The highly explosive nature of the petrochemicals environment requires trained personnel, and often the scope of the work involves a work-at-height and or confined space element, which puts rope- access specialist Skyriders in the frame with its capabilities in performing maintenance and repair tasks in petrochem tanks.

“Skyriders has a long-term contract with a commercial petrochemicals producer to service and maintain various aspects of its petrochem tanks. Our services are provided when there is a confined space or work-at-height element involved in maintenance,” says Skyriders marketing manager Mike Zinn.

Skyriders recently also carried out maintenance through rope access – used for speedy ingress, as opposed to the traditional method of erecting a scaffolding – on a 30-m-high chemical reactor in a building for the same client.

“The client opted for rope access to save on time and the budget. Owing to our services being flexible and incredibly quick to rig we can conduct maintenance on certain sections with minimal downtime on operations,” Zinn states.

Regular routine maintenance is carried out on the client’s petrochem tanks, in accordance with the scheduled maintenance plan.

“When we are tasked by the petrochemicals producer to perform a specific job, our projects and safety team assess the task at hand. “They determine the type of equipment that will be required and very importantly the task-specific personal protective equipment (PPE) required to keep all personnel involved safe.

“Because of the numerous factors that need to be taken into consideration, we design our methodologies and our systems to ensure that our team has the right PPE and the right equipment to carry out the project safely.

“We have managed to build up our reputation with this petrochemicals producer and are able to complete projects much faster and more cost-effectively. Rope access, if done correctly, is extremely safe, quick, flexible and efficient. This has led to a long and successful relationship with the petrochemicals producer,” Zinn concludes.