Objective 04: Roles and Responsibilities

Question 1

Who is the Plant Owner?

Answer 1

The corporation that is paying for and will own and operate the new plant.

Question 2

What work does the Owner perform before detailed engineering starts?

Answer 2

1. Obtaining necessary government permits to construct and operate the new facility
2. Feasibility study
3. Determining plant location
4. Obtaining funds for the new facility

Question 3

What are the general responsibilities of the owner?

Answer 3

1. Staffing the new facility
2. Training the new staff
3. Involvement in all stages of design and construction of the new plant

Question 4

What kind of staff must the Owner obtain for the new plant?

Answer 4

1. Operations personnel
2. Maintenance people
3. All types of support staff, e.g. laboratory technicians, HR, safety personnel

Question 5

Where does the Owner obtain staff from?

Answer 5

1. Existing facilities with the same owner

2. Hired from outside the company

Question 6

In what must the Owner train new staff?

Answer 6

Familiarity with the new facility and management system.

Question 7

Is the design engineering company always the same company that is doing the construction?

Answer 7

No.

Question 8

What are the general responsibilities of the Design Engineers doing the detailed engineering?

Answer 8

1. Performing all detailed engineering in the design of the process
2. Preparing drawings and specifications for all engineering disciplines in the plant
3. Preparing vendor catalogues for ordering material for the plant
4. Preparing documents for construction companies to bid on the construction of the plant
5. Evaluating bids for the supply of material and the construction of the plant
6. Issuing construction contracts after the bids have been evaluated and sometimes even to follow up on them to make sure timelines are met and the specifications are adhered to
7. Using CAD to produce 3D images of the plant

Question 9

Does the General Construction Contractor necessarily do all of the work to build the plant?

Answer 9

No, they do varying percentages of the work and subcontract out other sections of the work

Question 10

What are the general responsibilities of the General Construction Contractor?

Answer 10

1. Purchasing the required material as specified in the design specifications
2. Supplying and supervising the tradespeople
3. Scheduling and planning of the overall project based on the plant construction timetable

Question 11

What are Subcontractors hired to do?

Answer 11

Specialized work that they can do more economically

Question 12

What are examples of tasks that Subcontractors can take care of?

Answer 12

1. Cooling tower construction
2. Constructing buildings, e.g. warehouses, motor control centres, and control rooms
3. Installation of specialized systems, e.g. control systems, vibration monitoring systems, fire alarm systems

Question 13

Who can handle Quality Control (QC)?

Answer 13

1. General Contractor
2. Subcontractor
3. Engineering Company
4. Owner

Question 14

What are some specialized QC tasks?

Answer 14

1. Shop inspections of pressure vessels
2. Witnessing the shop balancing of high speed rotors for turbines and compressors
3. Verifying the piping systems have been built to the design specifications

Question 15

What is the main task for Operations Staff before startup?

Answer 15

To learn as much as possible about the new plant before they start it up

Question 16

How can Operations Staff learn about the new plant before they start it up?

Answer 16

Plant designers may put on training courses to explain the operation of all processes and the functions of the main control loops.

Question 17

What are some of the responsibilities of the Operations Staff during construction?

Answer 17

1. Learning the piping details and the punch listing
2. Line blowing or trash blowing to clean the debris out of the piping system
3. Leak testing of piping systems, e.g. vacuum systems
4. Steam blowing of piping that supplies turbines and air blowing process piping
5. Checking for proper rotation and test running motors and pumps

Question 18

What is Punch Listing?

Answer 18

List of the construction deficiencies of a piping system.

Question 19

What debris items could be in piping that need to be blown out?

Answer 19

1. Welding slag
2. Rags
3. Rust
4. Liquids used to pressure test the piping

Question 20

What is the responsibility of Operations Staff during the plant start or commissioning?

Answer 20

Take control of the plant systems and start up the plant while watching all of the equipment very closely.

Question 21

Why are extra operators often used during startup?

Answer 21

1. Training

2. To help with the commissioning of new equipment

Question 22

What are the responsibilities of the Maintenance Staff during construction?

Answer 22

1. Learning the new plant processes and safety procedures
2. Becoming familiar with the new equipment and how to maintain and repair it
3. Ordering spare parts
4. Witnessing the shop run-in and balancing of rotors for high speed equipment