In Newark Arkansas, Steam Fossil mobilized on August 28, 2022 for two LP majors, valves major, and two turbine upgrades. To prepare, there was an onsite pre-outage planning meeting and APM meetings with the GE and the customer. These preparations paid off when Steam Fossil completed the project by December 19, 2022 with zero incidents or injuries!

The Steam Fossil team remained dedicated to the safety culture upheld by both APM and the site. From the customer employees to every contactor onsite, everyone put safety first, allowing for one cohesive team across APM, GE, and Entergy to successfully complete the job. For example, the additional tooling requested was provided by the customer and GE, which allowed the crew to perform their tasks in a safer way as well as provide beneficial learning opportunities about special tooling that can create more efficient and safer conditions.

Additionally, a valuable STOP moment occurred that illustrates the importance of having a strong safety culture shared by both the crew and the customer. The team stopped work and notified superintendents after a splice was installed in 480-volt electrical cord for a welding machine. Once the customer was contacted, they had the electricians remove the splice and install the plug directly to the welding machines power cord, preventing was could have been a dangerous situation.

The team didn’t stop their impressive work at the jobsite. They went above and beyond the call of duty by participating and contributing out of pocket in the bake sale fundraiser auction for Angel Tree, a program that provides Christmas for less fortunate children. The crew attended as one united shift with both day and night shift superintendents. Invited by the customer, the project manager, millwrights, and field engineers participated by donating personal money. In all, they raised $2,255 out of the grand total of $5,000! In a gracious picture of community solidarity, 4 millwrights still donated their $190 bid on a homemade pie they were outbid on by the plant manager. Afterwards, the plant manager gave them the pie anyways.

A special shout out to Jonathon Ratliff and Gary Cleveland for going above and beyond in their roles as well as to Keaton Briggle and Matthew Akers for their growth as apprentices into leaders of their own. Thank you to the entire team for your great work! APM is honored and proud to have such a safety focused team with a heart of gold and generous spirit work on this outage!