Execute

Purpose

Safely shut down the plant, execute approved work, control emerging conditions and achieve mechanical completion in accordance with event objectives.

Scope

Plant shutdown, cleaning, purging and isolation
Work-front release, permit issue and job execution
Daily and shift-level progress control
Emergent and discovery work management
Safety, quality and simultaneous operations control
Shift handover discipline and mechanical completion verification

Phase Gate

Every phase closes at a formal phase gate. Work may proceed to the next phase only when the accountable authority accepts the required outputs, the outstanding conditions and the residual risks. The gate is a decision, not a formality — an unaccepted gate means the event is not ready to move on.

Process Steps

01
Shut Down, Clean and Isolate the Plant
Intent
Transfer the plant from operating condition to a verified state in which approved work can commence safely.
Inputs
- Approved shutdown sequence
- Isolation Plan
- Permit Strategy
- Operations procedures
- Production and inventory conditions
- Environmental and emergency controls
Actions
- Confirm approval to commence run-down
- Reduce load and stop equipment in the approved sequence
- Remove, drain, purge, cool or clean process contents
- Establish environmental and process containment
- Apply approved mechanical, electrical and process isolations
- Dissipate or restrain stored energy
- Verify zero-energy state
- Record lock, tag and isolation status
- Inspect plant condition and identify unexpected findings
- Authorise release of isolated systems
People
Operations is accountable for shutdown and isolation. Authorised isolators perform isolations. HSE, Maintenance and Permit Officers verify applicable controls.
Process
Maintenance work does not begin until Operations has confirmed the required plant state and isolation verification is complete.
Technology
DCS, SCADA, isolation management system, permit-to-work system and lock/tag register.
What Good Looks Like
- Shutdown follows the approved sequence
- Plant contents and stored energies are controlled
- Isolation status is visible and traceable
- Unexpected conditions are escalated before work release
What Bad Looks Like
- Work begins while cleaning or isolation continues nearby
- Zero energy is assumed rather than verified
- Isolation changes occur without control
- Plant status differs between control room and field
Outputs
- Shutdown completion record
- Verified isolation certificates
- Plant status report
- Initial condition findings
- Authorised system release
02
Release Work Fronts and Issue Permits
Intent
Provide controlled access to prepared work areas only after all required conditions are verified.
Inputs
- Verified isolations
- Approved Work Packs
- Permit schedule
- Work-front readiness
- SIMOPS controls
- Assigned work crews
Actions
- Confirm work-front physical readiness
- Confirm isolation applies to the intended scope
- Verify required permits and supporting certificates
- Conduct pre-start briefing at the work front
- Confirm crew competence and task understanding
- Confirm tools, materials and emergency controls
- Establish barriers and exclusion zones
- Issue the permit to the authorised recipient
- Record work commencement and work-front status
- Coordinate competing or interacting work fronts
People
Permit Officer issues permits. Supervisor accepts the work front. Work crew verifies conditions. Operations and HSE support release and monitoring.
Process
A schedule start time does not authorise work. Work begins only after the work front and permit are formally released.
Technology
Electronic permit system, work-front dashboard, mobile work packs, access-control system and radio network.
What Good Looks Like
- Crews receive ready work fronts
- Permit information matches the work pack
- SIMOPS conflicts are actively controlled
- Work commencement is visible to event control
What Bad Looks Like
- Crews wait at incomplete work fronts
- Permits are issued in bulk without field verification
- Work extends beyond permit boundaries
- Several crews unknowingly share the same restricted area
Outputs
- Issued permits
- Released work fronts
- Pre-start briefing records
- Active-work register
- Work-front constraint report
03
Execute Approved Work Packs
Intent
Complete approved work safely, efficiently and in accordance with technical, quality and documentation requirements.
Inputs
- Released work front
- Approved Work Pack
- Permit and isolation
- Assigned competent resources
- Materials, tools and equipment
Actions
- Review task instructions before starting
- Follow the approved task sequence
- Maintain worksite and exclusion-zone controls
- Record measurements and equipment condition
- Stop and escalate when conditions differ from the plan
- Complete inspection and hold-point requirements
- Protect removed components and physical evidence
- Record labour, materials and progress
- Maintain housekeeping and waste controls
- Complete task-level checks before declaring completion
People
Supervisor controls execution. Tradespeople and contractors perform work. Engineering, Quality, HSE and Operations attend required hold or witness points.
Process
The work pack remains the execution record. Departures from approved instructions require authorised technical or scope change.
Technology
Mobile work management, CMMS, digital work packs, measurement devices and field communication systems.
What Good Looks Like
- Work follows the approved method
