What is it like to work in our Commissioning and Pre-Operations Profession?

We recently spoke to Richard, a Commissioning Team Leader within our Commissioning profession to explore what a day in the life looks like in this team and how it plays a part in delivering our mission at Sellafield Ltd. 

What is it like to work in our Pre-Ops / Commissioning profession?

I enjoy the work that we do as it is challenging and allows me to approach the work in a number of different ways.

Commissioning of new equipment means that no job is the same, there are different challenges every time we come to commission new equipment. One day we could be commissioning instrumentation on a new vessel, and the next we could be commissioning the Control Systems that run it. Due to the equipment being newly installed there are often faults and queries surrounding the commissioning and setting to work of the kit, so fault finding and coming up with solutions is a major part of the job, this allows an element of freedom when it comes to thinking and developing solutions, which I enjoy. 

How did you get into the profession?

When I joined SL in 2008, I joined as an E&I Craft on the SPRS facility. At the time SPRS was in Commissioning and therefore I was performing a Commissioning Technician role, during the Commissioning phase of SPRS I managed to gain promotion to Commissioning Engineer and transitioned the project to active operations.

At the end of the project I spent a small amount of time as a System Engineer but I preferred Commissioning and therefore managed to secure a move back into Commissioning working on several of our major projects.

The experience I had gained from working on the numerous projects across our site allowed me to progress to my current role of Commissioning Team Leader. 

When did you join the team?

I joined my current team in October 2021. 

How would you summarise your role as a Commissioning Team Leader at Sellafield?

My role as Commissioning Team Leader is diverse. Parts of my role require me to be office based and produce/check/approve commissioning documentation. I also liaise with a number of Project Managers regularly in order to allow them to make key decisions for their particular project.

I am a key stakeholder for the Projects/Categorised Projects/Tasks that are undertaken in my area and assist the PMs in building the project schedule. I am required to read/assess every PMP that is written and provide an Endorsement (which states whether commissioning is required or not).

The other side of my role is spent on the job, with the team. When out on the job I am coaching/mentoring/assisting the team in whatever capacity they need. We have a wide range of skills in the commissioning team and these need developed and maintained throughout the work we do, so I help out where I can.

The final aspect of the role is based on people management, and ensuring the training, timesheets, leave is all correct and up to date. My Contributions plays a vital role too, as continuous personal development should be a key driver in all roles. 

What is a typical day like in your role?

There isn’t a ‘typical day’ for my role as we have a number of projects on the go at any one time, so each day is different.

Generally, at the start of the day I have a catch up with the team to produce a plan for the day. Following these discussions, I will do what is required. I then liaise with various stakeholders on various projects, these could be Construction, Planners, Pre-Ops or Ops teams to inform them on progress and plan the next phase of work. Once I have dealt with the stakeholders I will go out to the workface and join the teams and see how they are progressing. Feeding back any issues raised at the workface to stakeholders to ensure they are communicated and dealt with efficiently. If required, at the end of the day, a progress report will be sent out to key stakeholders in order to update them on the commissioning progress for the day.

Some days can be spent in the office producing/checking/approving documents, attending meetings and carrying out people management tasks. I try to balance the days as best as possible.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I enjoy the fact that not every day is the same, in my area I cover numerous facilities and in order to carry out the work we do in those facilities I need to understand the process that happens in those particular facilities and the impact our work has on them. 

What is the hardest part of your job?

Prioritising the workload – due to covering a number of areas and having multiple PMs to deliver for, I find it hard to focus our work. Every PM has their own priority; however, we have several PMs that all require Commissioning resource. Each PM has different priorities and this in turn has an effect on my priorities. The priority list is constantly changing. 

Why did you decide to pursue this career?

I enjoy the type of work we do in commissioning; I have spent 10+ years on the job at the workface on numerous facilities performing numerous commissioning tasks. I felt the time was right to move into commissioning management and learn how things are scheduled and managed. I would like to move into a Commissioning Managers role in the near future, so the Commissioning Team Leader (CTL)role is a natural steppingstone to reach the Commissioning Managers role. By gaining the relevant experience from the CTL role the managers role should be an easy transition. 

What can this type of job lead into?

The natural progression would be to Commissioning Manager, but the CTL role has given me vital experience in management tasks, so therefore the progression routes are endless. 

What advice would you give somebody considering this role as a career?

Every member of your team has a skill, whether it be E&I, Mechanical Fitter or Control Systems – each team member will have a valued input into the commissioning activities, don’t disregard any team members opinions/ideas. Trust your team to do their role and allow them freedom to express their thoughts and ideas. 

Do you have any success stories?

I am really proud that we delivered 2 site priority projects during a national lockdown, taking into consideration the backdrop and the restrictions that were in place at the time.