Oftentimes a business need to shut its operations down. But the machines that the company had been using need to be taken of. They can’t just be thrown away as huge amount of money is invested on them. In case of heavy machinery their handling becomes a problem after a company plans to shut down. It is in this scenario that the decommissioning services can be of help.
What Is Decommissioning
Suppose a large cold drink company is planning to wind up its facility in a certain city. Apart from financial planning the company needs to empty the facility which is filled with huge machinery. Decommissioning is the systematic removal of these equipments from the plant.
Again, if the machinery of a company does not cater to the changing world, the company has the option to decommission the machines to make way for new advanced equipments.
Steps Involved In Decommissioning
There are several steps involved in decommissioning-
- Isolation of hazardous materials.
- Dismantling machines or building structure.
- Judging the sellability of the machinery.
- Disposal of waste and unneeded materials.
- Decontamination- If the company deals with toxic and hazardoussubstances (for example – Electro-Plating company) then when the time of their shutting down of business comes, the decommissioning plan should involve decontamination. Removal of components that can be potentially deadly – like cyanide, removal of toxic, explosive, or hard to remove substances ( like Sulfuric acid, Sodium Hydroxide, or Heavy Fuel Oil) must be done to keep the site suitable for future use.
- Isolating The Hazardous Materials- Chemical production industries, metal industries, petroleum industries generate a lot of hazardous materials. Naturally decommissioning work in these industries should involve isolation of hazardous materials. These hazardous materials have the potential to contaminate the environment and the overall flora and fauna near the concerned industry.
- Dismantling – When a heavy machinery becomes obsolete, it ceases to be useful and hinders the productivity of a company. In this scenario, decommissioning services should focus on dismantling of these heavy machines in an organized way so that this task does not cause an impact to production schedules. Again, dismantling is done when an industry winds up its operations.
- Judging The Sellability of The Machinery – When a dismantling process is completed, the parts of the heavy machinery that are identified as salable can be advertised or listed on sites like Ebay among others. This is how a company can regain some of its money that were invested in these machines.
- Disposing of Waste Materials – There are some waste material in even small industries that cannot be reused or sold off. While decommissioning a plant or industry, these scrap materials should be identified and removed from the plant.
As a responsible business entity, any company when leaving a location after winding up its business should ensure that its plant should not be a cause of environmental disaster in the future and should not harm any animals or plants or humans. Decommissioning services can help ensure that the Earth remains a habitable place.