My FME is your Clean Conditions…
The 2011 U.S. outage season is well underway for Access Solutions, who’s had a large project team deployed all year long! Well, the year is only 6 days old at time of this writing, but that doesn’t diminish the extensive ramp-up the company is undergoing. The world-wide power industry is also ramping-up for extended power upgrades, new plant construction and new technologies, all on top of regular maintenance cycles which is leading to a big year for FME.
FME practices in the U.S. continue to grow and mature as they do in other parts of the world. I recently returned from POWER-GEN International in Orlando, Florida where I had the occasion to speak with people of other countries who also work with these practices, but call them by another name: Clean Conditions.
The terminology and a few of the methods may be slightly different, but the goal of both Foreign Material Exclusion and Clean Conditions is the same: keeping critical power-generation machinery safe and operating (for a refresher on FME click here). The most interesting difference is the varying degree to which these practices are applied.
Access Solutions at Power-Gen International
In some countries there is greater focus on access requirements. If you’ve ever been in an FME Area one zone in the U.S., you know how serious this is taken. You must first be authorized into the zone and then checked in and out by the Accountability Technician. Some countries take this a step farther by utilizing detection equipment and turnstiles to control entry points.
Another variation I heard about was in housekeeping standards and who takes responsibility. Some FME Service organizations also provide staff to regularly clean the zone and have ultimate responsibility for adherence. Clean Conditions personnel in some countries are also granted authority, utilizing proper protocol of course, to refuse access to entrants who do not follow procedures and can even play a part in barring future entry!
Part of the difference in how vigorous the practices are applied has to do with history, for instance the severity and root cause of foreign material related incidences. The level of concern over sabotage is an example. A primary difference as I see it, is the variety in plant ownership and labor structure. A government owned plant will embody a different culture than one corporately owned and the relationship and responsibility-sharing between the plant ownership, plant management, contractors and sub-contractors each effect the culture at every level.
So, no matter which term you use, FME or Clean Conditions, it is critically important to the safe, reliable and efficient operation of power generating facilities around the world. Let’s all encourage the sharing of best practices and lessons learned between cultures to continually improve conditions for everyone.
Cheers! E-
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