A detailed study of the existing electrical infrastructure across this industrial resin manufacturing site at Cowie near Stirling. As a COMAH site, the client placed the utmost importance on their site safety obligations and saw the electrical infrastructure as a crucial area for improvement and modernisation to maintain compliance.
The site had existed for over 30 years and the resins are supplied to the wood-based board industry for products such as particle board, chip board, and MDF. The site had always been associated with the Norbord wood-board manufacturing facility next door, however, Bakelite Synthetics were looking to diversify to a larger customer base in the future. As is common for many industrial sites of similar heritage, the existing electrical infrastructure was of varying age, condition and industry standard, so the client identified a requirement for formal assessment of risks and improvement opportunities as part of their asset modernisation programme.
The electrical study work was split into the two key stages:
Familiarisation & Survey
- Familiarise with existing site electrical drawings, board schedules and cable schedules
- Familiarise with any relevant company electrical documentation
- Prepare for survey and issue risk assessments and method statements (RAMS)
- Carry out detailed site surveys to validate and enhance the information given in the existing drawings and schedules. This work was to include a review against the Machinery Directive and relevant electrical standards with respect to safety and operability of the installed equipment.
Modelling & Analysis
- Build and analyse a comprehensive electrical network model of the existing MV and LV site infrastructure
- Document all resulting shortcomings of the existing system as identified from the site survey work and the network model analysis work
- Make recommendations on remedial work and opportunities for simplification of the system
- Build and analyse a comprehensive electrical network model for the proposed infrastructure (dealing with shortcomings and recommendations listed against the existing system)
- Document the pertinent changes that are to be implemented to the system