April NGA Contractor Workshop Initiatives Update

Transcription

1 April 2015 NGA Contractor Workshop Initiatives Update

2 Introduction On March 13, 2013, the Northeast Gas Association held its first ever Contractor Workshop in Westborough MA to discuss construction activities in our industry. Over 70 representatives from NGA member companies, NGA + members and other associate members participated. Two panels, one representing utility companies and a second representing contractors discussed the challenges faced by the respective industry segments due to the following market drivers: 1. A sustained increase in demand for natural gas due to an anticipated, significant long-term price advantage over oil, and 2. Increased investments in cast iron and bare steel pipe replacement driven by regulators and industry to increase safety. This document captures the challenges discussed and outlines the status of initiatives to address them.

3 Challenges The workshop session identified the following challenges impacting both utilities and contractors. Hiring and maintaining skilled labor Maintaining a high standard level of quality assurance and quality control Meeting and maintaining operator qualifications requirements Providing high quality, cost effective training Seasonality of work Length of work contract Distribution of capital planning work These challenges are being addressed in the following initiatives

4 Initiative 1 Hire and maintain a skilled labor force. Increase the number of skilled job applicants for utility and contractor construction and maintenance positions. - Partner with vocational high schools and community colleges - Develop curriculum and instruction materials - NGA Workforce Management Committee - NGA Operations Managing Committee - South Jersey Natural Gas/New Jersey Community College s Technician Training Program, includes GTI instructor lead training and NGA OQ evaluations. Over 80 participants have been employed. - SUNY Orange Community College and Precision Pipeline Solutions - Labor Union Initiatives

5 Initiative 2 Maintain a high standard level of quality assurance and quality control. Eliminate deviations from approved construction and maintenance processes and procedures - Plan QA/QC best practices roundtable - Develop regional QA/QC personnel qualification standard - Develop regional QA/QC assessment program - NGA QA/QC Committee - NGA Operations Managing Committee - QA/QC Roundtable held October 2013 and October QA/QC Committee Developing Inspector Training Program - QA/QC Committee Developing Common Inspection Forms

6 Initiative 3 Meet and maintain operator qualification requirements. Meet regional OQ regulation requirements with a portable OQ program that incorporates flexible and easy scheduling of evaluations. - Develop regional covered task requirements by job type - Increase use of online evaluations - Incorporate online scheduling - Address concerns of the few regional utilities that do not accept NGA qualified contractors NGA Training & Qualification Committee, NGA OQ Working Group, and NGA Operations Managing Committee - NGA OQ Task Requirement by Job Type Guideline released - Knowledge evaluations are 100% online - Majority of NGA member accept NGA qualified contractors

7 Initiative 4 Provide high quality and cost effective training. lead Ensure utilities and contractors have access to high quality training curriculum and sessions. - Develop classroom training curriculum by job type - Implement online training courses NGA Training and Qualification Committee NGA Operations Managing Committee - NGA and GTI Agreement in place to license GTI instructor Technical Training Program to utilities and contractors - NGA Agreement with ITS allowing member access to online training courses - National Grid and GTI Agreement to offer GTI Technical Training Program with an enhanced tablet application - NGA development of online training courses

8 Initiative 5 Perform year round construction and maintenance work. Expand the utility construction season and reduce contractor workforce layoffs in the winter - Work with municipalities to adjust work moratoriums - Identify alternate industry jobs for contractor personnel during the winter months. - NGA Construction & Maintenance Committee - NGA Operations Managing Committee - Where weather conditions have permitted construction season was increased - Some utilities employed contractors during the winter for operations and maintenance work

9 Initiative 6 Long term utility contractor work agreements. Educate industry and regulators on the benefits of long term utility contractor relationships to justify personnel and capital investments. - Educate utility, contractor personnel and regulators - NGA Construction & Maintenance Committee - NGA Operations Managing Committee -Utilities, including, UIL, Eversource and National Grid, have successfully implemented long term agreements, with the support of regulators. -NGA will provide forums to share information from these initiatives with its members at Operations Conferences and State Advisory meetings.

10 Initiative 7 Efficient capital work plan development and delivery. Perform capital work in the most efficient and cost effective manner. - Include contractors in the planning process - Incorporate new technology in the delivery and data acquisition of work plans to field crews Company specific responsibility Examples of new procedures and technology introduced by several companies have been highlighted at NGA s Operations Conferences.