At DP World, we make trade flow to change what’s possible for everyone. Our Ports & Terminals business spans six continents, giving customers the scale, connectivity and confidence they need to move cargo seamlessly today while building the sustainable trade infrastructure of tomorrow. We operate over 70 marine and inland terminals and more than 560 business units, powered by a team of 115,000+ people. By the end of 2024 we surpassed 100 million TEUs of container capacity across our portfolio, representing roughly 9.2 % of global containerised trade. From hybrid-electric equipment to AI-enabled terminal operating systems, we combine world-class infrastructure with next-generation technology to deliver faster, cleaner and more efficient port operations.
Requirements
ESUK had an electrical safety management enquiry from DP World P&T, Dubai. Paul Hopton, ESUK Principal Electrical Engineer worked with Ricaurte Santamaria, Global Vice President – Reliability via videoconference to develop a fixed-price proposal to meet DP World P&T’s specification. This project was phase 1 of a multi-phased approach to improving Electrical Safety across DP World P&T’s global assets. Paul explained how ESUK could support the implementation of the Electrical Safety Program with training and development, arc flash studies, onsite assessments and implementation tools.
The project was launched in November 2023 and the project plan and milestones were agreed with DP World P&T.
Solution
Electrical Safety UK produced three Global Electrical Safety Management Documents as follows:
- Electrical Safety Policy
- Electrical Safety Standard – based upon the NFPA 70E – US Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace 2021
- Lightning Protection Guideline
Two arc flash studies were carried out as pilot studies at Lirquen in Chile and Jebel Ali T1 in Dubai. The Arc Flash Study reports included recommendations for improvement and detailed guidance on managing arc flash risk. The reports also provided guidance on how to reduce the incident energy levels on the equipment with high arc flash hazard.
Training of site personnel on NFPA 70E and the new DP World Electrical Safety Standard was carried out at the Lirquen and Jebel Ali T1 sites. As part of the same visits to those sites, ESUK also carried out an Electrical Safety Assessment using a protocol developed by ESUK and agreed with DP World P&T. The Electrical Safety Assessment included:
- Job Safety Analysis (JSA), Job Hazard Analysis (JHA), Activity Hazard Analysis (AHA) and Risk Assessment Procedures
- Site Electrical infrastructure and test equipment, tools and apparatus
- Competency Assessments
- New Electrical Safety Standard compliance check against local legislation and regulations
Approach
ESUK drafted each of the three documents and sent them to DP World P&T as they were produced, so that they could be shared with the key stakeholders.
Once all the draft documents had been produced each document was reviewed in detail by video conference with the key stakeholders. We tended to find that roles, responsibilities, organisation and Company specific processes and requirements are the main areas where amendments are required to the first drafts.
The draft documents were amended as necessary and issued as final versions.
The training and site assessments were carried out by ESUK’s Principal Electrical Engineers. Each site visit lasted one week. The training sessions allowed site staff to ask questions about the new Electrical Safety Standard. ESUK produced site assessment reports for each of the sites, which included recommendations for improvement.
Next phase of the project
The next phase of DP World P&T’s Electrical Safety Program is in progress and includes the following:
- Seven new guidelines covering the following topics:
- Device Backup & Offsite Instructions
- Ageing & Obsolescence
- Control of Excavations
- Management of Unused Obsolete Cables
- HV and LV Maintenance
- Management of Risk during fault finding
- Management of Portable Electrical Apparatus
- Bespoke Electric Shock Risk Assessment Training
- Production of an implementation gap analysis tool for the DP World P&T Electrical Safety Standard
- Initiate the global rollout in 8 business units in 2025
