In March of 2022, APM Steam Fossil arrived at the Gavin Turbine Outage in Chesire, OH. They originally mobilized to perform upgrades on a cross compound LG Alstom re-heat line. However, the scope of the outage grew tremendously with added LPs on the HP Line, Generator Field pull and inspection, and all LPs from an additional unit. Led by Superintendents, Jeff Ehrhart, Jason Bowen, John Nelson, Roger Jones, Morgan Roberts, Tim Witt, and Matt Russell, the outage reached its height of 72 employees on site working between units.

To prepare for this outage, several pre-outage discussions were scheduled with APM and GE teams, including APM ORR calls with Operation Division Leaders, EHS Managers, Superintendents, and Safety Champions.

As the outage proceeded, a few memorable STOP moments occurred with two Safety STOP events and one Quality STOP event. At one point, two APM Millwrights were installing keys on blade carriers when they noticed LPA & LPB stationary vanes were installed at a different direction than the previously removed blade carriers. The Millwrights immediately notified the Superintendent and FE of their findings to correct the situation. Additionally, when the team went to use plant rigging specific to an uninspected unit, a STOP event was applied until the customer could have CMS perform the inspections. Lastly, the scaffold team was removing scaffolding from LP exhaust hoods and were working over a team of Millwrights in the bearing standard below, putting them in the line of fire. The Safety Champion stopped work and brought both teams together to discuss a plan to eliminate the risk.

A special commendation goes to the two APM Safety Champions, Ron Hinds on Day Shift and John Luther on Night Shift. Both directed and drove the safety performance to perform 52,000 manhours without any safety issues, even with this level of scope completed. Another huge thank you to the Superintendents, Certified Mechanics Day Shift (Joe Doughty, Matt Cyrus, Bob Blanton, Matt Riffe, Kyle Blanton, Kevin Benkhardt, Justin Roberts, and Kyle Ruggles) and Certified Mechanics Night Shift (Danny Dillow, Jared Dillow, Eli Clark, Eric Sweeney, and James Fannin) as well as the rest of the crew for their outstanding performance and excellence!