IMC Presentation (35:38)

Abby King Becht, Engineering Co., Inc.

Risk-based work selection (RBWS) has been used in the industry for over 20 years by some owner-operators, however, it remains a little-known process industry-wide.

Recently, there has been an increasing awareness of and interest in RBWS as owner-operators have focused on reducing cost and duration of turnarounds while maintaining safe and reliable operations. Our experience has shown that applying RBWS routinely identifies that 15-20 percent of work-list items lack the justification to be done during the turnaround (TA). RBWS is a multi-discipline work process that includes key stakeholders from the turnaround organization, operations and the subject matter experts (SME) from individual equipment disciplines. RBWS is used to determine if there is risk-based justification (health, safety and environmental (H/S/E), inspection or financial) to complete work-list items during the TA. H/S/E risks are screened using predetermined thresholds on a risk matrix. For discretionary items (financial risk only), a benefit to cost (B/C) threshold, or “hurdle rate,” is set to ensure an adequate return on investment of TA dollars and that a cost-effective solution has been chosen.

This presentation will focus on how this structured work process helps in preparation for turnarounds. Not only does it reduce the exposure hours to employees and contractors, and the cost and level of effort in the planning and execution stages, it has numerous secondary benefits. One such benefit is the alignment of the core teams on what the complete scope is, early on in the planning cycle. Setting the expectation that work-list items need to be well defined and justified before submitting them to turnaround planners is another benefit. Planners can then start planning, rather than working to define what it is they need to be planning for. The work product of an RBWS is a justified work-list that will help the organization prepare for success!