Enhanced Energy

8/3/2019 Enhanced Energy

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/enhanced-energy 1/3

Training

Enhanced Energy-from-Waste Personnel TrainingCraig Kedrowski

The efficienT operaTion of energy-from-

waste (EFW) acilities oten correlates to the

perormance o the personnel. In turn, the personnel’s

perormance is directly correlated to the knowledge

obtained during their training. In the past, the

designer conducted most training in both a

classroom and eld situation. In the classroom, the

theory behind how everything works was typically

explained, while in the eld the practical preventative

maintenance and hands-on experience was obtained.However there are multiple problems with this type

o approach, such as how do you monitor what each

person is learning? How do you ensure that everybody

actually pays attention? How do you deal with people

learning at dierent speeds? Why in today’s world o

technology— computers, Internet, etc.—shouldn’t

there be a more ecient way or training personnel?

An enhanced training program will lead to more

eective and knowledgeable personnel at EFW

acilities. A new type o training program, known as an

interactive training system (ITS), uses ve sections to

teach the acilities’ personnel the most ecient way to

operate their EFW acility. The ve sections include:

(1) scientic and engineering basics, (2) general

plant descriptions, (3) operation and maintenance

procedures, (4) health and saety issues and (5)

simulator. This split allows the personnel to learn at

their own pace, amiliarize themselves with details,

monitor other trainee’s progress, provide hazard

and saety training and practice without damagingequipment, along with many other benets.

This article will discuss the ITS in personnel training

at EFW acilities and how people can benecially use

this type o system or training managers, engineers,

health and saety, operators, maintenance and all other

personnel at EFW acilities.

The Interactive Training System (ITS)It’s a amiliar story or managers: the nagging

uneasiness that costly incidents could shutdown

your plant, or the concern that an accident might

trigger regulatory investigations, plus the knowledge

that trouble may have been avoided with on going

personnel training. Although conventional training

courses provide the basics, they generally do not

provide workers with the opportunity to share

experience among them. And how do sta members

benchmark their skill level?

An ITS is a sel-paced tutorial geared toward allpersonnel: shit, maintenance, administration, plant

management and, o course, new hires. In addition to

theory, it also eatures many practical elements, such

as the use o the operation and maintenance (O&M)

manuals because improving training quality and

providing it at regularly scheduled intervals reduces

the likelihood o incidents.

When dividing training into the ve dierent

sections mentioned above, trainees can select our

degrees o diculty depending on their level o

training. The content o each section can be modied,

extended or tailored at any time; thus training is not

static, but instead reproduces real-word circumstances.

A eae taa w eat e effetea kweeaeee at EFWfate. This cAn bE

AccomplishEd WiThThE insTAllATionoF An inTErAcTivETrAining sysTEm.

Figure 1: Typical ITS operation and maintenance screen (ITS Riverside, 2010). Figures courtesy of Hitachi Zosen Corporation and its

subsidiaries.

28 WasteAdvantage Magazine December 2011

As Seen In



ed e--Wst psl T

The installation o such a system can be perormed in a relatively quick

timerame—between one and six months depending on the number o

sections required—and does not require the acility to be shutdown duringimplementation.

Scientifc and Engineering BasicsThe scientic and engineering basics section is the beginning section

o the program. This section describes the dierent types o chemicals,

the periodic table, typical terms, symbols, abbreviations, etc. This section

provides the trainees with all the basic inormation to be able to use the

system eectively.

General Plant DescriptionThe general plant description provides a block fow diagram illustration o

the acility along with the necessary process fow inormation. Additionally, it

provides pictures o the dierent pieces o equipment along with a description

o how the equipment is designed to perorm, so that when the training is

conducted in the eld the trainee will recognize the piece o equipment. Finally,

this also provides an overview description o how the whole process ties together

and the reasons why everything is structured in such a way.

Operation and Maintenance ProceduresThe operation and maintenance section is the ‘heart’ o the training material.

