Highly Commended
Cricklade Asphalt plant is 120 tonnes an hour Ammann Asphalt plant built in 1997 based in Cricklade Wiltshire. With average production of between 90-100k per year.
During some maintenance and safety improvements work on the bitumen lines, we had to install safety shut-off values. To enable these improvements some of the original pipe work had to be removed and modified, so all trace heating was shut down for a week prior to the task being completed. We needed to look at ways to heat up sections to clean the pipe work so we could re install the bitumen line and avoid using naked flames to complete any heating of the pipework.
Having similar incidents at some other units regarding bitumen tanks and pipework fires we looked at various options. The site maintenance team sourced an induction heater (DHI-15) to complete these tasks and reduce the risk of fire by eliminating the use of naked flames.
Previously we would remove pipework from the bitumen system which involved cooling down periods and the removal of trace heating and using lifting equipment to remove the pipe work from limited access points. The pipework be moved to an isolated point to allow heat to be applied to remove any bitumen slugs.
The Induction heater was purchased and remove the requirement of the use of naked flames and has given the site fitter options to use in other tasks such as using it to apply heat to aid the removal of bearing or nuts and bolts. This reduces fire risk and the manual handling requirement as per risk assessment.
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