- Findings and measurements are recorded as work progresses
- Variations are controlled before implementation
- Quality requirements are completed at the work front
What Bad Looks Like
- Crews rely on memory rather than the work pack
- Documentation is reconstructed after the event
- Work methods change without review
- Removed parts and failure evidence are discarded
Outputs
- Executed work-pack records
- Equipment condition findings
- Labour and material actuals
- Inspection and quality records
- Completion or exception status
04
Control Daily and Shift-Level Progress
Intent
Maintain a current, reliable forecast of event status and direct resources to the work that protects safety, critical path and event objectives.
Inputs
- Integrated Master Schedule
- Field progress updates
- Work-front and permit status
- Resource availability
- Constraint and risk information
- Cost and productivity actuals
Actions
- Collect factual progress at the defined cut-off
- Validate physical completion in the field
- Update actual starts, finishes, remaining durations and forecasts
- Recalculate critical and near-critical paths
- Review resource and work-front constraints
- Identify variance causes and recovery options
- Prioritise next-shift work
- Issue an approved shift plan
- Escalate threats beyond frontline authority
- Publish event performance and forecast information
People
Planning and Controls Lead updates status. Supervisors provide field facts. Shutdown Manager approves priorities. Operations, HSE, Contractors and Logistics support decisions.
Process
Progress is measured from completed physical work, not hours consumed or subjective confidence. Forecasts are updated whenever circumstances change.
Technology
Scheduling software, mobile progress capture, event dashboard, cost system and shift-planning tools.
What Good Looks Like
- Forecast finish reflects current field conditions
- Critical-path threats are identified early
- Shift plans are achievable and understood
- Recovery actions address causes, not just symptoms
What Bad Looks Like
- Progress remains at 90 per cent for several shifts
- Schedule status is based on supervisor optimism
- Critical path is not recalculated
- Recovery means adding people to congested work fronts
Outputs
- Updated Event Schedule
- Shift Execution Plan
- Daily progress report
- Variance and recovery register
- Current completion forecast
05
Manage Emergent and Discovery Work
Intent
Evaluate unexpected conditions quickly and ensure only justified, approved and controllable work is added to the event.
Inputs
- Field inspection and strip-down findings
- Defects discovered during execution
- Contingency plans
- Scope-change authority
- Current schedule, cost and resource status
- Asset risk criteria
Actions
- Make the affected area safe
- Record the condition and supporting evidence
- Define the failure, defect and consequence
- Determine whether immediate action is required
- Develop repair, deferment and temporary-control options
- Estimate safety, quality, cost, duration and resource impacts
- Assess effect on critical path and start-up
- Obtain technical and scope approval
- Create or update the work order and work pack
- Communicate the decision to affected teams
- Track approved emergent work separately from base scope
People
Supervisor raises the finding. Engineering or Reliability provides technical disposition. Operations assesses operational consequence. Shutdown Manager controls scope. Sponsor approves impacts beyond delegated authority.
Process
Discovery does not automatically authorise repair. Work is added only when the approved change process confirms that inclusion is necessary and manageable.
Technology
CMMS, electronic change workflow, mobile evidence capture, scheduling software and decision register.
What Good Looks Like
- Discovery decisions are rapid and evidence based
- Safety and asset risk drive disposition
- Critical-path impact is understood before approval
- Emergent work remains visible in reporting
What Bad Looks Like
- Crews expand work without authorisation
- Every discovery becomes shutdown scope
- Temporary repairs are undocumented
- Emergent work is hidden within original activities
Outputs
- Discovery Work Request
- Technical disposition
- Approved or rejected scope change
- Updated work pack and schedule
- Emergent-work performance record
06
Control Safety, Quality and Simultaneous Operations
Intent
Maintain effective risk and quality controls as work fronts, plant conditions and activity interactions change.
Inputs
- Active permits and work fronts
- SIMOPS Plan
- Risk assessments
- Quality plans
- Field observations
- Incident and hazard reports
- Schedule changes
Actions
- Conduct planned field leadership inspections
- Verify permit and isolation compliance
- Monitor interacting work fronts
- Review high-risk work at defined intervals
- Verify barriers, housekeeping and access controls
- Conduct quality surveillance and hold points
- Stop work where conditions are unsafe or outside the plan
- Investigate incidents, defects and control failures
- Communicate changed conditions
- Update risk controls and work sequencing
- Verify corrective actions before restarting
People
Supervisors own frontline controls. HSE and Quality provide assurance. Operations coordinates plant interactions. All workers retain stop-work responsibility.
Process
Risk assessment is continuous. Changes in work sequence, environment or plant state require controls to be reviewed before work continues.
