WHAT IS THE TYPICAL CAREER PATH
FOR THE INDUSTRIAL PROCESS OPERATOR?

There’s something happening here.
But what it is ain’t exactly clear…
It’s time we stop. Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look…what’s going down?

(“For What It’s Worth,” by The Buffalo Springfield, 1967)

PTOA Readers are now aware what process technology is, what some of the process technology industries are, and that the nature of a facility that is open 24/7 is the requirement to work a shift schedule. PTOA Readers have been made aware of the plusses and minuses of shift work and how to mitigate the negative aspects.

But what can be expected at the work site?

What do process operators typically do in five or ten years?

 

Typical Start of the Process Operator Career

Facilities that comply to the Process Safety Management Standard will require recently hired employees to attend an orientation that lasts several days or even weeks.

The new employee will emerge from orientation with a better understanding of the facility and its general health, safety, and environmental requirements.

Once released to their work site, the new operator will be buried in documented procedures specific to that job site. On the Job Training (OJT) will flesh out what the procedures describe. A more senior operator will administer the OJT to the new trainee and document that the trainee has achieved levels of competency in a variety of job tasks.

The trainee must pay heed because as s/he proceeds up the career ladder, it will be his or her turn to train the next newbie operator!

 

“Outside” (of the Control Room) Process Operator Duties

The new Process Operator trainee will begin their industrial process career as an Outside Operator close to the pumps and pipes of a specific processing unit as opposed to being in the Control Room.

The processing unit that the Outside Operator is responsible for is remote (meaning quite a distance away) from the Control Room. A visit to the Control Room from the process unit area might even require travel by truck or bicycle.

Contact with the control room is via a “walkie-talkie” type radio or advanced headset technology.

The Outside Operator will physically check on the process at regular intervals. S/he is one of the few people allowed in the “Red Zone”…the active processing area… without a permit.

The Outside Operator is often working in noisy areas that are exposed to the local weather conditions.

The Outside Operator periodically verifies the status of the rotating equipment (pumps, compressors, turbines) and status of hardware (e.g., control valves) and the current levels in tanks.

The Outside Operator will record the status of temperatures, pressures, tank levels, and flowrates by either writing them down or using a digital data collection device. This procedure is called “taking readings.”

Preparing work areas for safe completion of minor maintenance is the job of the Outside Operator.

During turnarounds (planned maintenance intervals that require plant downtime) the Outside Operator is very busy making certain many maintenance crews are performing their jobs safely.

Through the years, the Outside Operator will advance his/her core competency in process operations. The progressive structure of job description, work scope, and pay scale will be posted.   The entry-level operator may be Operator Level 1 progressing up through Operator Level 4 (or vice versa). Or it may be Operator Level D progressing up through Operator Level A (or vice versa).

A minimal time span spent at each level will probably be specified before progression is allowed even if the Operator has mastered the skills required for a step level increase in pay.

 

Control Board Operator Duties

Eventually, the Outside Operator is promoted to Control Board Operator. The Control Board Operator reports to the Control Room and is “glued to a desk.”

Control Board Operators interpret a constant stream of digitized data that reveal the status of the integrated process units. The Control Board Operator will frequently be alerted by preset alarms that a small adjustment in temperature or pressure or level or flowrate is needed to keep the production on specification.

PTOA Readers have already learned that processing facilities are profitable only when the facility is online and making products.  PTOA Readers have already learned that maintenance shops are responsible for the condition of the plant and equipment. Problems that cannot be fixed while the processing plant is online are monitored until the next planned shutdown or turnaround.

Because everybody performs to job expectations, the Control Board Operator is often monitoring a process that is operating as expected. Thus it may seem that the highest paid Control Board Operator should be paid less than the lowly Outside Operator who is performing the necessary physical labor, often enduring bad weather.

However, the main Control Room Operator is paid for what s/he knows to do in the event of a catastrophe. A strategic piece of rotating equipment might fail. A power outage could occur. A once-in-a-lifetime natural occurrence like an earthquake may rumble.

During those moments, the fate of the process and facility is greatly dependent upon the expertise of the chief Control Room Operator or Operations Supervisor. The goal will be to maintain production online if at all safely possible or otherwise shut the process down safely.

In summary, the career path of the Process Unit Operator leads to a high paying career that is usually predictable yet very infrequently harrowing. The chief Control Board Operator is highly valuable to the industrial process facility because of his/her experience knowing how to handle the occasional process emergency.

 

Take Home Message: After many years of hard work, the senior Process Technology Control Board Operator is in a position that rarely uses all of his/her core competent skills. On those days when ‘the poop hits the fan’ the chief Control Board Operator must use every strength and core competency to coolly and calmly react while guiding the process plants to a safe state.  

Photo credit:  http://coloradoenergynews.com

 

©2014 PTOA Orientation Segment 9

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