For plant owners, there are significant costs associated with plant shutdowns in the form of costs incurred for maintenance activities and loss of revenue during the down period.
In order to minimise these expenses, plants are shut down for as little time as feasible and inspection and maintenance activities are prioritised to ensure effective and valuable activities. But, when access restrictions are applied, they add complexity to the process.
The ability to inspect and repair an asset during the shutdown is key to inspection and maintenance operations. This is often done using permanent access points and platforms, or temporary access systems, such as scaffolding.
ALS has been working with customers to go beyond traditional temporary access solutions, and using rope access services can provide an alternative to traditional access methods. This practice is usually adopted in cases where cost benefits are evident. Moreover, while not as well known, rope access inspections can result in better quality inspections.
History of Modern Rope Access
The use of modern rope access techniques began with the development of structured safe working practices in the 1970s and 1980s that led to the creation of the Industrial Rope Access Trade Association (IRATA) in the late 1980s.
Rope access has been extensively applied for external construction, maintenance and inspections since then.
A BETTER WAY: Rope Access for Boiler Internal Inspections
Although rope access is widely used by ALS for external work, better outcomes have been obtained with the use of rope access for internal inspections of critical plant boilers.
The key benefits are:
No scaffolding is required in the boiler, which saves time and money.
This approach is a quicker and less costly option than swing stages, as rope inspections can be conducted while the swing stage is being assembled.
Better visual inspections are possible as access to key areas can be closer.
IN THE FIELD: Boiler Water Wall Inspections
For one client, full internal scaffolding was required to access internal inspections of one of their boilers. While the inspection revealed problems with the hangers, such as degradation of the joints, and leaking, the scaffolding did not provide for visual inspection.
Given the access constraints, ALS introduced rope access to better access the key inspection areas to improve the inspection accuracy.
The inspection revealed the hangers were in poor condition. But with better access to the upper portion of the hanger brackets, it was found that the brackets were in good condition. This gave the client the assurance to continue with the boiler.
Rope access also saved the cost of implementing scaffolding, which was estimated to be more than $100,000.
Our Rope Access Team
ALS is a member of the Industrial Rope Access Trade Association (IRATA) International and follows the highest standards in the globe for rope access. Our team is based throughout the country and can help you save money through more time and cost effective ways to collect key inspection data.