Technology
Permit system, inspection applications, incident system, quality-management platform and work-front dashboard.
What Good Looks Like
- Field conditions match documented controls
- Conflicts are resolved before work overlaps
- Quality defects are detected at the source
- Stop-work decisions are supported
What Bad Looks Like
- Safety performance is judged only by injury count
- Quality inspection occurs after reassembly
- Permit conditions are not rechecked after shift change
- Schedule pressure overrides required controls
Outputs
- Field assurance records
- Updated SIMOPS controls
- Quality inspection records
- Incident and corrective-action records
- Verified work restart approvals
07
Conduct Controlled Shift Handovers
Intent
Transfer accurate work, plant, risk and decision information between outgoing and incoming teams.
Inputs
- Current schedule and shift plan
- Active and suspended permits
- Isolation status
- Work-pack progress
- Outstanding constraints
- Incidents, changes and emergent work
- Next-shift priorities
Actions
- Update each active work front before handover
- Record completed work and remaining tasks
- Record plant, isolation and permit status
- Identify changed hazards and temporary controls
- Identify open hold points and technical queries
- Identify required decisions and escalation deadlines
- Review critical-path and next-shift priorities
- Conduct face-to-face or controlled digital handover
- Confirm incoming acceptance and understanding
- Issue the approved incoming-shift plan
People
Outgoing and incoming Supervisors conduct handover. Operations, Permit Officers, Planning, HSE and Shutdown Manager provide relevant status.
Process
Handover is complete only when the incoming accountable person accepts the information and unresolved conditions are clearly assigned.
Technology
Digital shift log, permit system, scheduling dashboard, radio and collaboration platform.
What Good Looks Like
- Incoming teams understand plant and work-front status
- Temporary conditions are clearly identified
- Required decisions have owners and deadlines
- No information depends on informal memory
What Bad Looks Like
- Handover consists only of a brief verbal conversation
- Night-shift findings are rediscovered by day shift
- Permit and isolation status differs between teams
- Unresolved technical issues have no owner
Outputs
- Completed Shift Handover
- Accepted incoming-shift plan
- Updated plant and permit status
- Open decision and constraint list
- Critical work-front priorities
08
Verify Mechanical Completion
Intent
Confirm that physical work is complete, inspected, documented and suitable for transfer into testing and commissioning.
Inputs
- Completed Work Packs
- Inspection and test records
- Open defect and punch-list information
- System boundaries
- Technical acceptance criteria
- Housekeeping and restoration requirements
Actions
- Verify all planned physical tasks are complete
- Verify fasteners, guards, connections and components
- Verify inspection, measurement and hold-point records
- Confirm temporary items are removed or formally controlled
- Confirm tools, debris and waste are removed
- Identify and classify punch-list items
- Confirm outstanding items do not prevent testing
- Verify drawings and modification records are marked up
- Obtain discipline and system completion signatures
- Transfer the completed system to commissioning control
People
Maintenance Supervisor declares completion. Engineering and Quality verify technical requirements. Operations and Commissioning accept system transfer.
Process
Schedule completion does not equal mechanical completion. Completion requires physical verification and acceptance records.
Technology
Completion management system, digital work packs, CMMS, punch-list application and document control.
What Good Looks Like
- Completion status is system based and evidence supported
- Punch items are visible and classified
- Worksites are clean and restored
- Commissioning receives a known configuration
What Bad Looks Like
- Jobs are closed because labour has left the work front
- Inspection records are incomplete
- Temporary equipment remains unidentified
- Commissioning discovers unfinished construction or maintenance work
Outputs
- Mechanical Completion Certificate
- System turnover package
- Classified punch list
- Updated work-pack status
- Phase 04 Gate Approval

Key Performance Indicators

KPI	Why It Matters	How To Measure	World Class	Benchmark	Typical
Schedule adherence	Adherence is the earliest reliable signal that the event will finish on time.	Activities completed as scheduled ÷ activities scheduled, measured daily.	>95%	>90%	70–80%
Emergent work as a share of total hours	High emergent work means the plan phase failed — and it consumes the contingency that protects the end date.	Emergent hours ÷ total executed hours.	—	<10%	—
Recordable safety incidents	Shutdowns concentrate unfamiliar people, unfamiliar work and simultaneous operations — the highest-risk state a plant enters.	Recordable incidents per event, and per 200,000 hours worked.	—	Zero	—
Permit-to-work compliance on audit	Permit drift under schedule pressure is how a shutdown produces a serious incident.	Compliant permits ÷ permits audited in the field.	—	>98%	—
Mechanical completion achieved on plan	Late mechanical completion pushes straight into commissioning and start-up delay.	Systems signed mechanically complete on or before the scheduled date ÷ total systems.	—	100% of systems	—