Verification of conformity relating to machinery and work equipment for one of the world’s largest players in the chemical sector
Brief
Perform conformity checks on machinery and work equipment for complex chemical facilities, divided into 2 production plants, propose related actions to bring them up to standard and follow up the adaptation until completion.
Project challenge
the special aspect of the project is the extreme customisation of the assessment and the technical solutions adopted, aimed at bringing extremely complex, dated plant and machinery up to standard, with a high impact on environmental and territorial safety, in compliance with both the technical regulations and the timeframes and budget indicated by the client.
Solution
the project was supervised by a multidisciplinary working group, specifically designated for the relevant sector, made up of experts in major-accident hazard plants and experts in the safety of machinery and work equipment, in order to comprehensively assess both the specific risk of the equipment and its impact on the overall plant and territory. The various stages of execution were completely tailored to the client’s needs and, once the most suitable technical solution was identified, the client was able to enjoy maximum flexibility and freedom of choice in the execution of the work.
Execution phases
- Client’s acceptance of the complete list of machines, equipment and installations and division into homogeneous categories;
- Technical survey to investigate and carry out machine checks on the actual state of equipment in each category (machines, equipment and plant);
- Preparation of basic documentation and analysis sheets to be used for verifying compliance with Annex V of Italian Legislative Decree 81/2008 with grouping by homogeneous category;
- In-depth study of the documentation already in the client’s possession, such as maintenance reports and checks, technical manuals for the machines, general and specific risk assessments, management system documentation;
- Drafting of a conformity audit report indicating compliance or non-compliance with the regulations in force for each individual homogeneous category; the NC list was divided into technical, procedural and management aspects, in order to facilitate their aggregation and forwarding to the body responsible for their closure;
- Technical audit visits aimed at verifying the state of implementation of the remediation actions of the NC detected in the previous phases, as well as sample checks of the documentation collected;
- Final validation of the compliance check.
Achieved results
The main activities conducted include:
- Conformity assessment of approximately 3,000 machines and equipment units;
- Issue of adaptation proposals for around 500 machines and equipment;
- Technical inspections in the field to verify compliance interventions, carried out both through the client’s internal maintenance contractor and through specialised external firms;
- Final conformity validation.