Managing Hazards During Waste-To-Energy Facility Maintenance

Download RVT's best practice guide to discover how to keep workers safe during maintenance, repair and upgrade projects at waste-to-energy facilities.

Maintenance, repair and construction work can be difficult to manage, especially when the facility needs to remain live, which is why RVT Group work with you to create a robust hazard control solution that will allow production to continue, whilst protecting both industrial workers and the maintenance team.

During maintenance works and shutdowns, here are some of the challenges you need to be mindful of:

- In a waste-to-energy plant, boilers, fabric filters, furnaces and ash expellers are some of the key areas that might require welding repair work during plant shut downs. Welding fumes must be controlled inline with COSHH regulations.

- During maintenance and repair work, the use of power tools to cut, grind, drill or prepare a surface can create harmful dusts as well as other hazardous and flammable airborne contaminants. This dust needs to be captured, contained and controlled at source, especially flammable dust, to ensure that it does not harm the health of workers or create an explosion risk.

- There will be scenarios where maintenance workers will need to work in confined spaces. There are various risks involved in this situation, such as a build up of noxious fumes, reduced oxygen levels or a risk of fire. When a project is based in this environment, it is required by law to ensure that sufficient measures are put in place to protect the safety of workers.

- If you are planning factory maintenance and it involves turning your permanent heating or ventilation systems off, or your permanent systems breakdown, you may need to consider hiring a temporary heating or cooling system to bridge the gap.

- For projects based in a confined space, such as deep inside a furnace, you are likely to require a high pressure fan to provide a constant flow of fresh air into the work area through long lengths of ducting.

Download a copy of this guide to discover how to manage these challenges, remain compliant with legislation, keep everyone safe and your project on track.