Site readiness checklist before contractor mobilisation
What a plant should have ready before a contractor's crew arrives at the gate — and what it costs when these are missing.
Utility relocation planning checklist
Moving compressed air, water, power or process lines inside a plant that cannot stop — the questions to answer before anyone opens a line.
The pipe is the easy part.
Impact first
What stops when this line is opened? List the equipment, not the area.
For how long can it stop? If the answer is “it cannot”, you need a temporary bypass, and that is a design job with its own material and its own time.
Is there an alternative feed? Many plants have one and nobody has traced it in years.
Routing
Survey the actual ceiling space. Existing services, cable trays, ducting, sprinkler lines and structural members decide the route far more than the drawing does.
Supports and drops planned against the building steel, not attached to whatever is nearest.
Slope and drain points for compressed air and any line that will collect condensate. Put drains where a person can reach them standing on the floor.
Isolation valves positioned for maintenance, not for welding convenience.
Execution
- Isolation and tagging under the plant permit system, with the authorised person named
- Hot work clearance, and fire watch where required
- Height access arranged — platform or scissor lift, not a ladder
- Existing line marked and photographed before modification
Before handback
- Pressure test at the specified value, recorded
- Flushing or blowing through for air and water lines
- Insulation and identification marking restored
- Isolation removed under the same permit that placed it
- Area cleaned and temporary works removed
What goes wrong most often
Somebody isolates a line believing it feeds one machine, and it feeds three. Trace it before you tag it.