4 Revamps 2017
movement between on-site and
off-site facilities, which may
be via truck, trailer or railcar.
On-site, there are multiple repair
areas, wash areas and decon-
tamination areas, all of which
service a variety of customers
and frequently have completely
full schedules. Areas of the site
that are often congested need to
be taken care of. Another chal-
lenge is test medium, which is
required to perform QC/QA
activities. The water required for
this activity will not come about
naturally. Expert planning is
required to coordinate all of this.
Arranging to send things
off-site and receive them back
on-site requires serious thought
and effort. One example of this
would be equipment that can-
not be moved off-site until it
is decontaminated – this takes
coordination. In preparation for
a turnaround, site management
must make sure to have the cor-
rect amount of specialty equip-
ment to work on different jobs,
and to plan and schedule their
use appropriately. One example
of specialty equipment would
be coordinating bundle pull-
ers, which becomes even more
complicated if you are using
specialty pullers such as aerial
bundle pullers. Organising large
specialty equipment is key for
a variety of reasons. Cranes, for
example, are set up and then
left in anticipation of upcoming
work. However, sometimes just
the presence of a crane creates a
traffic nightmare. The site runs
the risk of further complicat-
ing already congested areas by
setting up equipment that will
not move in tight areas already.
Although cranes have a wide
variety of lift capacities and
radiuses, without proper plan-
ning, chaos will ensue.
Conclusion
The scenarios explained in this
article are just a taste of all the
planning required to execute a
successful turnaround. Without
the efforts of professional craft
planners and logistics profes-
sionals, turnarounds will be a
serious challenge. Although
these employees are invalua-
ble to the success of a turna-
round, they often go unnoticed
because they never turned
a bolt or sparked a welding
torch. However, as highlighted
here, the work they do is nec-
essary and must be carried out
thoroughly and accurately if
a site has any hope of stay-
ing on budget and on schedule.
Imagine if during a turnaround
event, a crane is in an area that
cannot be accessed and the team
needs to wait for an extended
period of time. In this case, plan-
ning has not been done well or
at all. Although the prepara-
tion process may be tedious, the
most frustrating type of plan-
ning is always poor planning.
Although this organisation does
not guarantee success, a lack of
planning guarantees failure.
Mike Asquini is a Project Manager with T.A.
Cook. While based in North America, he
has managed projects for refining leaders
in both the US and Canada. With 20 years
of consulting experience, he is currently
dedicated to asset intensive businesses
in the refining and petrochemicals
industries. His work supports clients with
maintenance optimisation, turnaround,
outage, shutdown optimisation and OEE
improvement.
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