Developing Competent Plant Operations and Maintenance Team

#HRD##Leadership# #Technical Training ##Success in Oil & Gas# #Training #

It is imperative to invest in developing Competent Team for Plant Operations and Maintenance. Everybody will agree on this. In order to make this happen, our actions should align in right directions.

Intentions do matter but allied actions and final outcomes are much more important. Intentions could be positive and correct but when results produced are not as expected, the purpose gets lost.

Based on my more than fifteen years of experience as Training Head of large petroleum refineries, here is my submission to focus on specific points to develop Competent Team.

1.?????Wide Vs Deep knowledge:

When Training Need Identification is not thoroughly done, employees are imparted training on varieties of subjects without really realizing that most of such general training will not help participants, departments and organizations.

Interaction-1:

I was interacting with senior plant head of a refinery plant. I was helping out to fix a problem of rather low competence of operating team. Plant head shared with me that he was always positive to spare his team members for whatever training that was being arranged. I asked how that would really help organization or department? He answered training on varieties of topics would provide wide knowledge to his engineers and managers. I asked him for a plant person deep knowledge was better or wide knowledge.?I explained to him that he nominated six of his engineers on 2 days training on Kinetics and Thermodynamics but would that make them knowledgeable on plant operations? Obviously No!! I added basics of Kinetics and Thermodynamics should be surely known to every operations engineer and that base is created in graduate chemical engineering in colleges. I explained further that it was all the more important that all operations engineers thoroughly make studies of “Plant Operating Manuals and SOP (Standard Operating Procedures)” to develop competence for running of plants. Deeper knowledge of plant parameters, Interlocks, line up, Inter-connectivity and Cause & Effects, P & IDs, Mass Balance, Heat Balance and SOPs will surely make the person competent for his plant.

In terms of width and depth of knowledge, plant operations and maintenance engineers should have deeper knowledge related to plant.

I recently published one article on “Competence Assurance- Certification for Plant Operating and Maintenance Personnel”. Please refer- that can be truly useful for enhancing the competence.

2.????Responsibility for Training:

In any organization normally Human Resources department is made responsible for running Training department.

Somehow without direct intention, heads of all departments including operations and maintenance believe that “Training is responsibility of HR department”.

Interaction-2:

I was interacting with Production Manager of a plant of a refinery. I asked him about his plan for making his engineers competent. He replied his responsibility was providing nominations of his engineers for training organized by HR department. He really believed that as Production Manager his responsibility for developing competent team was nominating them for the training organized by HR Team.

This is a serious problem. We need to be very clear that developing competent team is direct responsibility of respective department and not HR department. HR department can help out and support for sure.

As we all know there are three categories of Training being imparted in a refinery for operations and maintenance Team members.

i.??????????????????Technical training

ii.???????????????Safety training

iii.?????????????Behavioral training

For each category mentioned above, overall and complete responsibility is with head of department of respective department. HR department can help in setting of training event and other support services. For behavioral training, HR department can arrange an internal trainer based on information available with them.

In the same way, safety department can facilitate Safety training through internal or external trainers.

In some refineries there is a specific position as Technical Training Manager. Normally a Chemical engineer who played role of Shift Engineers and deputy manager in running few of refinery plants will be occupying this position. In that case much better services can be expected because person actually operated certain plants and he would be well versed with refinery configuration and various chemical processes within the refinery plants.

With specific focus on imparting deeper knowledge and taking complete responsibility of developing competent team for your department, you will take a direct step towards developing Competent team for your department.?

Feel free to contact for any specific help or consultation for any similar assignment.

?Shobhan M Mehta ( [email protected])

Qualified NEBOSH PSM professional, Tech IOSH

Qualified ISTD Professional

Member of American Institute of Chemical Engineers