Commissioning/

Precommissioning

Communications

Gavin Mcleod
Manager Business/Technical Service
Opportunities Asia Pacific
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Communications
Habari za asubuhi
Good morning.
Mimi nina radhi kwa kuwa hii nafasi ya
kubadilishana mawazo yangu juu ya
umuhimu wa mawasiliano mazuri
I'm pleased to have this chance to share
my thoughts on the importance of good
communication.
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Communications

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Communications

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What is it and why is it so

important ?

What happens when its

ineffective?

How can we improve it?

Communications

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_money

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Communications
a process by which information is exchanged
between individuals through a common system
of symbols, signs, or behavior; also : exchange
of information.
a technique for expressing ideas effectively (as
in speech).
the act or process of using words, sounds,
signs, or behaviors to express or exchange
information or to express your ideas, thoughts,
feelings, etc., to someone else.
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Communications
The root cause of ~90% of all incidents that
were preventable was poor or lack of
communication.
The root cause of 75% of all cost overruns was
poor communications or understanding, which is
really the same thing.
One recent refinery commissioning was delayed
by over one year as a result of poor
communication resulting in hundreds of millions
of dollars in lost revenue and penalties.
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Communication

Communication
Failure 101
Swing Project
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Lack of Communication

How the customer

described the project.
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Lack of Communication

How the project leader

understood it.
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Lack of Communication

How the engineers

designed it.
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Lack of Communication

How the business

consultant described it.
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Lack of Communication

How the training material

described it.
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Lack of Communication

How the project was

documented.
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Lack of Communication

How much the budget

allowed for it.
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Lack of Communication

How the operations group

wanted it.
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Lack of Communication

How the finished project

was supported.
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Lack of Communication

What the customer really

needed.
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Lack of Communications
Examples 1 & 2
Many things went wrong.
The final straw was
a rubber mat installed
by the workers on the
grating.
Though not allowed, it
was NOT communicated.

This incident was the

result of improper
material being used on a
temporary process
system bypass.
Poor communication
strikes again.
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Lack of Communications
Example 3
NASAs metric confusion caused Mars orbiter loss
Share this on:
September 30, 1999
CNN NASA lost a 125 million Mars orbiter because one engineering team
used metric units while another used English units for a key
spacecraft operation, according to a review finding released Thursday.
For that reason, information failed to transfer between the Mars Climate
Orbiter spacecraft team at Lockheed Martin in Colorado and the
mission navigation team in California. Lockheed Martin built the
spacecraft.
People sometimes make errors said Edward Weiler, NASAs Associate
Administrator for Space Science in a written statement. The problem
here was not the error, it was the failure of NASAs systems
engineering, and the checks and balances in our processes to detect
the error. (In other words Poor Communications) That's why
we lost the spacecraft.
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Lack of Communications
Example 4
Multi-year project to consolidate 7 regional ERP systems with ~1500 users into a
single global ERP (SAP) across 11 countries and 3 languages. SAP is good
system but intolerant of even slight deviations so there has to be good definition
and strict governance of Master Data.
Master Data (definition, conversion from existing systems as well as creation
(included in new design but not currently defined) is recognized as the #1 risk in
the execution of ERP projects so a global team was created early in the project to
manage this area.
After significant work and testing it was discovered everyone was using a . as
the decimal point while the French were using a , which would be correct for
France but not for a single global system. A program was able to replace the ,
with . and avert a potential huge amount of rework.
All requirements must be defined and communicated not just assumed as gaps
can occur especially when working across languages and cultures.
Cost of this miscommunication could have been ~10million USD !!! If a
workaround program was not able to correct.

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Lack of Communications
Example 5
BP Texas City incident. 15 killed, 180 injured, billions of dollars loss.
The CSB looked at many factors, including human factors such as communication.
The following is part of their analysis:
Situation: Startup of an Isom Unit starting with the night shift. The liquid in
the tower is at high-high level.

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The Lead Operator overseeing the startup briefly updated the night
operator at 5 AM and left work an hour early.

board

A new board operator arrived at 6 AM and spoke briefly with the night
operator and read the log book to prepare for his shift.

shift

The log book did not leave instructions on the high level of liquid.

The log book read: Isom: Brought in some raff to unit, to pack raff with.

At 7:15 AM the day shift supervisor arrived. He did not receive any
briefing because he was one hour late.

When the startup continued, more liquid was added which eventually led
to catastrophic results.

Again poor communications was the root cause of this incident!

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Lack of Communications
Example 6

Another example of poor communications. In

this instance the importance of a minimum
pressurization temperature or MPT was not
understood by the commissioning group.
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Lack of Communications
Example 7

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Communication

What we can do to improve?

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Communication is Key
Effective communication is often overlooked but is
a critical tool for successful commissioning. We
must understand others priorities.
Conflicting priorities between stakeholders can be
detrimental to successful communication.
Licensee project timeline and cost
Licensor safe and efficient design
EPC mechanical completion
Everyone wants a safe, successful commissioning,
but decisions made during design and procurement
can negatively impact future plant performance and
safety.
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What can we do to improve

Communication
How people interpret things differently. Different
cultures etc... Empathy; understanding your audience is
number one when you communicate.

1. Clear Are you sure your message was understood ?

2. Concise- Avoid ambiguity, dont Assume..
3. Continuous- Once is not enough.
4. Complete- Ensure the message was understood.
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What can we do to improve

Communications

Communication Systems -To help avoid poor

communication developing and implementing a robust
efficient decision making process is vital to success,
but. dont let systems and programs do more harm than
good!!

Dont rely on systems alone ! The best

systems/procedures and policies will fail without
commitment and follow through.
Encourage dialogue Ensure you encourage people to
ask questions. Many times people are reluctant to say I
dont understand.
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What can we do to improve

Communications
Acronyms are Evil Well not really but they can lead to
confusion. Make sure that the first time they are used in a
document that the full wording is used along with the
Acronym. The company I work for has a complete web
page database dedicated to Acronyms. The name of the
database is CHAOS or Chevron Acronym On-line Search.
To me the Acronym says it all!!
Proper Planning Detailed plans are life savers.
Remember the old saying Proper Planning Prevents Poor
Performance However, Plans are ineffective if done in
isolation.
The right team- In the ends success depends on the
team. Involve the right people!!
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What can we do to improve

Communications
Good communication is a powerful tool and it's
never accidental.
Good communication takes a conscious effort but
when successful is very much worth the effort.
There is no magic bullet or any one right way to
communicate properly.
Engage in lessons learned sharings, such as
attending conferences like this one.
What we as leaders can do is to be aware, pay
attention and when issues arise question how can
we prevent this in the future and then act!!"
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Conclusion
Bad communication can and will interfere
with successful and safe commissionings.
There are ways to improve
communications that dont cost time or
money
Will improved communications prevent all
problems ? Of course not but its a given
that the better we communicate with one
another the more productive we become.
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THANK YOU!

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