re: Plant guys- incident trends

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Just retired from one of the majors after a 40 year stint. Numbers of reported incidents are definitely lower than when I started my career. However, the incidents that do occur have become more serious in my opinion. Some are just due to the age of the plants. Operators were very hands on when I started. Now most outside operators don't understand their equipment. Cell phones in the control rooms or outside operator shelters are an accident waiting to happen. I also don't like the fact that an operator working a 12 hour shift ends up working 18 hours if somebody calls off. Too often I saw them coming back in with only 6 hours off. Maintenance is where the inexperience is most detrimental. Pumps get worked, run for 2 weeks and go back to the shop. It's almost laughable. But that's contractor maintenance for you. No sense of ownership in the crafts, and not a whole lot more in operations. Just my experience in one plant. Others could be better. Oh, and probably the biggest issue is that leadership doesn't know their arse from a hole in the ground. Bunch of yes men. Was glad to get out.

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