Safety and efficiency during turnaround at SABIC 

SABIC in Geleen is one of the top five petrochemical companies in the world. With ten large installations on the Chemelot site, covering an area of over one square kilometre, the company produces plastics for the automobile and packaging industry, among others. 

The plants at the site are subject to periodic turnarounds, during which a plant is either partly or completely shut down for maintenance, cleaning and projects. Such occasions call for clear communication, as the SABIC turnaround staff are well aware. During the maintenance operations, they use a wireless TETRA system and over 500 ATEX TETRA two-way radios to communicate with each other. 

Efficient and powerful 

During the most recent turnaround involving the Olefins 3 naptha cracker, there were some 2,000 employees working at the same time on peak days. The challenge at SABIC was to provide the site with full radio coverage, given the presence of a lot of steel structures that can block radio signals. Flash Private Mobile Networks advised the use of TETRA, which provided the employees with guaranteed communication enabling them to work safely and efficiently.  

As Rick Streutjens, Facility Coordinator for SABIC in Geleen, explains: “By using the TETRA system, we were able to carry out the work safely and efficiently, and keep the amount of costly shutdown time to a minimum.”