POWER July 2022 - 15

FOCUS ON O&M
extent of work until it's begun. A plant
owner's target
deadline
will
certainly
inform how the contractor determines
what equipment or resources will be
needed and for how long, but pushing
for too much expediency jeopardizes
the preservation of safety and overall
project. A word of warning: the contractor
with the lowest bid is likely either
neglecting a component of the project,
or getting dangerously or unrealistically
creative with cost-cutting measures.
Critical Path Method Schedules,
Work Plans, and Kickoff
3. Total Wrecking was contracted by American
Electric Power (AEP) as a large part of the
Clinch River Power Station coal-to-natural gas
conversion project, which consisted of the
demolition of three electrostatic precipitators.
This plant was active through the duration of
the project, which required extensive coordination
between Total Wrecking and AEP to
ensure no operations of the active plant were
disrupted during the removals. Courtesy: Total
Wrecking & Environmental
inspection, and a deep dive into all historical
documents will equip the demolition
contractor with what is needed to begin
estimating quantities for the job's scope.
A long list of considerations will be factored
into this initial estimate, including:
■ Size of the plant or facility.
■ Environmental requirements.
■ Asbestos abatement.
■ Trucking.
■ Equipment requirements.
■ Specialized subcontractors.
■ Personnel.
The more detailed the inspection and
documentation is up front, the more site
safety and workforce efficiency can be
optimized by the industrial demolition
contractor, greatly reducing the risk of
change orders.
Industrial demolition experts will
spend countless hours poring over every
document to understand the job site and
add personal insights. As they proceed,
they should adhere to a work plan that
details specific project priorities, various
phases, a sequence of events, rough
completion dates, equipment needs,
and other high-level details.
It's imperative that plant owners maintain
reasonable timeline expectations,
because it's impossible to know the full
July 2022 | POWER
Once a bid has been accepted, the selected
contractor will formally develop a
comprehensive work plan that goes into
detail about how each phase of the project
will be completed. Safety, team size
and organization, transportation, equipment
usage, and various timelines will
comprise a broad list of high-level tasks.
A " critical path method schedule " defines
the extremely sensitive order of
demolition services and represents the
shortest project timeline from start to finish.
Each phase of a demolition project is
dependent on the others, so a sensitive
order of events needs to be defined and
preserved. Each phase of this schedule
will have documentation that drills down
into the " what/where/when/why/how "
of every task. Subsequently, the safety
director and project manager will collaborate
closely to develop specific work
plans that go into even greater detail.
The final phase of this painstaking
preparation process culminates in the
kickoff meeting, where the contractor's
internal processes are externalized for
the entire power plant management
team. During this conversation, the contractor
will present each finding, explain
their
reasoning,
set
achievable
timeframes,
and unify everyone involved on
the project. This meeting also serves as
an opportunity for the contractor to solicit
even more insight and assistance
from the power plant team before work
formally commences.
With a plan completely and thoroughly
defined, the mobilization of crew and
equipment (Figure 4) begins along with
formal preparation of the jobsite. After
decommissioning,
remediation, waste
removal, asset recovery, demolition,
waste management, and any other ancillary
services are complete, the final
phase of the extensive process can begin:
project closeout.
In a way, it's what the contractor is
working toward from Day 1: building
www.powermag.com
4. Shown here are Total Wrecking's twin,
200,000-pound " monsters " working in tandem
to remove power plant structures. Courtesy:
Total Wrecking & Environmental
and delivering definitive documentation
of all work that has been performed
and completed over the course of the
project. As the months or years of demolition
services were carried out, the
demolition contractor was conducting
extensive and ongoing record-keeping
behind the scenes, monitoring and
transcribing every procedure, safety
document, waste manifest, disposal
manifest, and more. This is an essential
deliverable for the plant owner, a comprehensive
record of the final product
once the job is complete.
Every piece of information a plant
subsequent
owner,
and
site
owner,
might need to reference is included:
what was disposed of and where, what
materials were scrapped, what assets
were sold for reuse, and more. It's a full
picture of the entire project, and even
though it only constitutes less than 5%
of the entire demolition process, the
best contractors will understand that this
is just as critical as every other phase.
Some demolition contractors go a
step beyond by doing another full walkthrough
of the site with the plant owner
to discuss any potential loose ends and
ensure every piece of equipment and
facility support has been wrapped up.
Following this sequence of events can
guarantee safety and efficiency across
the board.
Everyone has a budget to adhere to
and a timeline to respect, but experience
matters when the work is this
hazardous and sensitive. For power
plant owners who are ready to commit
to demolition, the sooner a demolition
contractor is involved, the more streamlined
the project will be. ■
-Frank Bodami is the founder of Total
Wrecking & Environmental.
15
http://www.powermag.com
POWER July 2022

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