The concept of a client-based team for a multiple-project construction yard is not new. At least one major oil and gas company has for several years required its major contractors to establish and participate in "Steering Committees" to increase the level of communication among their clients on the yard. These groups migrate towards functioning as watchdogs or oversight committees that too frequently point fingers and offer little assistance in exploring solutions or providing active support to solving HSE issues on the site.
This presentation chronicles the development of a robust team that has fully partnered with a world-class shipyard to address common HSE problems and implement plausible resolutions. During its brief history, the Integrated Workshop Team has shown great success in meeting this challenge despite the language and cultural barriers in its path.
As stated in the abstract, the purpose of this paper is to document the development of a fully integrated team charged with promoting health, safety and environmental conditions within a multi-national shipyard serving worldwide client base. The focus of the presentation is to highlight the methods used to draw from the client knowledge pool to identify gaps in existing programs, propose solutions and expedite implementation to further protect people and the environment.
In 1978 DSME (Daewoo Shipbuilding Company) began construction of its present site in Okpo, Korea. Goeje Island is located less than a mile off the southeast tip of the Korean peninsula and it offered a naturally deep, protected harbor with direct access to sea lanes in the Sea of Japan. Primary development of the dry docks and quayside facilities was completed in 1983; however, the shipyard continues to expand its boundaries each year. Dry Dock Number 1 measuring 69,430 square meters remains to be the largest facility of its kind in the world. To give just a perspective, today the shipyard has 240 forklift trucks, 400 cherry pickers and tracked or pedestal cranes, 1,100 welding machines (Stick, Mig, Tig, and Buried Arc), and approximately 8,000 angle grinders.
The first ship built by DSME, a chemical carrier, sailed out of the yard in 1979. From that humble beginning, DSME has come to engineer and construct a diverse array of marine structures and vessels including bridge components, floating productions and storage offshore vessels (FPSO's), semi-submersible and jack-up drilling rigs, offshore production platforms, barge-mounted electrical power plants, equipment elevators, military and police ships, submarines, and ferries, cruise ships and special-purpose vessels.
During the year 2002 total output was reported as 800,000 metric tons of steel. Since the initial ship sailed away, the men and women at DSME have delivered a total of 428 ships and 43 offshore structures.