This section is divided into each portion o the acility, such as primary air,

abric lter, etc. and within each o these sections provides the trainee with

inormation regarding what to expect and what needs to be perormed or each

system: (1) basics, (2) process, (3) conguration, (4) unctions, (5) startup,

(6) normal operation, (7) shutdown, (8) hazards, (9) malunctions and (10)

maintenance. The material in each section is typically presented in written

ormat with pictures (see Figure 1, page28).

Once the trainee is comortable with everything they learned in this section,

then they can elect to take the test (see Figure 2). The testing allows the

managers to track the progress o each employee and make sure they arekeeping up-to-date and learning the material.

Health and SaetyThe health and saety section increases the trainees’

awareness o saety within the acility. In this section,

the basic overview o saety items such as lockout/tag-

out, conned spaces, etc. are explained to the trainee.

Additionally, this section goes a step urther in that it

points out on the diagram where the key areas o concernsare or saety and what the trainee should do in order to

avoid injury to themselves (see Figure 3).

SimulatorThe simulator section allows the trainee to practice what

they have learned during training on the control system

without having the risk o personnel injury, equipment

damage and/or downtime due to operator error. The

simulator is set up to look similar to the control system and

the trainer will randomly select preprogrammed scenarios

that commonly occur at an EFW acility. The trainee is

then responsible or identiying what is occurring and

making the necessary changes in the control system such

that stable operation occurs. The current simulator has

almost 100 dierent pre-programmed scenarios to choose

rom and additional ones can be added.

Improving the Bottom Line

So as the emphasis on eciency and availability o EFWacilities increase, it is important to take advantage o every

opportunity to improve the bottom line because, at some

acilities, being down or just a single day can cost upwards

o a quarter o a million dollars. The installation o an ITS

system oers the ollowing advantages:

Figure 2: Typical ITS question (ITS Riverside, 2010).

30 WasteAdvantage Magazine December 2011



• A tutorial content that is built around training topics that are customized

to the acilities’ needs.

• In workshops, employees can modify the program to match onsite

requirements so that they can integrate their own experiences.• Each employee can identify knowledge gaps and take advantage of interactive

training to ulll them.

• Thanks to its modular structure, the program can be readily adapted to

various scenarios.

• The cost/benet ratio pays off because the program

reduces ongoing training expenditures, costly

operating interruptions, and the occurrence o

accidents can be minimized.

• The program can be customized to your plant and

your sta and expanded at any time.

• Your staff members can use an ITS to brush up on a

topic whenever they have time to spare.

• The employees will quickly nd their way around the

program and benet rom its simplicity.

As time progresses, EFW acilities will desire to

increase availability and eciency to make a prot. This

can be accomplished with the installation o an interactive

training system. | WA

Craig Kedrowski is a Senior Sales and Process Engineer or Hitachi Zosen Inova U.S.A. LLC (Norcross, GA). He

has numerous years o experience in the felds o engineering,

research, design, project management and others. He earned his

BS in Chemical Engineering rom Rose-Hulman Institute o

Technology. Craig can be reached at (678) 987-2510 or via

e-mail at [email protected].

Reerences• PAMELA and ITS Information (2009). [Presentation].

Kedrowski, Craig. Norcross, Georgia, USA: AE&E – Von Roll,Inc.• ITS Riverside (2010). [Program]. Zurich, Switzerland:

AE&E Inova AG.• Von Roll ITS – the Interactive Training System (2000). (1st

ed.) [Brochure]. Zurich, Switzerland: Von Roll UmwelttechnickAG.

Figure 3: Typical ITS health and safety screen (ITS Riverside, 2010).

WasteAdvantage Magazine December 2011 31

As Seen In

©2011 Waste Advantage Magazine, All Rights Reserved.Reprinted from Waste Advantage Magazine.

Contents cannot be reprinted without permission from the publisher.

Documents

Enhanced Energy