Reflections... Energized!

APM Team,

This week I had the privilege of visiting our team at Currant Creek Power Plant outside of Nephi, Utah. What I observed left me energized. Allow me to share what I heard and saw.

I arrived onsite Tuesday afternoon, went through a brief orientation, and then headed to the deck to get a visual of our work environment. As I stood on the deck, I saw on the ground a crew standing near a CDC case with rigging on it. So I watched as they made final preparations and then executed the lift. The CDC case lifted off the ground, no swing, perfectly still. The crew, with tag lines and push/pull poles in hand, manipulated the case, no hands. The signaler, with radio in hand, constantly communicating with the crew and the operator. The CDC case was flipped, placed on cribbing, no damage and no injuries. Beautiful!

As we ended the shift with a debrief, there were many compliments from leaders on the beauty of that lift. What I heard from the crew was praise for each team member, and a humble deference to the disciplines they adhered to. In turn there was a quiet confidence that subtly filled the trailer room.

The plan for Wednesday morning was to finish cleaning the CDC case and then lift it to the deck for installation. I had seen the beautiful lift the day before, and I was so inspired that I wanted to be in the crew (not literally) to experience how they prepared for the lift. I watched as each crew member completed a STA for their portion of the lift prep – those cleaning the CDC, those inspecting rigging, those preparing the deck, the operator and his crane, the SME and his critical lift checklist, the Safety Pro and his critical lift plan. Then I saw them come together and prep another STA for the lift. I heard this crew discuss their prep, for example, why the rigging slings were selected as rated and how the lift was configured. The crew visualize the lift, each step of the way. The crew broke the lift down into its component subtasks, identifying the risks and the actions to mitigate the risks. The SME used good questions to challenge the crew, for example, Where are the line of fire risks? When will you be tempted to touch the case? Then each crew member made CBS commitments, for example, the operator committed to use proper three way communication. Then another question was asked: When would we STOP the lift? A discussion then began to anticipate What if scenarios – What if the case swings? What if a tagline gets caught? What if the operator and signal person lose line of sight?

STA + CBS + STOP = Excellence

Now I understood why the lift the day before was so beautiful, for I had experienced the mature, thoughtful prep that went into the lift. Intense, but not rushed. Humble, yet confident. “Slow is smooth; smooth is fast.”

Thank you to the Turbine Mafia crew at Currant Creek. You energized me this week.

Thanks to you all who do the same thing every day. You inspire me to do all I can to help you deliver excellence, to deliver work that is beautiful.

R. Jake Locklear