Stork Technical Services (STS) carries out the maintenance on Essent's cogeneration plant at Ineos Oxide's site in Zwijndrecht. During an inspection in January, STS discovered a leak in a crucial pipe. Replacement was tricky because of the extremely short preparation time, difficult access to the pipe location and the icy weather conditions – a tough challenge that was safely overcome by adopting a flexible approach. Site coordinator Nico Seymus explains how the job was done.

Taking the pipe out of operation would not normally have been possible, but the entire plant was scheduled to shut down a few days later. This was the opportunity STS had been waiting for! Seymus: “We only had three days to prepare. Stork MEC made the pipe, arranged the permits, mapped out all the risks and worked out the hoisting plans to the last detail to ensure that the L-shaped pipe could be lifted and tilted around other plant and machinery.”

Extremely slippery work area
At 6 o'clock in the morning on Sunday, 31 January, everyone was ready and waiting. However, because of an unforeseen problem in the plant, water gushed out of a piece of equipment and immediately froze, which made the work area too slippery to walk on. Seymus: “We called everyone together for a situation assessment. The job had to be done. But the real question was: how are we going to tackle this safely?”

Improvisation
STS used the forces of nature. “When the sun started to shine more brightly, we hacked the ice away, spread salt and made the work area safe. At 12 o'clock, we were finally able to start the job and everything went smoothly from then on. This was also due to the fact that we completely rearranged our timetable and everyone made an extra effort.” At 5 o'clock – with plenty of time to spare – the replacement was completed. Transforming this challenging job into a successful operation was in no small part due to the flexible and professional attitude of STS. An investigation into the cause of the leak is currently in progress.