ATEX inspections help Dragon LNG with regulatory compliance

Improving the accuracy and visibility of compliance during inspections with Maximo^® and Fingertip

Dragon LNG is a key energy provider for the UK. The business’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) import terminal receives, stores and regasifies LNG. This provides a vital source of clean and reliable energy for the UK.

The company was currently using Maximo^® version 6.2.5 for its asset maintenance and management and was supported by several organisations. With contracts coming to an end, Dragon LNG decided it was an ideal time to reassess systems and support. Peacock Engineering were selected to provide Maximo^® support and were also awarded an upgrade project to implement Maximo^® 7.5.

Taking a new approach to ATEX inspections

Dragon LNG’s manual, paper-based ATEX inspection process was proving time consuming and cumbersome to manage. Paper forms had to be filled out by technicians and these were then put into PDF format to upload to the system and the details entered onto a spreadsheet to create reports. The result was an administrative millstone that became a full-time job for one administrator.

What our client said:

Peacock Engineering’s Fingertip mobile app enables technicians to operate more effectively out in the field using specific Maximo^® functionality. They offered to work with us to develop a version of Fingertip for ATEX inspections. It would become a paperless process with everything held in one place – namely Maximo^®.

It offered the best solution for us on several levels:

Simplicity of design
Ease of use
A single point of support for all systems

John Jones, Dragon LNG

The business wanted a new solution that:

Saved time completing admin tasks
Removed the paper trail
Fully integrated with Maximo

Although there were several ATEX inspection solutions on the market, none of these integrated directly with Maximo^®. This would prove an issue to Dragon LNG because Maximo^® was where all Dragon LNG maintenance records were stored.

Discussions with Peacock Engineering would shine a new light on the situation, offering what would become an ideal solution using the mobile forms capability in the Fingertip application.

What our client said:

Fingertip ATEX gives us an easy to use mobile system that is entirely paperless and integrates directly to our central asset management and maintenance system. This ensures accuracy and availability of asset data as well as process automation for follow up activities.

It will save a huge amount of administration time for ATEX inspections. In fact, we lost someone from the business but did not replace them because Fingertip took away the need. We have been using it for 3 years now and we are all happy with it.

John Jones, Maintenance Planner, Dragon LNG

Transitioning seamlessly to a new system

Dragon LNG wanted the transition to the new system to be as seamless as possible. This meant that the screens presented to technicians had to look like the existing paper forms they filled out, as did the output report to ensure user continuity.

The specific inspection forms for particular assets were:

Instantly available to technicians (to avoid delays)
Formatted in the same way as the existing paper forms
Able to feed back errors & data input into Maximo^® accurately

Storing all data in one central system

Although ATEX inspections still require the same time allocation from technicians, the administrative tasks that once followed the inspections have been eradicated. Data is now input in real time at the point of work directly into Maximo^®.

The inspection is either signed off or flagged for further action with work orders issued and re-inspections scheduled. An audit trail of all inspections is available, and all details are centrally stored in Maximo^® for inspection at any time.

Providing benefits to the entire business

Following the successful delivery of the ATEX inspections process running smoothly. attention has turned to other potential applications that would benefit from a mobile solution.

Dragon LNG have recently extended the use of Fingertip to include managing mechanical equipment inspections which will include the following activities:

Pressure Relief Valve (PRV) inspections and testing
Managing and inspecting Critical / Non-Critical Joints (aka Flanges)

Meeting all compliance requirements

The inspections capability uses the core Fingertip Audit and Inspection functionality to provide a solution to meet a compliance requirement for inspecting assets with Atmospheric Explosion risks.

This module is flexible and is also suitable for all types of process and compliance driven inspections. This includes building condition audits, electrical inspections, safety inspections, meter readings and asset data collection.