Wind Farm and 33kV Substation - QHSE Compliance Audit

Fulton Hogan were the principal contractor for the Bulgana Green Power Hub located in Joel South, Victoria. They had appointed Hanson Heidelbergcement Group and RJE Electrical to complete essential works on behalf of the project. Hanson carried out the setup of a batch concrete mix manufacture with truck transit and pour to each Turbine, under strict cure time constraints. RJ Electrical carried out the cable trenching and power and earth connect up between all Turbines back to the 33kV Substation.  

The manufacturing engineer was contracted to carry out compliance audits, within an audit team, on both contractors for their setup and works against the quality management plans submitted during tender and approved for use. 

• Review and interpretation of detailed quality management plans submitted by both contractors and interpretation of witnessed activities against these plans
• 56 Wind Turbine locations remotely located with adhoc access, each at different stages of completion
• Over 150kms of cable along with trenching activities between turbines leading to the Switchyard
• Reconciliation of multi materials compositions and mix weight concrete composition with batch traceability
• Continuous twin mix and truck transit to pour sites as required
• Critical to quality compressive strength tests only available weeks after pour, evidence based on process controls and not process results

The manufacturing engineer attended the Bulgana Green Power Hub and:

• Spent several days on site, liaising with key stakeholders and coordinators of the works in progress to plan times to witness events as they happen 
• Spent time understanding critical activities and the methods of quality (process) control to confirm resultant quality
• Interviewed key personnel and reviewed critical practices at planned times to confirm controls in place and their effective implementation
• Collected documented evidence and records of satisfactory completion of critical process controls under confidentiality agreement
• Reported findings, with evidence, of the status of conformity and opportunities for improvement with the principal contractor Fulton Hogan at the closure of the audit.    

Fulton Hogans commitments to the quality delivery of the project requirements and due diligence with regard enviro and ohs responsibility was confirmed by among other things, independent audit.

Fulton Hogan received a detailed QHSE Audit Report detailing the aspects investigated, the evidence collected and conclusions determined including a comprehensive breakdown of critical activities and each contractors process performance against the agreed quality management plans submitted at tender. 

Fulton Hogan accepted the report and used its findings as the basis for continual improvement.

If you have an operation with similar demand and need expert guidance though a similar project activity, contact the manufacturing engineer to arrange an intial conversation and start the ball rolling.