RECAP | ROUNDTABLE | Transitioning to Operations: Level 5 Commissioning

The November 14, 2018 Inside Track roundtable on Level 5 Commissioning quickly focused on three topics. First, Dr. Hussein Shehata, Uptime Institute Education Program director, explained the importance of Level 5, or IST, commissioning. He also outlined the difference between Level 5 commissioning and Tier Certification. He noted that contractors and others sometimes blurred the distinctions between the two project phases in an attempt to save time or money. Dr. Shehata emphasized the importance of conducting Level 5 and Tier Certification and noted how each was intended to generate different outcomes.

Much of that discussion was prompted by a roundtable participant about managing commissioning, as his organization transitions control of commissioning from an in-house contractor to operations. All parties discussed the benefits to operations to be expected, with the roundtable participant noting that contractor control had led to a couple of near incidents. Dr. Shehata noted that it was critical that operations personnel be deeply involved in all phases of commissioning, with agents limiting themselves to hands-off supervisory efforts.

In a later conversation, the roundtable turned to containers and commissioning. Factory-witness testing, it was agreed, could be misleading. And transportation offered many opportunities for mishaps, according to one roundtable participant. This discussion eventually led to some frank discussions about potential shortfalls in container designs and how the products should be investigated. Dr. Shehata noted that Tier III and IV certification required the ability to replace defective parts, which could be impeded if access to a given part was difficult.

Finally, the discussion turned to recommissioning. Recommissioning, Dr. Shehata said, could ensure that a facility failure happens when operations is best prepared to respond rather than when staffing levels might be low. He suggested that facilities that had experienced greater change should be recommissioned every 3 years, with other facilities recommissioning on a somewhat longer cycle. He also recommended using the original commissioning agent for the recommissioning.